Roadside Honey

Just a few photos from a trip back from Mykolayiv. We stopped along the road  to purchase some honey and bee pollen.  The man had a huge selection of honey and honey-related products for sale, and my friend Ihor (that's him tasting above) had extensive conversation about the types (buckwheat, acacia and others);  the properties of bee pollen; and more.  He also had homemade wine and walnuts for sale, though we didn't come home with either.  According to Ihor, bees and honey were scarce this year in Poltava, his native region, so he stocked up on several varieties to take home.

As we made the long drive, we noticed that each village tended to sell one thing or the other.  We passed the village with a sugar plant, where big bags of sugar were for sale along the road.  On the road we also saw truck after truck filled with sugar beets.  In one village, potatoes for sale; in another, apples; another cabbages; and still another, sweet peppers.

For mile after mile, the incredible black dirt of Ukraine stretched out before us with the remainders of corn, sunflowers and other crops; and some fields set afire to burn off crops before winter.  I've traveled over a great deal of Ukraine on this trip, and find so many lovely parts that I'd like to explore.