"Nectar director" Josh Zeldner of Z Specialty Food/The Hive, Woodland, waves. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

They came to taste the honey,  learn about the importance of honey bees, check out the bee observation hives, and to engage with beekeepers and merchants. 

And to photograph and "bee" photographed with the costumed "Queen Bee" Wendy Mather, program manager of the UC Davis-based California Master Beekeeper Program.

Amina Harris, director of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center and a co-founder of the California Honey Festival, explained what the honey flavor wheel is and invited the crowd to sample honey varietals. 

Harris estimated the crowd at 40,000. "I got laryngitis," she said.

She also is the self-described "Queen Bee" of the Z Specialty Food/The Hive, Woodland. Her son, "nectar director" Josh Zeldner, also greeted the crowd at his booth. (They later hosted an after-party at The Hive.)

Claire Tauzer of Tauzer Apiaries/Sola Bee Farms and her worker bees talked about the wonders of bees, the merits of honey and offered visitors a taste of their honey. They displayed a bee observation hive. (See news story about the Tauzers).

Jer and Ellen Johnson of Uncle Jer's Traveling Bee Show, Elk Grove, entertained the crowd with shows throughout the day.   Like the Tauzers, the California Master Beekeeper Program, Mann Lake Bee Supply and others, the Johnsons also showed festival-goers their bee observation hive, pointing out the three castes (queen, workers and drones) and the roles they play.

It was, as they say, a honey of a festival.

The event, launched in 2017, didn't happen in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. 

But it buzzed back into Woodland last Saturday to a crowd absolutely craving camaraderie...and liquid gold.

If you haven't been around honey bees much, and can't distinguish the queen from a worker bee (sterile female) or drone (male bee), head over the California Master Beekeeper Program displays at the California Honey Festival on Saturday between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. in downtown Woodland.

You can watch the bees in a glassed-in observation hive: the three castes, the queen, the workers and the drones. 

In peak season, a queen can lay from 1000 to 2000 eggs a day. 

It's a matriarchial society and the workers (females) do all the work. The workers' age-related specific duties include nurse maids, nannies, royal attendants, builders, architects, foragers, dancers, honey tenders, pollen packers, propolis or "glue" specialists, air conditioning and heating technicians, guards, and undertakers. The worker bees run the hive. 

The California Master Beekeeper Program (CAMPB), directed by Extension apiculturst Elina Lastro Niño of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematoogy, is a "continuous train-the-trainer effort," as its website indicates. "The CAMBP's vision is to train Apprentice, Journey and Master level beekeepers so they can effectively communicate the importance of honey bees and other pollinators within their communities, serve as mentors for other beekeepers, and become the informational conduit between the beekeeping communities throughout the state and UC Cooperative Extension staff."

This is science-based education! This is not  Jerry Seinfeld's  Bee Movie in which bee misinformation reigns supreme. The scenario: "Barry B. Benson, a bee just graduated from college, is disillusioned at his lone career choice: making honey. On a special trip outside the hive, Barry's life is saved by Vanessa, a florist in New York City. As their relationship blossoms, he discovers humans actually eat honey, and subsequently decides to sue them."

The most egregious error: male bees have nothing to do with making honey or finding flowers or running the hive. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

The drone's sole task is to mate with a virgin queen and then he dies.  Any drones left in the hive by the end of the season (late fall, early winter) get kicked out by their sisters.  They're just another mouth to feed. The gals don't want to deplete their precious resources.

The California Honey Festival, launched in 2017, is a good place to learn about bees and honey.  Admission is free.

Some of the activities: 

• The UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center will showcase its honey tasting wheel and offer free honey tasting.
• The California Master Beekeeper Program will staff two educational booths. Visitors can examine a bee observation hive, check out the beekeeping equipment and peer through microscopes. Kids' activities are also planned. 
• The Bohart Museum of Entomology of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematolgoy will showcase bee diversity in its specimen drawers. Its live "petting zoo" will include Madagascar hissing cockroaches and stick insects (walking sticks) that folks can hold,  said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator.
• The UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden will address pollinator needs and gardening.
• The Woodland Public Library will offer a children's reading hour.
• Uncle Jer's Traveling Bee Show will provide educational performances.
• The UC Davis Bookstores booth will contain honey, books, and other gifts for sale. 

Amina Harris, director of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center, and a co-founder of the California Honey Festival,  says 100 vendors will sell everything from food to plants to arts and crafts.  Visitors can don a bee costume and get their picture taken in the UC Davis Pollination Park, a collaboration with the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden. 

An after-party is planned at The Hive, part of Z Specialty Food, Woodland. Harris, the "Queen Bee" of Z Specialty Food, said advance registration is required. Access https://zspecialtyfood.com/event/california-honey-festival-after-party/.

