For tomorrow’s market, we’re bringing lots of great gift ideas for mom:
Wildflower honey – spring 2023 bonus harvest!
Loose leaf chai tea blends – both regular (made with black tea) and decaf (made with red bush tea).
Honey rhubarb ginger compote – delicious mixed in yogurt parfaits or on ice cream.
Peanut butter banana granola — one of my favorite recipes!
Bedazzled Queen Bee t-shirts – Save the queens! Support local royalty!
20% off seed bombs and suncatchers! – These make awesome gifts for mom! Beautifully packaged and improved, our seed bombs are ready to be planted. Make mom, Mother Earth, and the bees happy! 🙂
Rhubarb, honey, and gingerPeanut butter banana granolaLoose leaf chai tea blends, perfect when sweetened with honey!Seed bombs! There’s still time!!Bedazzled queen bee t-shirts and other Windtree Bee favorites
Hope to see you tomorrow at the Hereford Farm Market, which is now at Hereford High School (17301 York Road, Parkton, MD) from 9:00 a.m. to noon. You can find Windtree Bee at the “Hats & Honey” table. Happy Mother’s Day to all!
For those of you who love my “Bee Reports” — here’s the first of this season! Three of our queens and their hives successfully overwintered. We caught some swarms, split one of our hives, and bought some new nucs, so our hive boxes are once again full of buzzing bees. Below are my notes on the queens and hives who survived and the new ones we’ve adopted since I last posted an update.
#1 – Boudica III
Boudica III survived winter. Her genes are mean and supreme. She is the descendant of the original Boudica, who was also a strong queen. (Boudica I swarmed in the spring of 2022. She was lightning fast, and we were unable to catch her. Her and her feral descendants are hopefully off populating new wild and woolly Hereford hives.)
#2 – Elizabeth II
Also survived winter. Her hive hums along. Never the most bustling hive but a solid player in the honey production game.
#3 – Argine (a.k.a. the Queen of Clubs)
A new queen, taking over for Cleopatra, who unfortunately didn’t make it.
#4 – Deborah
Three cheers for you if you already knew that Deborah means “bee.” Deborah is also an alternative name for the medieval Irish saint, St Gobnait, who battled brigands by sending bees after them. She was the original Bee Whisperer. Deborah is taking up residence in Pandora’s old hive box.
#5 – Dottie
Most of my queens are named after strong women. I’ve been reading Geena Davis’ memoir, DYING OF POLITENESS, the tale of her “journey to badassery” for my book club. Debated naming this queen Geena but decided to go with one of her most iconic roles, Dottie from A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN. She is in Aethelflaed the Undead’s hive box. Losing Aethelflaed was a bummer but with her history, her spirit might live on and she will embolden Dottie to become a super-producer.
#6 – Dahlia
Maybe I was stuck on “D” or maybe I just adore dahlias? The mildly named Dahlia supplants Buffy the Varroa Mite Slayer. She has some big shoes to fill!
#7 – Rebecca (a.k.a. Boudica II)
Elphaba, the queen whose name we crowd-source on Instagram, didn’t make it. Ugh. Losing hives is always hard – maybe more so when I name them? I’m sure other beekeepers think I’m bonkers. The Boudica line has strong swarm genes. Rebecca reigns over our most recently caught swarm. She swarmed (for the second time, see below) on my bestie and fellow beekeeper Rebecca’s bday and we put her in Elphaba’s old hive box.
Clover’s hive box was first occupied by Tempest, who was a fantastic queen. But we lost her last summer. When Boudica II first swarmed, we caught her and took her to Lisa’s. She hung out there, successfully overwintered, and then swarmed again (because the Boudicas are overachievers). We caught her again, brought her back home to the Windtree Bee yard, and renamed her Rebecca to avoid confusion. Her Oak Spring Farm progeny is now named Clover, after one of honeybees’ favorite foods.
#9 – Meadow (a.k.a. Boudica V)
When we lost Gaia, the former queen of this box, Craig took some queen cells and nurse bees from box #8 and put them in this empty hive box. We’ve had mixed luck with “splits” (that’s what it’s called when beekeepers create a new hive that way), but this one was successful. I decided not to pressure the new queen with unrealistic expectations, so I named her after a small, beautiful place, instead of an entire belief system and the personification of the Earth itself. While I don’t think Gaia’s name had anything to do with her undoing (it was hive beetles), Meadow’s probably more chill knowing she doesn’t have the weight of the world riding on her shoulders.
