The other day I thought it would be a good idea to take some new photos of my honey jars outside. So I set up a few props on a wooden table in my yard and styled them for a bee-utiful shot. My phone rang while I was arranging things so I ran inside to pick it up. I have no idea how long the conversation went on but it must have been close to ten minutes. When I returned to begin shooting this is what I found. Hungry honeybees enjoying the box of honeycomb. Some how they managed to open the plastic case and were happily dining on their own good stuff. After about an hour or so the plastic lid was moved a few inches as they polished off the last few nibbles bees wax and all.So I left them to enjoy their last bit of honey goodness and decided to shoot these photos anyway.
Accidental Beekeeper Lesson: Never leave your honey unattended even to answer the phone!
The other day I thought it would be a good idea to take some new photos of my honey jars outside. So I set up a few props on a wooden table in my yard and styled them for a bee-utiful shot. My phone rang while I was arranging things so I ran inside to pick it up. I have no idea how long the conversation went on but it must have been close to ten minutes. When I returned to begin shooting this is what I found. Hungry honeybees enjoying the box of honeycomb. Some how they managed to open the plastic case and were happily dining on their own good stuff. After about an hour or so the plastic lid was moved a few inches as they polished off the last few nibbles bees wax and all.So I left them to enjoy their last bit of honey goodness and decided to shoot these photos anyway.
Accidental Beekeeper Lesson: Never leave your honey unattended even to answer the phone!
Last night was the Back Yard Beekeeper's Annual Pot Luck dinner. This is where local beekeeper's get to actually hangout with fellow beekeeper's, eat some delicious food, chat and chill. There are no lecture's or presentations by famous entomologist, no how to or hands on work shops, it is the only time of the whole year we get to enjoy each others company. I am writing to share three spectacular desserts that were prepared by our talented members. All were painstakingly prepared and each truly a work of art!
First you must see these hand decorated cupcakes by beekeeper and artist Heather Mezzacappa (above) featured icing pipped into a honeybee and a detailed blue flower. Cleverly displayed upon a tiered cupcake rack these treasures were dripping with luscious frosting too beautiful to actually devour.Cupcakes are all the rage right now and these earn high marks for their delicate colors and authentic cupcake flavor.
Now for the craftiest of all desserts, mini Marzipan honeybee bites. Prepared by beekeeper and restauranteur Bobbie Meyzen. These honeybees are actually mini marzipan sculptures with chocolate striped bodies and sliced almond wings. I nabbed my early on with no intentions on devouring this darling confection. Absolutely lovely!
Another cupcake offering by beekeeper and crafty Stefanie Baum. Each one looks like it was hand stamped with an embossed bee skep design then hand tinted for a stained glass effect. I have no idea how this effect was created but I am sure it was not easy to get them absolutely perfect. Shredded coconut framed the edges of each giving them a three dimensional textural quality. Each one of these desserts are no short of award winning in my book. I was charmed by the artistry of these divine desserts.
Last night was the Back Yard Beekeeper's Annual Pot Luck dinner. This is where local beekeeper's get to actually hangout with fellow beekeeper's, eat some delicious food, chat and chill. There are no lecture's or presentations by famous entomologist, no how to or hands on work shops, it is the only time of the whole year we get to enjoy each others company. I am writing to share three spectacular desserts that were prepared by our talented members. All were painstakingly prepared and each truly a work of art!
First you must see these hand decorated cupcakes by beekeeper and artist Heather Mezzacappa (above) featured icing pipped into a honeybee and a detailed blue flower. Cleverly displayed upon a tiered cupcake rack these treasures were dripping with luscious frosting too beautiful to actually devour.Cupcakes are all the rage right now and these earn high marks for their delicate colors and authentic cupcake flavor.
Now for the craftiest of all desserts, mini Marzipan honeybee bites. Prepared by beekeeper and restauranteur Bobbie Meyzen. These honeybees are actually mini marzipan sculptures with chocolate striped bodies and sliced almond wings. I nabbed my early on with no intentions on devouring this darling confection. Absolutely lovely!
