This is the Apprentice Nurturer Bee Book. It has many important things that your mentor will refer to. At the very end, you’ll find a few blank pages which you can use to write notes. Study hard and you will succeed.
Sincerely,
The Queen Bee
- Nanny Rose
- Nanny Rose is very kind and has just recently become a nanny. Everyone loves her and she loves everyone in return. She is famous for her stories with Nanny Pollen.
- Nanny Cattail
- Nanny Cattail is very firm but pretty. She has attracted many male bees but she always stays loyal to her husband, Snow. Her talent is weaving and sewing. Nectar-collector Violet exclaims, “Nanny Cattail’s weaving looks like it’s real and moving!”
- Nanny Pollen
- Nanny Pollen is very friendly and also, like Nanny Rose has just recently become a nanny. In fact, they’re best friends and enjoy telling stories that lead off from one another.
- Nanny Sunny
- Nanny Sunny is always cheerful and outgoing. Bees describe her as “the happiest of the happiest” and all the eggs and larvae love her. Her specialty
Egg Yolk Food(Makes 20 servings):
- Collect pollen (preferably tulip, daisy, hawthorn, or gardenia).
- Using twig or legs (always wash legs afterwards), mush the pollen until it’s soft and sticky.
- Add a sprinkle of unsweetened or pure honey.
- Mix thoroughly and you’re done!
- Add 7 teaspoons of sweetened honey or pure honey.
- Mix until a warm yellow colour.
- Put in fridge to cool for 3 days.
- You’re done!
- Take a pot of sweetened honey and hot water and stir for at least 3 minutes (stir longer for a more smooth taste).
- Turn the stove up to a boil
- Cover the pot lid and every 5 minutes add 2 teaspoons of pollen. Repeat this step until all the pollen you need is gone. (The more pollen, the more taste and juicy it will be.)
- Cover the pot lid and wait 10 minutes.
- Mix quickly and pour into mould.
- Cover with foil and put in fridge.
- Wait 2 hours, remove the foil and you’re done!
Welcome to the first step of becoming a Nurturer: an Apprentice Nurturer Bee! Through this book you’ll find tips and guidance to help you along your journey. Being a nurturer means that you will be helping the young (larvae and eggs). You will learn how to deal with a broken egg, which formula is best for a certain larva, and help others with their own journey. All in all, this is a job that requires concentration, focus and understanding. Most importantly, have fun!
Mentors:
- Nanny Thistle-your designated mentor
- Nanny Thistle is the strictest of the nurturers but the one with the most experience. Nanny Thistle has dealt with unbelievable incidents in the nursery and lost one of her legs while attempting to save a small larva from a wasp. She may seem hard on the outside but the closest of her friends and apprentices knows inside is just a bee who wants to help others.
Life Cycle
In order to take care of young, you should always know the life cycle of a bee.
Births:
Bees are laid by the queen bee (Daffodil) as eggs. The eggs are soft and new so be sure to handle them with
Larva:
By now, the eggs will have hatched and transformed into adventurous little brats so be sure to keep an eye on them. Each larva will have their own comb, now that it’s less crowded and will each develop their own interests. Once you have become more advanced, you will take care of the younger larvae, but for now, stick with the older ones or there will be consequences. You can tell because the combs are separated and the older ones are slightly larger. Larvae eat a diet of royal jelly and sometimes even sugar water. Royal jelly is a special soft jelly made for larvae and sugar water is a plain drink with pollen and honey.
Sugar Water(Makes 8 cups):
- Take a pot of boiling hot water.
- Add pollen (depending on amount) (preferably bellflower, lavender, rose, lily, or hawthorn).
This is a small sweet that many will enjoy.
- Take a pot and put in 10 teaspoons of sweetened or unsweetened honey.
- Put in 5 teaspoons of dandelion milk.
- Heat until everything is dissolved.
- Add in a small sized hunk daisy butter.
- When butter is melted, add 3 poached dragonfly eggs, (sunflower) baking powder and (peony) flour. (Add pinecone nuts if needed.)
- Stir until all blended together.
- Pour into pan and bake for 50 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.
- Take out and cool. You’re done!
A simple yummy snack will take all their worries away.
- Take a pot and put in 1 cup of sweetened honey, 3 teaspoons of dandelion milk, 1 poached dragonfly egg, an extra-small hunk of daisy butter, and 2 vanilla beans.
- Mix until all blended together. Now put this aside.
- Take some supreme-frozen honey and cook in pot at 200 degrees Celsius for 2 hours.
- Add the batter that was put aside to the cooked honey.
- Mash cooked honey and using a blender, blend for 10 seconds.
- Add water and blend again for 10 seconds. Repeat until is a mushy honey-sauce like.
- Freeze for 24 hours and cool for 2 hours. You’re done!
This crispy treat is sure to sweeten a bee’s day!