Honorable Mention – Frankenstein
Frank is a garden, not a queen bee. Our bee yard is a rough square to one side of our house. Along the road is a split rail fence with cherry trees and pines. There’s an old shed in the corner and then a row of forsythia that we planted in memory of my mom. (She loved those flowering yellow spring bushes!) Then we’ve got a line of beehives hidden amongst some arborvitae. The last edge of the bee yard is bounded by our house and a little garden where we used to have only wildflowers. Every year it was an utter mess, but I loved it – and so did the bees and the butterflies.
We’ve lived in our house for nearly twenty years. Over that time, we’ve received lots of beautiful plants, bulb flowers, herb bushels, etc. None of them ever match anything else in our yard, so we plant all our cute little orphans in the Frankenstein Garden. Honestly, it’s one of our favorite parts of the yard. We installed some bird feeders and a bird bath, which the bees use more than the birds. It’s a work-in-progress, but also perfect just the way it is. 🙂
Dejon Vineyard
Earth Day Celebration, April 22, noon to 5:00 pm
5300 Hydes Road
Hydes, Maryland
*bring your picnic blankets & camp chairs!
Dejon Vineyards is a family-owned and operated winery in Hydes, Maryland. (It’s near Boordy Vineyards and the Prigel Family Creamery; to the east of Loch Raven Reservoir.) Denise and her husband, John, renovated the original cattle barn and it’s now a “cool country-chic” tasting room.
Their Earth Day Celebration is this Saturday, April 22, from noon to 5:00 p.m. The event’s theme is Make It/Bake It/Grow It/Conserve It, which dovetails nicely with what Windtree Bee is all about. (For anyone new here, we sell home-harvested honey, homemade jams and preserves, and cottage bouquets made from pollinator-friendly blooms.) The folks from Ecotone (ecological restoration), Marshy Point Nature Center, and the Gunpower Conservancy will be there to discuss wetlands preservation and Maryland’s natural wildlife. Other educators, exhibitors, and vendors will also be there to share their skills.
Craig will be there to talk about honeybees and beekeeping. If you’re interested in beekeeping, or you want to learn about local honey, or if you’re an entomologist, biologist, teacher, scout leader, etc. – please come see us!!
There will be wagon rides, kids’ crafts, live music, and LOCAL WINE! 😊
There will also be HONEY — because we have honey to sell at the beginning of the season this year! (How did that happen?! Well, it’s not because we didn’t sell out last season — we did. It’s because we lost hives over the winter. Boo! But the silver lining is we had more honey than our current bees need, so we were able to harvest it.)
Other Things We’ll Have
Breakfast Berry Jam: Our most popular jam. I made three batches!
Honey Almond Granola: Crunchy, homemade, delicious. Sold in canning jars, so you can pour your milk right in there and eat it while you’re off to work or on a hike.
Loose Leaf Chai Tea Blend: New and improved for this season! I’m now using dried and sifted ginger instead of candied ginger; 100% Assam loose leaf tea instead of a miscellaneous blend; and star anise.
Seed Bombs: Originally a guerilla gardening tool, seed bombs are also a super fun, hands on way of spreading the word about the need for pollinator-friendly plants and flowers. (There’s a guy in Dorset who calls them Bee Bombs.) My bombs are a mix of “muck” (a nutrient-dense starter soil); shredded paper (so glad to have found a use for it, since Baltimore County doesn’t recycle shredded paper); a small amount of water; and pollinator-friendly seeds (non-GMO, non-neonic).
Bedazzled t-shirts: These are slightly modified Windtree Bee logo shirts that I’m going to bedazzle myself. (I learned to bedazzle at lightning speed during my younger daughter’s dance years. Every season, I had to gem multiple costumes in less than a week. When she graduated, I swore I wouldn’t miss it – but I kinda do!)
Scenes from my former life as a Dance Mom
These are our awesome designs for the new t-shirts. I’ll post pics of the final bedazzled shirts later…
Where have I been?
For those of you wondering where I was all winter and why I didn’t post anything here… I was working down at Princeton Sports, the ski and bike shop off Falls Road (west of Lake Roland). McCulloughs are a four-season family and I love skiing as much as biking, so helping people get ready for their next outdoor adventure was a great fit for me! Princeton is a third-generation family business and the owners, customers, and my coworkers were super friendly and always fun to talk with. While I didn’t see as many people from the Hereford Zone as I used to see at the library, I enjoyed working down there and hope to return next year for their busy winter season (which conveniently starts just as Windtree Bee’s active season wraps up).