Another cupcake offering by beekeeper and crafty Stefanie Baum. Each one looks like it was hand stamped with an embossed bee skep design then hand tinted for a stained glass effect. I have no idea how this effect was created but I am sure it was not easy to get them absolutely perfect. Shredded coconut framed the edges of each giving them a three dimensional textural quality. Each one of these desserts are no short of award winning in my book. I was charmed by the artistry of these divine desserts.
Our friend Glen Colello at Catch a Healthy Habit Cafe in West Haven Connecticut hosted a honeybee educational talk to introduce the vast benefits that the honeybee has to offer. Also, I got a chance to introduce my new book Honeybee: Lessons of an Accidental Beekeeper due out in September!
If you are looking for some REAL food they serve truly delicious raw food that is amazing and will change the way you think about eating. You will also be delighted to know they carry hard to find ingredients like authentic cacao, goji berries, seeds for sprouting and other natural products.
Catch a Healthy Habit CAFE 487A Campbell Ave West Haven CT 06516 Located inside the “Look At Me Now” Wellness Center 203.521.7648 http://www.catchahealthyhabit.com
Our friend Glen Colello at Catch a Healthy Habit Cafe in West Haven Connecticut hosted a honeybee educational talk to introduce the vast benefits that the honeybee has to offer. Also, I got a chance to introduce my new book Honeybee: Lessons of an Accidental Beekeeper due out in September!
If you are looking for some REAL food they serve truly delicious raw food that is amazing and will change the way you think about eating. You will also be delighted to know they carry hard to find ingredients like authentic cacao, goji berries, seeds for sprouting and other natural products.
Catch a Healthy Habit CAFE 487A Campbell Ave West Haven CT 06516 Located inside the “Look At Me Now” Wellness Center 203.521.7648 http://www.catchahealthyhabit.com
Last Saturday was Bee Hiving day here at Red Bee Apiary. We picked up our girls in Vista, NY bright and early with great anticipation. They seemed quite content while I poured each box into their new hives. No major incidents just a lovely day with my honeybees. The hives are set high up on a hill behind our meditating Buddha statue overlooking the gardens. There they get full sun early in the morning so my girls get up and out to work. This year I cleaned up all my hives by torching the insides as to remove any unwanted bacteria or pests that may be lingering inside. Also, I replaced all the frames and foundation so my honeybees are starting out with all new fresh equipment. They will be happy about that! A clean hive.
Our beautiful rooster who I call Oscar Wilde, he definitely is dressed in drag, did not seem to mind a few new honeybee hives around his hens.
If you want a life where you can eat all day...come back as a chicken. Literally, they eat ALL DAY LONG and don't seem to gain a pound. We have free range, fresh eggs daily and of course honey!
I do want to share with you the details of my upcoming book HONEYBEE Lessons from and Accidental Beekeeper. Its due out in September! It is my personal story of how I began keeping honeybees. These amazing creatures quickly took over my life and that first taste of fresh honey from the beehive was incredibly delicious enough for me to dive in and learn more. I uncovered so much fascinating information along my journey that honey and beekeeping is now a full time adventure and I made it my life.Stay Tuned for more about my book and events I will be participating in! Here is a sneak preview of the cover.......
Red Bee ® will be at the New Canaan Farmers Market each Saturday 10-2pm and Ridgefield on Fridays 3-7 pm. We've been invited to so many new markets this year we cannot keep up. We will have our honey for sale in many other markets by volunteers so keep an eye out for Red Bee ® products. For those readers from other places we are located in Connecticut. Hope to see you there!
If you are in the neighborhood and want to stop by to pick up some honey or any of our other handmade pure and sustainable skin care just let us know you are coming so we can greet you!
Last Saturday was Bee Hiving day here at Red Bee Apiary. We picked up our girls in Vista, NY bright and early with great anticipation. They seemed quite content while I poured each box into their new hives. No major incidents just a lovely day with my honeybees. The hives are set high up on a hill behind our meditating Buddha statue overlooking the gardens. There they get full sun early in the morning so my girls get up and out to work. This year I cleaned up all my hives by torching the insides as to remove any unwanted bacteria or pests that may be lingering inside. Also, I replaced all the frames and foundation so my honeybees are starting out with all new fresh equipment. They will be happy about that! A clean hive.
