Field bees, the ones that collect nectar, have returned with pollen on their legs, some of it yellow and some of it orange, depending upon the plant they have visited. The nectar they have collected will be stored safely away in cells where it is slowly warmed at an ambient temperature of 100 degrees until it reaches the consistency of the delicacy we call honey. During its lifetime, a bee collects about a 12th of a teaspoon of honey.

"It takes 600 bees to produce one pound of honey," noted John McCoy, owner of McCoy's Honey House on Route 28, two miles south of Oneonta, where honey lovers can buy their honey directly from the beekeeper. A single, productive hive produces 60 to 70 pounds of honey in a season, he said.

Honey sells for $2 to $3 a pound, which is why most beekeepers work part time.