Me in Park City, Utah, earlier this year.Good advice from Princeton Sports!
I’m looking forward to the 2023 farm market and festival season! I have some exciting news about the Hereford Farm Market, which I’ll post about soon … In the meantime, happy spring and hope to see you this Saturday for Earth Day!
The weather looks great! Mandi and I will be there with expanded offerings. I’m bringing honey, caramel apple coffee jam, mulled cider jelly, pumpkin pie spiced pear drizzle, chewy almond granola with currants & coconut, and HONEY!! Mandi is bringing hand-knit pumpkins, pumpkin beanies, sushi scarves, and felted GNOMES!!
We’ve been vending at Hereford Fall Fest for years and it’s always a blast. There’s food trucks, beer & wine. There are hay wagons, ponies, helicopter rides, and a mechanical bull. ATM on site. Bring your dog! For more info, click here. It’s Sat from 10-6 and Sun from 10-5.
CHEWY ALMOND GRANOLA WITH CURRANTS & COCONUT
The recipe I used for this weekend’s granola batch was adapted from the Countess of Carnarvon’s recipe for “Good-for-you Granola” in SEASONS AT HIGHCLERE: Gardening, growing, and cooking through the year at THE REAL DOWNTON ABBEY. What’s different? I used whole almonds, eliminated the chia seeds, and my berry of choice was the aforementioned currants. It’s chewier than the batches I’ve made and sold before but — I gotta say — absolutely delish!!
Fall Fest 2021
Speaking of gnomes… White Hall has one of the best collections of garden gnomes in this area. One of the homeowners along the Torrey C. Brown rail trail (the NCR) has created an amazing community of gnomes. Check it out for yourself! Park at the White Hall parking lot and go about a mile north.
GNOME HILL IN WHITE HALL
Where have we been?
We weren’t able to make it to the Hereford Farm Market for the past couple weekends because we’ve been celebrating and waxing nostalgic about the good ole days.
Craig and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. We met at Penn State and our older daughter goes there now, so we met some of our college friends up there for the Penn State Northwestern game. It was RAINY!!!! Of course, we’re used to that kind of tailgating in State College. (We’re used to hanging out in the rain under a tent in Hereford too. Hahaha.)
Jill and Craig September 1997PSU v Northwestern October 2022
I also went back to Pittsburgh for my 35th high school reunion. Was fun seeing people I haven’t seen in years, but one of the biggest highlights was taking a mushroom hike with the Western Pennsylvania Mushroom Club (my bestie that I grew up with is a member).
The wild and woolly world of fungi
Craig’s also been getting the bees ready for winter
This year, we’re doing what we did last year because it seemed to work well. Fall means a hat trick of hive prep: varroa treatment, feeding, and insulating. Treating for varroa is always done after we harvest. It’s a pain but necessary. Feeding just means trying to make sure the bees have enough food to overwinter. We leave honey in the hives, so Craig evens that out. If some hives have a lot left and some don’t, he’ll take some from the strong hive and give it to the weak. Fall is the time when beekeepers can also supplement with sugar water, although we try to keep that to a minimum. For insulation, Craig builds a little winter wrap for each hive out of foam board.
NOW is the time to start winter prayers for Boudica II, Æthelflæd, Buffy the Varroa Mite Slayer, and all the rest!
Late Fall Garden: Flowers were left for the pollinators but will be cleared soon.
The Summer 2022 honey harvest has been filtered, bottled, labeled, and is ready for sale!! As always, its taste is unique to this particular summer and we won’t have it for long. Every year, we sell out, so if you want it — please stop by our market table soon!
We didn’t enter our honey in the State Fair this year because we were moving our daughters into college. Both of them are at school now, which means I’ll need to muddle through Instagram solo now. Hahaha! 😉
Ellie is at the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYCHaley is at Penn State, University Park
After a slow start, the flower garden I planted for the bees is finally blooming. This means, for a short time only, I’ll have beautiful Mason jar bouquets for sale at the market.
I’m not a professional flower grower, seller, or arranger. But I get so much joy out of my tiny flower garden. It’s full of pollinators — honeybees (of course), bumble bees, moths, and butterflies. Saw my first monarch of the season today, which made me happy!