- Melt marshmallows and small sized hunk of daisy butter. Cover lid of pan and wait 5 minutes.
- Add fried rice grains, pollen chips and any desired toppings.
- Mix thoroughly and spoon into bee shaped or any desired shape. Pat the top down so there won’t be any bumps.
- Put in freezer for 20 minutes. You’re done!
You’re going through your daily routine of checking the eggs when you come across Feather, one of the many eggs. She is a yellowish colour and
Take the formula and smoothly rub it over the dent/crack. Remember to be gentle and don’t press too hard in order to not harm the egg any further. Then, leave the egg and check on it regularly to look over its condition. If it gets worse, please notify a nanny.
Formulating Diets
Once you get into the more advanced stages of becoming a nurturer, you will find yourself with challenges (and exams) of formulating a special diet for a certain larva or egg. Different types of flowers mean different uses. Here are the basics:
Flowers:
- Allium-Good for bees that have a punk and sweet attitude.
- Lily-Good for bees that are soft and shy.
- Rose-Good for bees that are somewhat shy but outgoing.
- Tulip-Good for bees that are creative and fun.
- Chrysanthemum-Good for bees that are intelligent and tend to be called “geeky.”
- Sunflower-Good for bees that are always happy, friendly and love to play.
- Carnation-Good for bees that are beautiful
- Sweet Pea-Good for bees that are odd and have an interest in nature.
- Stephanotis-Good for bees that have an interest in baking.
- Stargazer-Good for bees that that are different and have a natural talent to lead and direct.
- Star of Bethlehem-Good for bees that are greedy, selfish, but very pretty.
- Snapdragon-Good for bees that have an interest in medicine.
- Shamrock-Good for bees that are outgoing, creative and love to express themselves.
- Ranunculus-Good for bees that are lazy and drowsy.
- Pussy Willow-Good for bees that are cute and love to be cuddled.
- Poppy-Good for bees that are mournful and help with the dead.
- Orchid-Good for bees that are beautiful, creative, smart and funny.
- Magnolia-Good for bees that are hilarious and funny.
- Peony-Good for bees that are selfish and lead everything.
- Delphinium-Good for bees that have an interest in eggs and larvae.
- Dahlia-Good for bees that are funny, creative and kind of odd.
- Daffodil-Good for bees that are shy but show leadership.
- Cosmos-Good for bees that are daring and adventurous.
- Cornflower-Good for bees that are eager and love nectar-collecting.
- Bluebonnet-Good for bees that are good at helping others and teaching.
- Bluebells-Good for bees that show an outstanding talent in music.
- Blossom-Good for bees that are beautiful, shy and are caring.
- Amaryllises-Good for bees that are beautiful, creative and eager.
- Bells of Ireland-Good for bees that are a jack of all trades.
blew the house right down. Next, he went to the second little bee’s house, Dora. And he huffed and he puffed and he huffed and he blew the house right down. Finally, he went to the third little bee’s house, Flora’s. And he huffed and he puffed and he huffed-but he didn’t blow Flora’s house down. He tried again. He huffed and he puffed and he huffed-but the sturdy little house didn’t even shake a teeny bit. So, the big bad wasp decided to climb down the chimney and eat Flora. But he didn’t know that underneath the chimney was Flora stirring a good smelling pollen soup and when the wasp climbed down-PLOP went the wasp and instead, he was eaten by the third little bee.
Review: The Three Little Bees tells children to stay away from wasps and to go for the best quality things instead of being lazy and ending up being eaten. It is a fantasy that larvae will enjoy and love.
Games
Larvae enjoy many games that you probably played when you were one. As an apprentice nurturer, you will sometimes be required to play with the larvae. So, you should know some common games. / doesn’t look too well. You carefully take her out of the comb to inspect her more carefully. You twirl the egg around in your hands when you come across a dent. What do you do? The most natural thing for a bee to do would be to panic but that would result in dropping the egg and breaking it. The best thing to do is to remain calm and find your mentor. If she/he is not here, you can use this book to help you find the solution to your problem. A dent or crack is usually caused by another egg pushing around or if it’s a crack, it sometimes means that the egg is hatching. Make sure the egg is in a separate comb with no other things so that it can recover. There is a special formula to fix it.
Egg Dent/Crack Formula (Makes 1 potion):
- Mix in 7 teaspoons of pure honey, 1 yolk of a poached dragonfly egg, a teaspoon of daisy butter, 3 rose petals, 3 teaspoons of pollen (any kind), center of zinnia, 2 pussy willows, 3 pinecone seeds and one blooming shamrock flower.
- Add warm (NOT BOILING) water and mix.
- Freesia-Good for bees that are proud and have lots of leadership.
- Daisy-Good for bees that are friendly and love to take care of others.
- Dandelion-Good for bees that are a little sour but care for others deeply.
