On Saturday, March 29, Cathy Wolko, the owner of The Humble Bee Honey Company at the Old Pin Shops in Oakville, gave a presentation on the many health benefits and medicinal uses for honey at C.H. Booth Library. She also spoke at length about the current threats to the honeybee population as well as strategies to address the challenges.

Wolko said she has always been interested in farming honey and caring for bees, which she learned from her father, Charlie Mitrik, who was also a beekeeper. She has been a full-time beekeeper since 2006, and she still has some of her dad’s beekeeping equipment and supplies.

During her presentation she also explained why honey doesn’t spoil, the chemistry of honey, how honey is a natural skin care product, and how, at one time, honeybees were used as weapons of war.

Her presentation was a complement to an exhibition of several beekeeping items and bee-related memorabilia in a display case at the library opposite the meeting room where the program was offered.

Attendees were shocked, they said, “by the complexity of the world of honeybees” and how much Wolko knew about honeybees.