Not a monarch, but still beautiful!
Our Mason jar bouquets have zinnias in them. That’s it. But they’re pretty and every jar you buy supports our queens and their hives — remember Elphaba, Buffy, Cleo, Gaia, Tempest, and the rest? #supportlocalroyalty 😀
Zinnias!
Hope to see you tomorrow at the Hereford Farm Market! We’ll be across from The Contented Rooster. Look for our Windtree Bee Banner! (Mandi has the “Hats & Honey” banner, but won’t be there tomorrow.)
On sale for a limited time only! Don’t wait to buy your jar!!
First things first… we’ll be at Hereford Farm Market tomorrow with a new jam flavor, Black Raspberry! I bought the berries from Krista at Foggy Bottom Farm in White Hall and the jam turned out perfect. It’s a small batch, so stop by our table early if you want a jar. If black raspberry is not your thing, I still have blueberry, berry ale, and honey-sweetened strawberry jams + mimosa jelly and smoky bbq applesauce. Unopened, the jars are shelf-stable for up to a year, so stock up!
Craig and I try to keep our yard neat and tidy, but sometimes there are areas that get neglected. When I find out that some small creature made a home in some wild part of our yard, it makes me feel better – like my failure to weed or rake leaves was intentional. Below is a nest we found in our shed’s old flower box. Not sure what kind of bird is making her home here. She’s raising chicks, which is why we didn’t approach the nest again. Godspeed, little ones!
One of my favorite things to do in the summer is ride my bike. We have so many awesome rail trails in Maryland, especially the Torrey C. Brown Trail (a.k.a. the “NCR”). Because I live near it, I’ve biked it (and PA’s Heritage Trail) many, many times. I still love it, but was looking for a way to add interest to my rides, so I joined the Baltimore Bike Club. Last weekend, I rode with them down around North Point State Park and Fort Howard. The Bay is just as gorgeous as north Baltimore County, and it was neat riding in a different part of the county than I usually do.
North Point State Park and Fort HowardLooking across the Bay toward Rock HallBack on the NCR/Heritage Trail
The Bee Report
Boudica: Boudica I swarmed in the spring and we thought the remaining hive might not make it. But they did! Boudica II is doing a great job! No honey from this hive this year though because these survivors will need all their honey for winter.
Elizabeth II: Solid hive. Two supers. We might be able to harvest from this hive…
Cleopatra: Kinda meh… maybe we’ll get some honey from this hive…?
Pandora: Also suffered some early losses, possibly a swarm, but now it’s really strong. Fingers crossed, there’s potential here for a good harvest, but we’ll have to see…
Æthelflæd, the Undead: We thought she was dead, but She. Is. Alive!!!! She managed to somehow work her way back to health (along with her hive, who arrived sickly in the spring). That’s why we gave her the “Undead” epithet… because she refused to die. Long live Æthelflæd! 🙂
Buffy, the Varroa Mite Slayer: It’s Crazy Town in this hive! Had two queens for a while. How is that possible?! Because Buffy was reigning beneath a “queen excluder” and somehow one of her daughters decided to establish her own kingdom on top of the queen excluder. This was nuts! Never happened to any of our hives before. Craig took the second queen (Buffy’s daughter) to Oak Spring Farm, where she can establish her own hive in a healthier way.
Elphaba: this was our newest hive this spring — a captured swarm. We crowd-sourced the name, hahaha. ELPHABA IS BAD ASS!!! Boudica was our strongest queen this spring, but Elphaba has overtaken Boudica as the Queen of Queens. Her hive is always bustling and bearding. There are so many bees in it, it’s practically bursting. We’re wondering if she will swarm again, but hoping not.
Tempest: Killer! She is awesome and amazing!! She is nearly as badass as Elphaba. But there can only be one!!! So, currently, the Queen of Queens title stays with Elphaba. But who knows what will happen during the rest of the season?!
Gaia: Died. RIP Gaia. Craig took some queen cells from Tempest and gave them to Gaia’s hive. Hopefully, they will use them to requeen their hive. If so, Rocking Awesome Tempest and her daughter will be reigning side by side at Lisa’s.
The Secret Decoder Ring
Wondering about some of the terms I used to describe what was happening in the hives? Here’s the scoop:
Swarm: this happens when a hive reproduces itself. The queen takes the oldest bees and a lot of the honey and leaves. It can be sad but it’s also the sign of a healthy hive. Beekeepers love catching swarms!
