What do you get when you cross a cannabis user with a real animal geek?
You get Nicolas Trainerbees. Nicolas is a long time marijuana user and can remember having an interest in animals – and nature in general – from a very early age. Now, Nicolas is getting some serious attention from the media for the very special honey his bees are making.
That’s because Nic trained his bees to visit a cannabis plant, “collect the resin and use it in the beehive.” It’s genius. Because of the training he developed for his bees, Nic is effectively making this ‘cannahoney’ using all natural processes. Which is kind of crazy!
Nicolas says cannabis has been a long term medical solution for his early diagnosis of hyperactivity at age 7. He doesn’t give a specific age when his cannabis use first began but he does say “I began consuming before the age of 10.”
Years later, he was asked by people aware of his dual interests in bees and cannabis, why not pair the two and make some super honey? Nic thought about it and concluded that since cannabis is good for you and honey is good for you – marrying the two into a single product could be very beneficial to the final product. DinaFem seeds reports:
“Everything that passes through the body of a bee is improved”, he says, given that their enzymes make the nectar turn into the desired honey. The resin obtained from willows, poplars and other trees is turned into propolis, which is an antiseptic, antibiotic, antifungal, antibacterial and also has healing properties. “So if the bee took the resin from cannabis it would also be very beneficial. The aim arose for me to get the bees to obtain this resin.”
The project was not without risk, however. Firstly, Nicolas lives in France – and the government there is not the most pot friendly. This forces Nicolas further out from his home than he would like, but he does so to protect himself, his bees and their product.
Nicolas would also be the first person to bring bees and cannabis together – so it would be a learning experience for him just as much as for the bees. Would he be able to train them to obtain the resin of the cannabis plant by themselves?
And lastly, lot of people told Nicolas that marijuana would be bad for the bees. Nicolas knew those particular concerns were unfounded – “The bees that produce the cannahoney are not affected by cannabinoids because they do not have an endocannabinoid system.” – he still needed two years of training the bees, researching them and recording the information to prove there were no negative effects on the insects.
But don’t expect to see Nicolas out on the cannabis industry circuit selling his cannahoney. The guy doesn’t have a website or Facebook account. And he’s okay with that, “I work alone with my wife and I do not have time or money to do much else.”
Keep up the good work Nicolas Trainerbees!