For honey bees, a dandelion is the first sign of Spring! - June Stoyer

Spring is here!

Lambing is finished for this year. The shepherds can get some much-needed sleep now without one eye on the cell phone for a call from our shepherd in Hong Kong telling them a ewe is lambing.

Broiler chicks arrive this week…all 1000 of them. We've never had so many. The barn has been cleaned and warmed up, a bed of peat moss spread, and the wooden hens installed. In a month or so, depending on the weather, the field will be full of chickens pecking the grass and looking for bugs.

The bees are buzzing. As you'll see in the Down On the Farm segment, Martin was gifted with a log full of honey bees.

Note: If you happen to see a swarm of bees, let Martin know and he'll don his bee suit and collect them. Bees are vital to our food production.

A Symbol is Born

Over the years we sought for an appropriate symbol for Harvest Haven; we pondered in vain. We prayed, and received the answer to use the dandelion. What would people think? I began to realize the implications, particularly in relation to our lives, physically and spiritually.

I saw how the dandelion is much like the Lord Jesus Christ. Here are the similarities.

The dandelion is everywhere. Jesus Christ is omnipresent.

The dandelion will grow anywhere, except where eradicated. One may find the Lord anywhere, except where people have excluded Him.

The dandelion is hated and warred against by almost all people. Isn't that the way it is with the Lord? "He came unto His own and His own did not receive Him." He said He was hated by the world because He testified against it.

The dandelion is not a pest, but rather good medicine. Jesus Christ, hated by all, is Good Medicine. He is the Good Physician, Who heals, though despised.
The dandelion tastes bitter but brings health when eaten. Jesus Christ, the Truth, is bitter to receive, but if received, brings healing and makes the consumer free.

The entire dandelion promotes good health – the leaves, flowers, stems, and roots. Jesus Christ is the Savior of all mankind. He is goodness and love, sent for man's wellbeing and salvation.

The dandelion flower is gold in color. Gold represents God and precious value. The rest of the plant is green, representing life, nutrition and rest. Is that not what the Lord is all about? He came to give us life, to feed us Himself and to give us rest from our labors.

The juice of the dandelion is white. In Scripture, white represents the righteousness of God, which can only come by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Remarkably, the juice blackens the skin, though harmless, and likely healthful. To the world, the life of God soils a person. That is why Isaiah the prophet, who saw the coming of the Lord, the manifestation of the Life of God, wrote this: "He was despised and rejected by people. He was a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering. He was despised like one from whom people turn their faces, and we didn't consider Him to be worth anything" (Isaiah 53:3 GW).

Dandelions bring no harm and are good not only for us; the rabbits and deer come to our yard and eat them as well. The birds eat the seeds. The bees gather their nectar and pollen. The environment loves them, with calcium (an essential nutrient) and elemental balance restored to the soil where dandelions grow. The Lord is good for all. True religion is good for all. Healing and nourishment happen in the Lord.

The dandelion comes as a common weed, unrecognized and unwanted, though far more potent than other plants as a medicinal and healing herb. Jesus Christ took upon Himself the form of a man, humbling Himself to the death of the cross, despised and rejected of men; the Stone rejected, the Bible says, yet full of true value.

Dandelion seeds fly with the wind, like the Word of God that comes from Heaven and goes wherever He wills.

Dandelion seeds drop into the ground and come up again multiplied. Jesus Christ was crucified, buried, and raised up again to multiply Himself manifold, in order to bring healing and life to the world. While the dandelion "dies" over winter, it rises again because it is a perennial, even as the Lord is eternal.

It can look messy, especially when dandelions go to seed. That is how salvation works. The work of God in a person's soul can look quite ugly (take Job for example), but afterwards, there is spiritual health, His work yielding the "peaceable fruit of righteousness."

Finally, "dandelion" means "teeth of the lion." Jesus Christ came first as a Lamb, to die for us, but now He comes as the Lion from the tribe of Judah. He comes with teeth. God is a consuming fire, the Bible declares. He comes to judge the earth in righteousness. Nobody fools with a lion, especially This One, Jesus Christ Glorified.

All praise, thanksgiving, blessing, power, might, strength, riches, wisdom, glory, honor, majesty, authority, dominion, salvation and worship to Him forevermore. Amen!

All parts of the dandelion (flowers, leaves, roots, and stems) can be used. Interestingly enough, the dandelion's botanical name, Taraxacum officinale, is Latin for "remedy for man's illnesses."

A few of the many benefits of the dandelion:
• Blood purifier
• Mild stimulant for the bowels
• Stimulant (quickens the functional activity of tissues)
• Removes poisons from the body
• Benefits liver function
• Promotes bile production
• Removes excess water from the body

For a more complete list go to Harvest Haven Dandelion Root Powder.

George Cairns, an elderly fellow from Illinois, suffering cancer, was given a revelation that by drying dandelion roots and grinding them to a powder, leaving some soil residues clinging to the roots, these would serve as a powerful liver cleanser and anti-carcinogen. He took half a teaspoon each day and was free of cancer in six months. George passed away in 2011 at the age of 94 after many years of health and helping others.

