‘Bee’ing courageous

Teena L, TNN | Jan 28, 2012

Many of us stay away when we spot a giant hive on a tree.

The very thought of being there irks us out. But while all of us cower in fright and run, Josephine Selvaraj chose to adopt these bees and share her life with them. "Like others, I was also quite frightened by their sight. But when I started to move around with them, they became my lovable pets. I fondly call them as 'Angels' and not honeybees anymore."
She started her farm in Kondayambatti near Alanganallur with 3 boxes each constituting of 10,000 bees. She is successfully stepping into her seventh year with three thousand boxes - which is roughly three crores of buzzing honeybees. "My interest in this business took a dynamic turn when I started to realize the actual purpose of the honeybees. It is definitely more than just the money. Most of us are really not aware of the multiple advantages of honey. I take an effort to emphasize on the honeybees which give us the magical solution- The Honey" says the enthusiastic apiarist.
Josephine specializes in producing more than 25 varieties of honey. "We choose the trees which starts to bloom in their respective seasons and keep the honeybee box on the tree. My angels collect honey from the fresh seasonal flowers and gather honey for us. We do this process on Neem , berries and other trees that have medicinal properties." says Josephine proudly.

Apart from maintaining her buzzing friends, she provides free training to interested youngsters who are willing to start a farm of their own. She also provides them with some of her angels for them to start over. So far, she has trained 300 people and continues to do them every month. "I feel the use of honey is not correctly imbibed in the minds of a common man. Honey is the only substance that combines with the blood as soon as it reaches our taste buds. As they are very effective in upholding our immune system, there are chances that the average life time of the people can be increased these days", shares Josephine who foresees honey as a repairing solution.

Passion and commitment are the most important factors for attaining excellence and being apiarist is not an exception. Resting in her cupboards are laurels and awards that have recognized her effort. She signs off saying, "My angels conquer my dreams. I am literally addicted to them in some way. I often visualize that some day in the near future, all the trees in Madurai have honeybee hives".