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 WEWAHITCHKA, Fla. (AP) - Busy humming broken by a hard tapping fills the clearing. Bees at work, and Ben Lanier loosening their honeycombs from weathered boxes.
He harvests this tupelo honey only once a year, just after the white tupelo gum trees blossom in the swamps along the Apalachicola River.
Some of the box lids Lanier pries open are still black from the carbolic acid his grandfather poured on them to repel the bees while he worked decades ago. Lanier sprays the same lids with smoke or an almond concoction called "bee goo," according to the handwriting on the bottle. The smell makes the eyes sting.
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