American Honey Princess visits the Valley

Hope Pettibon, the 2017 American Honey Princess passed through the Mat-Su Valley this week, one stop of many on her yearlong tour across the country. She’s been to about 22 states so far — some she has already hit twice. She expects to hit about 25 states by the time she’s done. During her time in the Valley, she visited several schools and one Lions Club group in Palmer, educating children and adults alike about honeybees and the pivotal role they play in society’s daily life. She explained what the bees are doing inside the hive, their pollination and why it’s important, how they make honey, how it’s extracted, and the many uses of honey besides just eating it.

“The beekeeping industry touches the lives of every individual in our country. In fact, honeybees are responsible for nearly one-third of our entire diet, in regards to the pollination services that they provide for a large majority of fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes. This amounts to nearly $19 billion per year of direct value from honeybee pollination to United States agriculture,” Pettibon said.

Pettibon believes that sharing her knowledge and experience with children is essential to the preservation of beekeeping as a trade and the key to protecting the overall bee population, domestic and wild. She said that many of the current beekeepers are in their 50s and older, and there are very few people of the younger generation active in that lifestyle.

“It’s very important that I travel all over and help them get their feet wet, get their wheels rolling, get them thinking about why we need bees, and possibly become that beekeeper. That’s how I started; I heard it from another beekeeper,” Pettibon said.

Pettibon began beekeeping when she was 7 years old. Since then, she has grown into a 20-year-old woman with a history of hard work. She isn’t afraid to roll up her sleeves and get dirty, something she thinks is lost on much of the younger generation.

“It’s hard work, but for me it’s worthwhile. I like hard work,” Pettibon said.

As the 2017 American Honey Princess, Pettibon acts on behalf of the The American Beekeeping Federation (ABF) a trade organization representing beekeepers and honey producers throughout the United States. The efforts of the American Honey Princess are mirrored by the American Honey Queen.

“We do a lot of legislative work, trying to pass laws of different things that are going on. So you have to keep up to date with what’s going on around the world, why need certain laws passed,” Pettibon said.

The Queen and Princess both have the same roles, just different titles. They both travel 340 days out of the year, talking about honeybees and the important roles they play in modern society. They typically divide the United States in half, trying to visit as many states as they can, aiming for 25 each.

“I’m in a new state almost every week,” Pettibon said.

The American Beekeeping Federation (ABF) sponsors all of her travels with fundraisers. The ABF is comprised of beekeepers across America who gather once a year for their annual conference where they partake in beekeeping classes — ranging from beginner to advanced — network with fellow bee experts, showcase their skills, and participate in family oriented games and activities. This year it’s in Reno, Nevada.

“I love it. It’s a great organization. They’re just all beekeepers who love what they’re doing; and want to help this generation to get more hives before the older generation dies off,” Pettibon said.

To become the American Honey Queen and Princess, 11 women compete annually for the crowns. The competition is knowledge-based and all contestants must be a state queen to compete. Each contestant must have at least one year of beekeeping under their belt. Pettibon started out county level and worked her way up to state queen. She said the competition is all done in one week at national convention where all the women are watched very closely by secret judges that are later revealed and interview each contestant. A woman can only run once in their lifetime, whether she makes it or not. Pettibon was happy to make the cut.

During her time as the American Honey Princess, Pettibon has discussed the honeybees’ historical significance and their global impact. She will adjust her curriculum based on her audience. For places like gardening clubs she will discuss what flowers to plant and at groups like Future Farmers of America (FFA), she will go over how to begin beekeeping and proper bee handling.

“We talk a lot with media. A lot of times people ask us, ‘why are the bees dying off?’ We have to know that information,” Pettibon said. “We’ve always had bees dying off, the world just didn’t know about it until 2006, when colony collapse started.”

She said that Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is not the biggest problem anymore. Lack of habitation and mites are now the biggest problem for the honeybees. Honeybees need more flowers to pollinate and less mites (Varroa destructors) decimating their populations. A bee only makes one drop of honey in its lifetime, which for the Western honey bee is 122 to 152 days.

“We need more people to plant flowers in more blues and purples because they see in ultraviolet light, which are different colors than we see. For the mite, we worked really close with researchers and scientists to try and figure out why the mites became immune to the treatment. They figured out a new treatment that kills the mite but is not harmful to the honeybee,” she said.

Pettibon said the knowledge of honey’s importance has been around for a while. King Tut loved it so much he wanted it in his next life. The ancient Egyptians knew the divine and practical uses of honey, making offerings of honey to their gods and using it as an embalming fluid and a dressing for wounds. Honey never spoils. Honey found in King Tut’s tomb is completely edible. Honey has a history of medical value but it’s been cast aside for awhile only to rise to significance again.

“I think I use it more for medicine than I do for food,” Pettibon laughed.

Pettibon was always drawn to the medicinal qualities of honey. She is studying to be a wilderness Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) to work on a search and rescue group. There are still studies being done to see how honey can fight cancer. She said there’s a lot of people who turn to it when nothing else works. She said there are new studies of honey curing Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). She recounted one instance of a girl who had a day to live and was cured of MRSA with honey.

“Honey helps fight cancer and all these different things and I wanted to learn more about that, because I’d like to learn the medical side of things. All the different ways it can help our body and heal it, naturally,” Pettibon said.

Pettibon stayed with great aunt and uncle while visiting Alaska. Her grandfather was a pilot from here. He was transferred to Dallas. That’s where she was born. She said she enjoyed her time in the Last Frontier.

“If it weren’t for the cold, I’d move here. I can’t do the cold very well but I do love it out here. The people are sweet and nice and the scenery is gorgeous,” Pettibon said.

She’s off to tour the rest of the country, hoping to foster a love for the bee, that just like honey, never expires.

“They’re people out there who want to do it they just were never given the opportunity to learn how,” Pettibon said.