Harvest Haven Dandelion Root Powder is:
• Rich in calcium (highest concentration of any plant), potassium, and organic sodium, with some iron and phosphorus
• A good source of protein
• High in vitamins A, B, C, and E
• Free of any pesticides and herbicides
• Watered with Grander Living Water, which enables all plants, including dandelions to effectively assimilate nutrients from the soil.

Dandelions are a carpet of health under our feet!

Harvest Haven Boneless Chicken Breast – Our "go to" favorite! There are so many easy and delicious ways to prepare boneless chicken breast. Moist, flavorful, and filling…they never disappoint.

Harvest Haven Cilantro Pesto – An inexpensive way to remove toxic heavy metals from your body. Not only is it healthy, but it also tastes good, too.

Organic Radishes – Usually eaten raw as a crunchy salad vegetable with a pungent flavor, they have surprising health benefits. They help purge cancer-causing substances, are a natural antifungal agent, are a good source of anthocyanins that keep our hearts healthy, and have numerous other benefits packed in those tiny packages.

Organic English Cucumbers – Refreshing, nutritious, and an incredibly versatile addition to any diet. Low in calories, but contain many important vitamins and minerals.

Harvest Haven Frozen Strawberries – Picked in the summer at the peak of perfection, they are bursting with goodness and flavor. Blend into your favorite smoothie, make into a bright red sauce, bake in a tasty dessert, or thaw slightly for a refreshing snack.

Organic Lemons – Lots of love for lemons! Lemons with their distinct, pleasant taste and smell are used in many foods and drinks to enhance the flavor of that dish or drink. Besides being an important ingredient in many recipes, lemons also provide several health benefits, like most real foods.

Please note, all ingredients in our recipes are organic.

Bees Prefer Trees – Martin Van Popta, Manager

After years of keeping bees with only moderate success, I became frustrated with the whole experience. We were providing the bees with the most ideal landscape. Our farm offers a continuous supply of organic nectar from spring until winter because there is always something blooming here. And yet, the bees were not thriving.

I seldom had a hive die off, the bees mostly just flew away. They'd be there one week, and I'd come back and there wasn't a trace of them. No dead bees. Just gone. I know there's all kinds of fancy beekeeping tricks to keep this from happening, but I had to ask, "Why don't the bees like living in that box? What are we doing wrong?"

Then I had a friend send me an obscure article about some guy in Europe crying out against the evils of the modern Langstroth bee box. Langstroth beehives are the most common style of commercial beehive in the world. They're the ones you see in rows in the farmers' fields. The modern hive is designed for ease of harvesting honey, but not for ease of being a bee.

This fellow was talking about how different and destructive the box design is compared to a bees natural habitat, the hollowed-out tree. He was speaking my language. When something just won't work like it should, people are always to blame.

The modern beehive is essentially a feedlot for bees. These industrious insects are worked to death to maximize production, and they're left with neither the environment nor the leisure time to clean their home or even themselves. It's no wonder disease and parasites have been ravaging the industry. Even beekeepers like me, who were trying their best to care for the bees, were starting with a bad idea. I was harvesting beautiful organic honey, but the bees were planning their escape from day one. It was not a cooperative.

If you let the bees decide, they'll find a tree that's beginning to rot with age. After birds have hollowed out the rotten portion and are done hatching their young, the bees will find the cavity and set up their colony. In a hollow log, bees have exactly the right shape, humidity, fungal balance, and temperature regulation to thrive.

They spend far less time cooling the hive by flapping their wings, and lots of time sunbathing and grooming themselves. The floor of the hive becomes a slowly decomposing compost pile comprised of rotting wood from the aging tree mixed with the debris from the bees' activity. It becomes like a rich forest floor.

This ecosystem is the perfect environment for a little critter called a pseudo scorpion. The bees actually allow these little guys to patrol the hive and feed on any parasitic invaders, just like those fish that clean the mouths of sharks. For those of you that don't know, the number one enemy of every beekeeper is the parasitic Varroa mite.

Beekeepers are constantly treating their hives with nasty chemicals trying to keep the parasites under control. We're always making problems for ourselves and end up creating worse problems trying to solve them. The humble bee knows what's best.

I gave my friend John Korthuis from Korthuis Tree Care a call. We've worked on lots of projects together, so I knew he'd be game for my next crazy idea. He's cutting down old rotten trees all the time, so I asked him to save me some rotten logs to make hives.

A few days later, John brought me a load of hollow cottonwood logs and enthusiastically said, "We just found a huge hive of bees in a tree we have to cut down this week. We could just wrap it up in a tarp, make a few cuts, and crane it onto a truck and bring it to you."

That's exactly what we did, and I don't think it will be the last time. Watch the video and see for yourself. You'll hardly beelieve it.

Wouldn't it be sweet if the land flowed with honey? If we do things right, I expect we'll have more honey than we can eat.