Our beautiful rooster who I call Oscar Wilde, he definitely is dressed in drag, did not seem to mind a few new honeybee hives around his hens.
If you want a life where you can eat all day...come back as a chicken. Literally, they eat ALL DAY LONG and don't seem to gain a pound. We have free range, fresh eggs daily and of course honey!
I do want to share with you the details of my upcoming book HONEYBEE Lessons from and Accidental Beekeeper. Its due out in September! It is my personal story of how I began keeping honeybees. These amazing creatures quickly took over my life and that first taste of fresh honey from the beehive was incredibly delicious enough for me to dive in and learn more. I uncovered so much fascinating information along my journey that honey and beekeeping is now a full time adventure and I made it my life.Stay Tuned for more about my book and events I will be participating in! Here is a sneak preview of the cover.......
Red Bee ® will be at the New Canaan Farmers Market each Saturday 10-2pm and Ridgefield on Fridays 3-7 pm. We've been invited to so many new markets this year we cannot keep up. We will have our honey for sale in many other markets by volunteers so keep an eye out for Red Bee ® products. For those readers from other places we are located in Connecticut. Hope to see you there!
If you are in the neighborhood and want to stop by to pick up some honey or any of our other handmade pure and sustainable skin care just let us know you are coming so we can greet you!
August is here and beside celebrating Ferrogosto, in celebration of our Honey harvest. Derived from two Latin words, Feriae Augusti, meaning August rest. In ancient Rome after the cereal crops were harvested, there was a large celebration for the farmers and the draft animals. They were given a well-deserved rest: they were even adorned with many flowers. These celebrations were also in honor of the Emperor Augustus Caesar, and the main day of this celebration was August 15th. We have removed frames of honeycomb from our hives and cut them neatly to be sold as boxes of our ever popular honeycomb! Here is a photo of a perfectly filled deep frame of honey. Honeycomb is truly natures perfect food.
If you've never had the pleasure of tasting this truly divine treat this is a must before you die and go to Naples. I recommend first spreading this on your favorite piece of toast. You can add some butter first. Who does not love honey butter? My next recommendation is spreading some honeycomb onto a cracker or piece of baguette then spreading a little brie, goat or any triple creme style cheese. You might think about your last rites beforehand because these are matches made only on heaven!
“Can you eat the wax?” Asked a shopper at our local farmers market, “YES! You can and it is divine”, I answered with great enthusiasm. This age old question was referring to the bees wax of our Red Bee® honeycomb. If you’ve never had the pleasure to taste this rare delicacy, honeycomb is that clear box of nature’s purest honey still in its original wax. Charles Darwin described honeycomb, as a masterpiece of engineering that is "absolutely perfect in economizing labor and wax." We at Red Bee® think honeycomb is honest to goodness raw honey. Raw honey, meaning unheated, contains minerals and vitamins and is a quick source of energy. When you spread honeycomb on a slice of bread, the honey oozes out of the tiny wax cells exposing it for the first time to the air, making it unconditionally fresh, straight from our own beehives. Unknown to many; honeycomb also relieves sinus pressure and sore throats. It takes about 556 worker bees to gather 1 pound of honey from about 2 million flowers. The process begins with the female worker bee; who begins foraging at the first 3 to 4 weeks of her life. Forager bees gather up nectar and pollen by visiting flowers within 2-3 miles of their hive. She sucks up the flowers nectar with her long, tube-like tongue and stores it in her special honey sac stomach. This stomach is separate from her digestive stomach. She carries the nectar back to the hive. The nectar is mixed with the worker bee’s own enzyme called invertase inside her honey stomach to make the honey ripen. Then it is stored in the hexagonal shaped honeycombs made from beeswax. Worker bees within the hive fan the liquid nectar with their wings, which helps to evaporate the extra water and bring the water content to 18% and thus thicken the nectar into honey. Honey is harvested each autumn and it takes a whole year, beginning in the spring for the honeybees to make an over surplus of honey again. Besides making honey, bees are responsible for pollinating 100 fruits, vegetables and nuts making up 1/3 of the human diet. Honeybees are vital to human survival.
