Round Rock Honey Factory

We went on a tour of this honey factory, only about 6 miles north of our house. We learned a lot of interesting facts about bees, watched the conveyor belt crank out several bottles of fresh honey, and bought a couple bottles for our food storage. :)

Being there today reminded me of this talk from Elder Ballard, four years ago:

Nutritionists tell us [honey] is one of the foods that includes all the substances—enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and water—necessary to sustain life. . . . 

Honeybees are driven to pollinate, gather nectar, and condense the nectar into honey. It is their magnificent obsession imprinted into their genetic makeup by our Creator. It is estimated that to produce just one pound (0.45 kg) of honey, the average hive of 20,000 to 60,000 bees must collectively visit millions of flowers and travel the equivalent of two times around the world. Over its short lifetime of just a few weeks to four months, a single honeybee’s contribution of honey to its hive is a mere one-twelfth of one teaspoon. 

Though seemingly insignificant when compared to the total, each bee’s one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey is vital to the life of the hive. The bees depend on each other. Work that would be overwhelming for a few bees to do becomes lighter because all of the bees faithfully do their part.