Super: Special-sized box that is part of the hive “palace” that is used by the beekeeper to extract honey. Think of it as a pantry. You don’t live in your pantry, but you store your food there. When beekeepers harvest honey, they are basically raiding the bees’ pantry.
Varroa Mites: A terrible scourge. Vampires to bees. Invasive pests.
Queen excluder: A part of the hive palace that keeps the queen from laying eggs in the honey. (You wouldn’t want your baby nursery in your pantry, right? Well, sometimes queens get confused — they are overworked after all — so they need help knowing which rooms in their palace should be used for what.)
Bearding: when the bees come out of the hive in very hot weather. They do this when the hive is crowded and hot. They often turn their wings so that their collective wing gusts cool the hive.
Oak Spring Farm: a fantastic CSA Farm up here owned and operated by Lisa Duff.
We’ll be at the Hereford Farm Market, 17004 York Road, in Parkton, Maryland, from 9:00 a.m. until noon tomorrow. Look for us at the “Hats & Honey” table beside The Contented Rooster.
Spring rains bring summer flowers, right? They better!! Because the weather has not been very cooperative lately! Despite possible rain, we’ll be at two places this weekend – Hereford Farm Market on Saturday for Opening Day and Oak Spring Farm on Sunday for its Spring Festival. PLEASE COME SEE US AS WE KICK OFF OUR 2022 SEASON!! 😊
What am I bringing to the market?
Breakfast Berry Jam: this is a returning favorite, one of our most popular products. This batch was made with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. It’s homemade jam at its best – only fruit, sugar, and pectin. Use this jam for anything and everything you would use jam for!!
Sunshine Citrus Preserves: these 8 oz jars are chock full of little clementine wedges and a sweet & spicy syrup. Each 8 oz jar contains double the amount of citrus wedges you get in the commercial snack-sized plastic cups – but ours are homemade, lightly flavored with honey, ginger, and cinnamon, and their packaging is reusable! Use these for snacking, drizzling over ice cream, adding to yogurt, or as a smoothie ingredient.
Honey Rhubarb Ginger Compote: I was so happy I was able to find fresh rhubarb this spring to make this small, seasonal batch. If you haven’t yet tried a rhubarb preserve, now’s your chance! This batch is a compote, which means a “dessert of fruit cooked in syrup.” I use the term here so that everyone knows this spread doesn’t have the consistency of jam. It has a looser set that is like applesauce. Combined with honey, rhubarb has a delicious, sweet tart taste. Pair this compote with custard or clotted cream & scones or serve solo in a cocktail glass. Bursting with flavor and originality!
Everything Bagel Spice Mix: another returning favorite. Each 8 oz jar contains a little over one cup of this handcrafted spice mix. It can be used on practically everything – sprinkle over cream cheese, mix into mashed potatoes or sour cream, shake onto your chicken, eggs, salad, French fries, popcorn, mac and cheese, guacamole, or Bloody Mary’s…
Brand-new, beautiful, one-of-a-kind stained-glass bee and honeycomb suncatchers: I have a whole new selection, each one is handmade by Mary Nolan, my niece and nephew’s grandmother, who is a glazier. She makes these specially for Windtree Bee. No two are alike. You can buy one with bees and honeycomb or one of St. Gobnait, the Patron Saint of Bees and Beekeepers. They make perfect gifts for anyone who loves bees, nature, and/or beautiful, whimsical pieces of art!
At Oak Spring Farm on Sunday
We’ll have two tables! Craig will be over by the beehives doing beekeeping demos. He is bringing equipment and an observation hive. His friend and mentor, Chuck Elrich, might also be there. If anyone is interested in bees or beekeeping, this is an excellent opportunity to ask questions and see the little ladies close up! I’ll have another table with the food vendors. We’ll be offering everything listed above, plus our Windtree Bee chai tea blend. I’ll post brewing instructions in the comments soon!
We’re on Instagram!
If you like keeping in touch via insta, follow us there! Our daughters, Ellie and Haley, are helping us with posts, etc. this summer. We hope to share more pics and behind-the-scenes videos. Stay tuned and connect with @windtree.bee on Instagram for additional content and future updates!
Saturday, we’ll be at the Hereford Farm Market, 17004 York Road, in Parkton, Maryland, from 9:00 a.m. until noon tomorrow. Look for us at the “Hats & Honey” table beside The Contented Rooster. Sunday, we’ll be at Oak Spring Farm, 20633 Mt Zion Rd, Freeland, Maryland, from noon until 4:00 p.m. Look for Craig by the beehives and Jill with the food vendors. See you there!