In ancient times, honey was highly valued and often used as a form of currency or offering. The ancient Romans paid their taxes with honey, as did the Egyptians and Aztecs of Central America. Honey also has a rich culinary history as nature’s oldest sweetener and preservative for baked goods. Traditional Rosh Hashana rituals include dipping apples into honey. A natural accompaniment to all food groups, you will be delighted to find that honeycomb pairs exceptionally well with Murray’s cheeses, yogurts and crackers. Just take a small butter or cheese knife and dig in, spread this divine treat on toast or baguette. We suggest pairing it with goat or Brie cheeses. What a brilliant idea to serve a chunk of honeycomb as the centerpiece for your next cheese platter. Garnish it with some marcona almonds, fresh pears or figs and bread, your guest will be enchanted to experience honey in the classical European tradition. Did you know that honey never needs refrigeration and never spoils so give the gift of a honeycomb for the holidays. Get yourself some honeycomb today!
August is here and beside celebrating Ferrogosto, in celebration of our Honey harvest. Derived from two Latin words, Feriae Augusti, meaning August rest. In ancient Rome after the cereal crops were harvested, there was a large celebration for the farmers and the draft animals. They were given a well-deserved rest: they were even adorned with many flowers. These celebrations were also in honor of the Emperor Augustus Caesar, and the main day of this celebration was August 15th. We have removed frames of honeycomb from our hives and cut them neatly to be sold as boxes of our ever popular honeycomb! Here is a photo of a perfectly filled deep frame of honey. Honeycomb is truly natures perfect food.
If you've never had the pleasure of tasting this truly divine treat this is a must before you die and go to Naples. I recommend first spreading this on your favorite piece of toast. You can add some butter first. Who does not love honey butter? My next recommendation is spreading some honeycomb onto a cracker or piece of baguette then spreading a little brie, goat or any triple creme style cheese. You might think about your last rites beforehand because these are matches made only on heaven!
“Can you eat the wax?” Asked a shopper at our local farmers market, “YES! You can and it is divine”, I answered with great enthusiasm. This age old question was referring to the bees wax of our Red Bee® honeycomb. If you’ve never had the pleasure to taste this rare delicacy, honeycomb is that clear box of nature’s purest honey still in its original wax. Charles Darwin described honeycomb, as a masterpiece of engineering that is "absolutely perfect in economizing labor and wax." We at Red Bee® think honeycomb is honest to goodness raw honey. Raw honey, meaning unheated, contains minerals and vitamins and is a quick source of energy. When you spread honeycomb on a slice of bread, the honey oozes out of the tiny wax cells exposing it for the first time to the air, making it unconditionally fresh, straight from our own beehives. Unknown to many; honeycomb also relieves sinus pressure and sore throats. It takes about 556 worker bees to gather 1 pound of honey from about 2 million flowers. The process begins with the female worker bee; who begins foraging at the first 3 to 4 weeks of her life. Forager bees gather up nectar and pollen by visiting flowers within 2-3 miles of their hive. She sucks up the flowers nectar with her long, tube-like tongue and stores it in her special honey sac stomach. This stomach is separate from her digestive stomach. She carries the nectar back to the hive. The nectar is mixed with the worker bee’s own enzyme called invertase inside her honey stomach to make the honey ripen. Then it is stored in the hexagonal shaped honeycombs made from beeswax. Worker bees within the hive fan the liquid nectar with their wings, which helps to evaporate the extra water and bring the water content to 18% and thus thicken the nectar into honey. Honey is harvested each autumn and it takes a whole year, beginning in the spring for the honeybees to make an over surplus of honey again. Besides making honey, bees are responsible for pollinating 100 fruits, vegetables and nuts making up 1/3 of the human diet. Honeybees are vital to human survival.