Hear that buzz? See those bees? Taste that honey? 

A newly emerged worker bee. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The festival, launched in 2017--and by co-founder Amina Harris, director of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center at the Robert Mondavi Institute--aims to inspire "people of all ages to protect and celebrate bees and other pollinators." Admission is free.

"UC Davis will have a slimmed down version this year," said Harris. Some of the events on tap Saturday: 

• The UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center will showcase its honey tasting wheel and offer free honey tasting.
• The California Master Beekeeper Program will staff two educational booths. Visitors can examine a bee observation hive, check out the beekeeping equipment and peer through microscopes. Kids' activities are also planned. 
• The Bohart Museum of Entomology of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematolgoy will showcase bee diversity in its specimen drawers. Its live "petting zoo" will include Madagascar hissing cockroaches and stick insects (walking sticks) that folks can hold,  said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator.
• The UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden will address pollinator needs and gardening.
• The Woodland Public Library will offer a children's reading hour.
• Uncle Jer's Traveling Bee Show will provide educational performances.
• The UC Davis Bookstores booth will contain honey, books, and other gifts for sale.
• Visitors can don a bee costume and get their picture taken in the UC Davis Pollination Park, a collaboration with the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden. 

Harris said the festival will include live music, a beer and mead garden. Some 100 vendors will sell everything from food to plants to arts and crafts.  The first festival drew some 30,000 visitors.

An after-party is planned at The Hive, part of Z Specialty Food, Woodland. Harris, the "Queen Bee" of Z Specialty Food, said advance registration is required. Access https://zspecialtyfood.com/event/california-honey-festival-after-party/.

Amina Harris and her late husband, Ishai Zeldner.

Zeldner, who died in 2018 at age 71, would have been proud to see the family business he founded, Z Specialty Food, develop into a 20,000 square-foot facility at 1221 Harter Way, Woodland.

It was his dream.

It includes a processing plant, The Hive (tasting room for honey and mead, a gift shop and a conference room), an outdoor courtyard and a two-acre pollinator garden.

He particularly would have been proud to see the floor-to-ceiling hive decor in The Hive: the very bee boxes he tended to when he visited his apiary. As many beekeepers do, he wrote his observations on the boxes. You can still see his notations. 

Zeldner worked as a commercial beekeeper and studied beekeeping at UC Davis before founding the Moon Shine Trading Company in 1979. That was the beginning of Z Specialty Food.

But it all began with yellow starthistle. "He loved it so much that he began giving it away to his friends, and quickly realized he was going broke doing so," remembers his widow, Amina Harris, the director of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center. 

 His son, Joshua "Josh" Zeldner, who now runs the company--he calls himself "the nectar director"--wrote in an eulogy: "He helped introduce consumers to the wide range of honeys not found in the bear-shaped squeeze bottles at the supermarket." 

"Born in Buffalo, New York, Ishai was a fourth-generation food merchant, and grew up in the specialty food business," Josh wrote. "His family owned Zeldner's Market, which specialized in exotic game. Ishai spent his Saturdays and summers as a kid working in the store, learning how to butcher an array of animals, and, most importantly, how to successfully run a business."

"After college, Ishai spent several transformational years living on Kibbutz Beit Hashita in Israel.  The kibbutz beekeeper chose Ishai to assist him based on his size and strength; neither man had any idea how much it would influence the rest of his life. It was there that he not only learned how to keep bees, but fell in love with beekeeping and honey. He also took the name Ishai. He returned to Buffalo to assist with the management and sale of his family's business at the sudden death of his father. This significant gesture ensured that his mother could afford to comfortably retire."

Ishai's vision was to "bring top quality varietal honey to the table," Josh wrote. And of course, yellow starthistle was "the first one to capture his imagination and his palate."

"Soon after, he married Amina Harris who ran the business by his side in Winters and then Davis. Together they raised two children – Shoshana and Joshua. Ishai taught them both how to appreciate honey straight from the hive and keep bees of their own. Together, Ishai and Amina created a line of nationally-recognized award-winning specialty food products. Today, Moon Shine Trading Company is part of the family of Z Specialty Food, LLC, based in Woodland, California. Z Specialty is known throughout the country for offering over 30 varietal honeys selected from across North America." (See eulogy.)

Fast forward to today. Plans are underway--buzzing, really--for a gala family event.  The Hive will host a Nature Day celebration, free and open to the public, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, April 2. It's a day to emphasize the importance of bees, honey, pollination and conservation. The  public can tour the processing plant, taste honey and mead, explore the gift shop, sit in the outdoor courtyard and visit the pollinator garden. Workshops, games, a display of bee specimens by the Bohart Museum of Entomology, and a photo display of honey bees are planned. Dogs are welcome, too! (See schedule)