Five of our hives made it through deep winter and are still alive, which is a lot better than last winter when we lost all of them and had to completely repopulate our little apiary. Currently, we have six Langstroth boxes on our property and an additional two over at Oak Spring Farm. The three that didn’t make it are on our property.
The two at Lisa’s are super strong. They started from a swarm that Craig caught last year. Swarms are always hardy and healthy, so they make excellent hive starters. Last summer the Oak Spring hive grew so big, it split, and Craig caught the second swarm and built a new box for it. Along with the fact that the two Oak Spring hives started from natural, robust swarms, they also get to live on an organic farm with no threat of pesticides and a nice, diverse mix of flora and fauna. No wonder they’re healthy!! 😀
We ordered three new nucleus hives from Central Maryland Beekeepers Association to replace the ones on our property that we lost. I want to keep better track of our hives this year (to better understand the factors that influence their health), so I bought my first bee suit. I plan to tag along with Craig on some of his hive inspections and possibly help with some of the lighter beekeeping duties. I’ll keep everyone posted…
Please keep up your prayers and positive thoughts for our little bees.They’re not quite out of winter danger yet!
Last month, I attended this two-week long virtual workshop series hosted by Emiliano Espinosa, CAIC Program Director. Instructors included Janna Howley from Grow & Fortify, Brian Brown from Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project, and Kim Bryden and Kathleen Overman, both from Curate. Learned LOTS of great info, but one of the best things was also connecting with other small value-added food producers in the region.
Gotta give shout outs to two participants who really went above and beyond in sharing tips and advice with me: Jasmin Sellers, owner of Naranti Natural Foods (“The world’s greatest granola”) and Eric Malcolm, owner of Backyard Apiaries. Jasmin’s granola can be ordered online and comes in small snack packs that are the perfect size for pockets, backpacks, and bike bags. Eric is in Montgomery County – if you live there and need beekeeping services, he’s the guy to call!!
Maple Syrup
When the daytime temp is in the 40s and the nighttime temp is below freezing, it’s maple syrup time!!
We don’t have enough maple trees to collect enough sap to sell syrup, but it’s a fun family project. We tapped more trees this year, so Craig was able to boil enough sap to make a few extra jars for friends and neighbors, which was terrific! It’s always good to share nature’s gifts!! 🙂
Our two favorite ways to use maple syrup are also our two favorite ways to use honey – in tea and oatmeal. I finally mastered the art of frothing milk this winter, so my homemade chai tea is better than ever! Depending on my mood, I sweeten it with either honey or maple syrup.
Boiling maple sap to make syrupChai tea with frothed milk and maple syrup
Flowers & Seeds
Grow lights have been set up in our basement and some of our first seeds have been planted – a handful of veggies (eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes), Johnny’s “Brush Strokes” (a beautiful edible flower we grew last year), and some Lemon Mint (a.k.a. Bee Balm) from Seed Savers Exchange.
I’m not growing anything too different flower-wise this year. Still planting the Benary’s Giant and Queen Series zinnias, and dahlias from seeds instead of tubers. Eventually, I want to try to take on tubers, but not this year. I ordered the “Bee’s Choice” dahlia mix from Floret Farm, which my bees will hopefully love!
Going right into the ground later this year is “Bee’s Friend” (Phacelia tanacetifolia), a bunch of sunflowers (for the bees), and four different cucumber varieties (for us). I’m also going to try to get a patch of Black-Eyed Susans to take root permanently in my perennial garden.
Books
Winter is a great time to catch up on reading! One of my New Year’s resolutions was to read more. Below are a few books from my 2022 TBR list.
Bicycling with Butterflies: Summer of 2019, I biked over 750 miles. Part of my inspiration came from reading Juliana Buhring’s This Road I Ride, which was her story about being the first woman to circumnavigate the world on a bike. Sara Dykman’s new book is about her 10,201-mile, two-wheeled journey following the monarch migration. I’d love to set a new biking record for Summer 2022 – but I also have a lot of plans for Windtree Bee – so we’ll see how many miles I can bike this summer while also selling honey, jam, and flowers.
Discovering Dahlias: Erin Benzakein’s latest… because someday I’ll tackle tubers!