In ancient times, honey was highly valued and often used as a form of currency or offering. The ancient Romans paid their taxes with honey, as did the Egyptians and Aztecs of Central America. Honey also has a rich culinary history as nature’s oldest sweetener and preservative for baked goods. Traditional Rosh Hashana rituals include dipping apples into honey. A natural accompaniment to all food groups, you will be delighted to find that honeycomb pairs exceptionally well with Murray’s cheeses, yogurts and crackers. Just take a small butter or cheese knife and dig in, spread this divine treat on toast or baguette. We suggest pairing it with goat or Brie cheeses. What a brilliant idea to serve a chunk of honeycomb as the centerpiece for your next cheese platter. Garnish it with some marcona almonds, fresh pears or figs and bread, your guest will be enchanted to experience honey in the classical European tradition. Did you know that honey never needs refrigeration and never spoils so give the gift of a honeycomb for the holidays. Get yourself some honeycomb today!
I can't believe its snowing! There is already 4 inches on the ground and my red jeep is completely covered. Tomorrow is my big day at Murray's Cheese Shop on Bleeker Street, I am co-hosting a pre-Valentine Honey and Cheese Tasting class with their mail order manager, Amy Sisti. All my bottles of honey samples and beekeeping paraphernalia are packed up and ready to go into the city. This class has been full for almost a month now and it's SNOWING!
But I am thinking Spring and earlier this week I designed this sweet little postcard to give to our customers. Each card would have a packet of seeds from our own Red Bee Honey Gardens and a list of additional flowers honeybees love. By planting this packet of seeds in a sunny place in your yard, a garden pot or window box, you can help the honeybees by creating your own honeybee garden. Honeybees not only make our sumptuous wildflower honey, they pollinate over 100 crops and flowers that provide almost one third of the food we eat. So more flowers means more honeybees, a healthier world and more real food. Simply put honeybees are vital to the survival of the human race. So when you order Red Bee Honey or any products from out web site you will receive a gift of a simple sweet postcard with a packet of seeds. Help the honeybees, Plant a Garden!
You can help the honeybees with a few simple techniques. Plant your flowers in clusters that are colorful and contrast well with their environment. Purple and blue are bees' favorite colors, followed by yellow and orange. Native flowers that bloom successively over the spring, summer, and fall provide pollen and nectar sources vital to the survival of bees. They will need a source of water like a pond, birdbath, or even dripping faucet. Choose non-toxic or organic pesticides, and do so in the late evening when most bees have gone into the hive for the evening. Piles of undisturbed leaves or brush create a natural place for wild bees to nest. Lastly, bees will appreciate your weeds like clover and dandelions so let them be.
I can't believe its snowing! There is already 4 inches on the ground and my red jeep is completely covered. Tomorrow is my big day at Murray's Cheese Shop on Bleeker Street, I am co-hosting a pre-Valentine Honey and Cheese Tasting class with their mail order manager, Amy Sisti. All my bottles of honey samples and beekeeping paraphernalia are packed up and ready to go into the city. This class has been full for almost a month now and it's SNOWING!
But I am thinking Spring and earlier this week I designed this sweet little postcard to give to our customers. Each card would have a packet of seeds from our own Red Bee Honey Gardens and a list of additional flowers honeybees love. By planting this packet of seeds in a sunny place in your yard, a garden pot or window box, you can help the honeybees by creating your own honeybee garden. Honeybees not only make our sumptuous wildflower honey, they pollinate over 100 crops and flowers that provide almost one third of the food we eat. So more flowers means more honeybees, a healthier world and more real food. Simply put honeybees are vital to the survival of the human race. So when you order Red Bee Honey or any products from out web site you will receive a gift of a simple sweet postcard with a packet of seeds. Help the honeybees, Plant a Garden!
You can help the honeybees with a few simple techniques. Plant your flowers in clusters that are colorful and contrast well with their environment. Purple and blue are bees' favorite colors, followed by yellow and orange. Native flowers that bloom successively over the spring, summer, and fall provide pollen and nectar sources vital to the survival of bees. They will need a source of water like a pond, birdbath, or even dripping faucet. Choose non-toxic or organic pesticides, and do so in the late evening when most bees have gone into the hive for the evening. Piles of undisturbed leaves or brush create a natural place for wild bees to nest. Lastly, bees will appreciate your weeds like clover and dandelions so let them be.
