Hello! My name is Moira Dieteman, and I am a senior Biology major at Grove City College! I was born and raised in Erie, Pennsylvania. I grew up close to Presque Isle State Park, as well as many parks and hiking areas, so my childhood was spent outside in nature and exploring. I am so excited to have joined the GCC bee project this summer after having taken Intro to Apiculture this past semester. I learned so much about honey bees in Dr. Farone’s class, and have greatly enjoyed the hands-on, real-life experience that I have gained so far this summer working with the bees!
We have been working on honey testing to find plant origins through pollen DNA this summer and are going to continue this research into the fall. In addition, we will be continuing research on Deformed Wing Virus to asses the viral load in our honey bee hives and its correspondence with varroa mite counts. I am stoked to see what is to come and what more I will learn doing research!
I love these tests Moira is doing and intrigued by the results. I look forward to learning more particularly about additives to honey to increase profits for the sellers. I have hear that china honey is more often diluted with additives to the point that Canada does not allow honey to be imported from China. I also read that what china does in this case is sell the honey product to India in large barrels who then bottle it and sell it as a product of India thereby evading Canadian restrictions. Since I am a beekeeper I dont have to worry. I know exactly where my honey comes from.