The Joy of Weeds: I hate weeding my garden, but love weeds in my yard – ha! (Things only a beekeeper would say.) Craig and I are slowly turning our green grass lawn into a charming white-clover-and-dandelion-filled space.
For the Love of Pawpaws: Did you know Pawpaws are native to eastern North America? Honeybees could care less about them, which makes sense since honeybees aren’t native to North America. But I love the idea of growing a fruit tree that is native to this area.
The Lost Spells: Gorgeous artwork and beautiful poetry combine in one little powerful book that is small enough to carry with you on a bike or hike. Read out loud for maximum prayerful effect.
From Coast & Cove: an illustrated journal of four seasons on the English coast by botanical artist Anna Koska. Wish it was about the Chesapeake Bay but I’m sure it will still be amazing!
My younger daughter wanted to celebrate her 18th birthday with a trip to the BMA, so we spent a day in late January wandering around the galleries and exhibition halls. Three of my favorite pieces/exhibits were:
Rosa Bonheur’s Sheep by the Sea: a bucolic oil painting of a group of woolly ewes and a lamb chilling somewhere in the Scottish Highlands.
Thaddeus Mosley’s Forest: a group of walnut sculptures made from felled trees gathered near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Spencer Finch’s Moon Dust: a light installation that replicates the chemical composition of the moon dust brought back from NASA’s 1972 Apollo mission.
Hiking Near & Far – Two Standouts
Elk Meadow Park, Colorado
Ginormously awesome tree in the Hereford Area of the Gunpowder Falls State Park
Stay tuned for future updates…
In the meantime, keep hiking, reading, and planning for spring!!
February 14, 2022 at 10:33 p.m. – Valentine’s Day moonlight and the Windtree Bee Beehive Cluster 😀
Craig’s been hard at work getting the bees ready for winter. The three biggest things that need to be done before winter are treating for varroa, making sure the bees have enough honey to last until spring, and making sure the hive is prepared for lower temps, freezing rain, and snow. Moisture in a hive during the winter will kill them.
Back in 2019, I posted about our process for winterizing the hives. The biggest difference between then and now is that we’ve upped the varroa treatment and this year, for the first time, Craig decided to insulate the hives. After losing all our hives in 2020, we’ve been wondering what else we can do to help our bees overwinter. After much hand-wringing, soul-searching, bellyaching, and griping to anyone who would listen about the plight of bees over the winter, we stumbled on the Honey Bee Obscura Podcast with Kim and Jim. They convinced us to insulate. We’ll keep everyone posted, but prayers for our bees might also help!!
Ready for Winter
Still have to fill my squirrel house with nuts, but hopefully we’ve done enough for our bees!Wye Oak Descendant & Late Autumn Garden
Did anyone else see last night’s lunar eclipse?
It was amazing! Our whole family got up at 3:45 a.m. to watch. I wasn’t sure if it would be worth it, but it was. Even though it wasn’t a full lunar eclipse, the long period of time the moon was nearly fully eclipsed gave us time to look through our little telescope and take pictures. My younger daughter took these with her iPhone. Neat, huh? If you missed it, the next lunar eclipse will be in the spring.
2021 Frost Moon Eclipse
Reverse image of 11.19.21 eclipse taken through a 60mm refractor telescope
Last Saturday for the Hereford Farm Market!
Tomorrow is the LAST DAY OF THE SEASON for selling at the Hereford Farm Market. Wow!! It has been a terrific season!!! When I started selling jam back in May, my only goal was to simply sit at the “Hats & Honey” table so that I could chat with people in my community again. I had no idea if I would be able to sell enough jam to justify being at the market every week as a vendor. I figured, if my jam didn’t sell, I’d just be a guest vendor when our honey was finally harvested. But that didn’t happen. The jam sold, I went nearly every week, and it’s all because of YOU!!!
If you’re one of the people who bought jam, honey, or other items from us this season — THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART!!!!! It was truly a pleasure coming to the market every week. It was fun finding new recipes and making new batches, but even better was being able to talk about bees, honey, jam, farm markets, Hereford, kids, dogs — you name it! — with anyone and everyone who stopped by our table.
Special Shout Out to Mandi!
