Ruth Harrigan !
This month's veghippy hero is the beautiful and extraordinary Ruth, creator of MEE Beauty line, mother of four, community leader and advocate for sustainable living in Queens NY, beekeeper, organic gardener and so much more. Her life is a huge inspiration to those searching for a more wholesome lifestyle, especially in the city! Check out the interview below!
Sunshine: First question - What is apiculture? Why do people farm bees?
Ruth: I think right now in the city, we started farming bees because of CCD, because we are losing a lot of bees each year due to Colony Collapse Disorder. We feel the need to bring bees back. We are doing it in our own way in the city, in a very small way, to make it aware to the public the importance of bees and why we need to keep them alive. We really need to keep them pollinating the food that we eat.
Sunshine: What are the benefits of beekeeping?
Ruth: One of the biggest benefits of bees is that they pollinate. That is their biggest role in our environment. About 70% of the food we eat is pollinated by bees. Without that, we wouldn't have the enjoyment of apples, strawberries, peaches, pears...I mean all the common fruits and vegetables that we eat would not exist. So it is so imperative that we keep bees alive. And at the end, they give us something back in return for all the good work we do [through gardening]. They give us honey! Which is a sweet thing.
Sunshine: Yes I agree!! Now, how did you start beekeeping? Where did you learn?
Ruth: I started about 5 years ago. I stumbled upon it because my daughter wanted a dog and I told her that we weren't ready for a dog, so we got chickens instead. In doing some research on how to raise chickens, I stumbled upon a petition to make beekeeping legal in New York City. I was very interested in it. I had never even thought of bees until then, so I looked into it and signed up for a course. I was completely fascinated by the whole beekeeping hobby. Soon after I finished the course, I bought 2 hives. And luckily, right at that time in March of 2010 beekeeping became legal in New York City.
Sunshine: Wow! What do you love most about beekeeping?
Ruth: I feel in my own way, that I am contributing to our environment. I am doing something good for our planet. It is so polluted right now. And everyone has to do their own thing to try to bring it back. It is very rewarding to know you are doing a small part. I also draw a lot of personal lessons from [beekeeping]. Looking inside of the hives, I see how the Queen Bee interacts with the rest of the hive body. It is very interesting how the worker bees are so loyal to their Queen and to their fellow housemates. They really protect each other and they share all the different tasks within the hive to make the whole thing work - very efficiently. Those are such basic lessons that we can all draw from to apply to our own personal lives.
Sunshine: Ruth, would you call yourself an environmentalist?
Ruth: I would love to be called that! I feel I could do a lot more but I'm striving for it. I mean in my own backyard, we don't use any pesticides or fertilizers, we keep chickens to manage the insects, we have a rabbit to give us manure to garden, and as much as we can, we grow our own vegetables. I want to pass that on to the kids as well. I think that it's all about awareness. If they are aware of where our food comes from and what we are doing to the soil, I think it will open up their minds about what to put in the soil. You will be less inclined to put pesticides, knowing that it will end up in your food. I think that's what's lacking in general. A lot of people don't know about it and a lot of people are so quick to spray those bugs in the backyard with insecticide, not knowing that that's just going to leach into your plants. But going on...we have rain barrels out back so we catch 55gallons of rainwater. It helps me water all the potted plants in the backyard. Dollarwise, [the rainwater] doesn't save me that much, but in my mind, anything that I can do to keep my property natural as possible, make me happy and it feels very rewarding at the same time.
Sunshine: This seems to be the perspective you take to your product MEE Beauty, is that right?
Ruth: Yes. Again, even with the products that we put on our body, I look for ingredients that are as natural as possible. However, as with food, if you are going to use 100% natural products, the problem is that it's going to decay very fast. Realistically, you don't want to buy a cream that is very expensive and that's going to decay within two weeks. That would be the shelf life of anything that is natural. So you do have to put a minimum amount of preservative to make it last longer without harming your body. I always tell people, it's just like sugar. Sugar is a good thing. It's sweet, everyone loves it. But if you overdo it, even sugar can kill you. You can get diabetes. With these preservatives, yes if you take in a lot, it will hurt you. However, using the minimal amount for the purpose of preserving the product has very little effect on the body. In fact, the bacteria that is going to grow in a natural product may be far more harmful without it. So you kind of have to weigh the pros and cons of the ingredients. But we try to go as natural as possible.
Sunshine: When did you start your Beauty line?
Ruth: It started about 2years ago, right after I got laid off with my job in finance on Wall Street. I had decided that that was like my opportunity to do something on my own. Instead of going back into finance, I decided I was going to try to launch my own business by combining honey, that is, my hobby of beekeeping, with a product line that I love. So I started working with a lab, and we came up with all the different formulas for lip balms and body lotion. My key ingredient is honey because honey is a natural moisturizer, and it links to beekeeping. I've done a lot of tests on the product, it felt really good on my skin. Uhh, I didn't test it on any animals, I tested it on myself so there's no animal cruelty here! [Sunshine's laughter] I tested everything on my own skin and of course on my family as well. So if there wasn't any reaction on them and everything was all good then I approved the formula! [more laughter from Sunshine!]
Sunshine: That's great. What can we look forward to either with MeeBeauty or your Honey Line?
Ruth: Well, this Fall, I'm going to be launching 2 new products and they're both going to be for babies. It's going to be called "BabyMee." I'm gonna start with a body wash for babies. It's a body wash / shampoo combination and a very gentle body lotion for babies. Both are fragrance free and of course, only pure honey is added to those products.
Sunshine: Wow, are the honey in your products right out of your own hives?
Ruth: I would like to! However I don't have enough from my hives so I do seek honey from other beekeepers that I know. I only put pure honey in my products so they will come from beekeepers that I trust and keep bees like I do without using chemicals nor additives in their honey.
Sunshine: You also mentioned you're gonna be teaching some classes throughout New York City soon?
Ruth: I'm hoping that once the contracts are signed, I will run a series of 2-hour "Intro to Beekeeping" courses. The first one will take place in Flushing, so I just have to wait until the use of the property get's signed off to run the class. Then hopefully there will be enough interest to keep the classes going into the Fall season.
Sunshine: Do you have any recommendations for people who are new to bees and beekeeping or for anyone who wants to start beekeeping on their own?
Ruth: I think that it's really helpful to read up on it. Taking a course is definitely recommended because there are so many different scenarios in the beekeeping yard. It's best to get a general overview of what to expect in the yard by taking a class before you embark on buying hives and trying to figure it out yourself. It is quite dangerous if you don't do it right. I took my first class through the New York City Beekeeper's Association. It was run through a course of 2 weekends, all day, and that was enough. You just want an overview of what to expect from the beginning of the season to the end. The rest is hands on. I would even recommend being an apprentice! It would give you a real good insight on beekeeping so by the time you start your own, you are confident going in there. Every season it changes, expect a lot of drama inside the hives!
It was such a blessing to interview Ruth for this month's veghippy hero. She is already a local name among the Queens community, as her story was featured in the prestigious New York Times, a short film project in the Tribeca Film Festival, as well as on SinoVision TV. You can purchase MEEBeauty Products at her Amazon store HERE. Thanks Ruth!!