- Gladiolus-Good for bees that are popular and think of themselves.
- Iris-Good for bees that are peacemakers and shy.
- Bird of Paradise-Good for bees that are outgoing, loud and like to be different.
- Calla Lily-Good for bees that seem different from others and somewhat special.
- Water Lily-Good for bees that are peacemakers but have a bad temper.
- Zinnia-Good for bees that are different and shy.
- Wisteria-Good for bees that are pretty and talented.
- Violet-Good for bees that are intelligent and have an interest in humans.
- Sweet William-Good for bees that are shy and creative. Also, they tend to be a little selfish.
- Mum-Good for bees that tend to get into lots of trouble.
- Marigold-Good for bees that have an interest in different types of flowers and either baking or medicine.
- Lilac-Good for bees that are pretty, nice, caring, and generous.
- Lavender-Good for bees that are soft and tend to stick to people.
- Larkspur-Good for bees that are very competitive and with physically outstanding skills.
- Hydrangeas-Good for bees that have multiple personalities.
- Hibiscus-Good for bees that are brave and have lost of courage.
- Heliconia-Good for bees that are caring and very generous.
- Heather-Good for bees that are nice but pushy when it comes to getting what they want.
- Gardenia-Good for bees that are shy, pretty, kind, nice and generous.
- Dogwood-Good for bees that hang around in small groups.
- Geranium-Good for bees that have a disability.
Don’t forget to entertain the little larvae too. There are many stories but you should know just a few of the most popular ones so you don’t disappoint them.
The Flower in the Moonlight
There once was a princess bee who was never satisfied with simple things. She was as pretty as the moon and many bees asked for her hand. But she always said no. Hundreds of bees asked for to marry them but she had her reasons. He was either too fat, too skinny, too bald, or his antenna was crooked. Her husband had to be perfect. One day, a bee came from another hive. He had heard about a beautiful bee princess and wanted to marry her. But when he asked, he was immediately turned down. His antennae drooped and several bees stopped topat his back. If only there was some way he could win the princess’ heart. A cold northern wind had started up since he had left. Unfortunately, the bee followed the wind away from his hive, his heart shattered into pieces. He flew and he flew. Through pouring rain and blizzards of heavy snow. Until he saw a bright light up above a field ahead of him. Was it daytime already? No, the sun wasn’t up. It could have been the moon. But he stopped as he
decided to embark on the journey. But when she got there. All she saw were wilted sad flowers. Flying over them, she tried to spot one like the one her husband had brought her. Finally, she collapsed with despair and cried until there was a puddle, a pond, and slowly, a small lake appeared. The lovely magical flowers were not accustomed to the water and they were never seen again-and neither was the princess.
Review:The Flower in the Moonlight is a popular story for larvae. It teaches that being selfish and greedy leads to sadness while a kind and caring heart leads to joy and happiness.
The Three Little Bees
Once upon a time, there were three little bees named Flora, Dora, and Cora. When they were grown up, they decided to build a home by themselves. The first lazy little bee, Dora made a house out of grass. The second little lazy bee, Cora made a house out of twigs and sticks. The third smart little bee, Flora made a house out of strong honey combs. Then, one day came a big bad wasp. He was hungry and wanted something to eat. First, he went to the first little bee's house, Dora’s. And he huffed and he puffed and he huffed and he
- Hopcomb-Bees throw a small ball. They will have to hop on one leg in order of the numbers (it helps them learn to count) and pick up the ball. Then they switch feet and hop back again. The last person to have not broken any rules, hopped on the numbers incorrectly, or not fall is the winner.
- Honoply-This fun game is a board game dealing with money, buying property and building houses. It will really teach kids how to count and organize things. (P.S. This game is a little hard to understand so it would be best if older larvae played it instead of younger ones.)
- Comb Connect 5-In this game, there will be an upright comb. You take the “honey” and try to connect it diagonally, horizontally, or vertically before your opponent does and blocks you.
Pile my comb high with honey,
Then the day will be bright and sunny!
=One bumblebee payment.
=One Nectar payment (easier to find).
Map of Hive
Rules
- Apprentices are never allowed in the Nectar-Collector’s honey-pit, unless they are with their mentor.
- Always be polite to the queen.
- Go to sleep at exactly 8:30 pm and always meet at the dining hall at sunhigh.
- Be honest and respectful.
- Never trust wasps and hornets.
- Never wander off outside our territory.
- The hive always comes first.
- Queen-“Your highness/majesty/grace, I, your loyal and humble nurturer in training have come here…” (Curtsey and bow your head until she tells you not to.)
- Nectar Collector-“Good morning ____, I am here for…”
- Baker Bee-“Good morning Miss. Poppy. I don’t mean to bother you but…”
- Medicine Bee-“Good morning Miss. Fern, unfortunately…”
Notes:
______
Dear reader.