Mandi, owner of Rosie Posie Design Co., is my table partner and the other half of “Hats & Honey.” She was a HUGE part of the success of this season. She and her husband, Rob, are super laid back, fun, and easy going. Selling was never stressful with them. Although Windtree Bee’s season is winding down, Rosie Posie’s is in high gear. Her hats and knit accessories are the perfect handmade gift for friends and family this winter. If you haven’t already, check out her website. She has all sorts of winter goodies still available: hats, beanies, cowls, mittens, and the most adorable miniature hats that double as ornaments or wine toppers. She offers knitting kits and her own designs for knitters too.
Rosie Posie’s Bitty Beanies
What am I bringing to the market?
Because it’s the last day, I went a little overboard this week and made double what I usually make. I really wanted to make some things with fresh cranberries, which can be hard to find sometimes, and also pie filling, which is more time consuming than basic jam or jelly, but worth it. Here’s what I’ll have:
Honey Maple Cranberry Sauce: Made with fresh cranberries, organic apple cider, honey and maple syrup, this isn’t your typical store-bought canned cranberry sauce.
Spiced Cranberries: Made with organic cranberries, orange juice, sugar, and a trio of autumn spices, this is another great choice if you want something different than tin can cranberry sauce.
Caramel Apple Coffee Jam: I made this at the very beginning of the season and reprised it because it’s so darn good. The perfect jam for coffee lovers!
Spiced Apple Pie Filling: This is available in one pint jars. Most traditional pie tins take two pints to fill. One jar is perfect for a personal pie pan or for filling apple tarts. This stuff makes pies easy! Just buy premade pie crust, roll it out, and add this. Or make your own crust, pour this in, and still have a 100% homemade pie.
CranApple Jelly: Made with Pomona’s Pectin, so there is a much lower sugar content than traditional jellies have. Plus, no high fructose corn sweetener. This jelly has only three ingredients — fruit juice, sugar, and pectin. Super simple but not super sweet.
“Black & Blue” Jelly: Black currant, blueberry, and apple jelly. Also made with Pomona’s Pectin, so a lower sugar alternative to store-bought jellies.
Special order over the winter!
If you want to buy jam, jelly, marmalade, preserves, or conserves this winter (or dog treats! 🙂 ) click HERE for my new special orders page.
After this weekend, I won’t be blogging as frequently as I did during the market season, but I will post from time to time. I have several winter projects I’ll be working on and I’m looking forward to sharing them.
We’ll be at the Hereford Farm Market, 17004 York Road, in Parkton, Maryland, from 9:00 a.m. until noon tomorrow. Look for us at the “Hats & Honey” table beside The Contented Rooster.
Craig capturing a swarm at a nearby neighbor’s house
I’ve posted a lot about my two favorite parts of beekeeping (planting pollinator-friendly flowers & harvesting honey), so I figured it was time to share some other aspects of it – swarm catching and wax rendering.
Capturing Honey Bee Swarms
Craig built his first swarm catcher in the spring of 2020. (Click here for pics of it and a little bit about why beekeepers love catching honey bee swarms.) Since he built it, we’ve hung it in at least three different places and have captured absolutely nothing with it. Despite its uselessness, Craig was still able to capture two swarms this summer using other methods, which is fantastic!! The swarm hives are both still alive and thriving – one on our property, the other on a nearby farm.
Rendering Beeswax
Earlier this week, Craig and I decided to try to make beeswax candles. It was our first time trying it, so we started nice and early – around 9:00 p.m. 😉 I’d heard that making beeswax candles could be challenging (think maple syrup-type labor — where you basically spend hours and hours and hours to get one small 16oz jar), but I was motivated because I wanted to sell adorable, sweet-smelling beeswax candles during our beekeeping Q&A this weekend. (Spoiler alert: I do not have any beeswax candles to sell this weekend.)
Unrendered wax. Looks tasty, right? (Don’t worry! I do NOT can in the pots we used to try to make beeswax candles.)
We started with a huge bucket of unrendered wax. It was so heavy, I thought we’d get soooooo many candles out of it. Like 100 or more. We took a quarter of the unrendered wax and put it in a double boiler. (I’d bought two inexpensive pots for just this purpose.) Fast forward forty-five minutes or so and we’d basically created a mangled sausage omelette.
Don’t eat this!
It was getting later and I was getting frustrated. I was tempted to throw everything — the crappy, waxy pots; the sticky, gooey half-rendered wax; and the idea of making candles — in the trash. But then I remembered how hard those little bees worked to make it and I couldn’t. So we rendered it again using a different method. Around midnight, we called it quits and left the wax out to cool. In the morning, we were rewarded with a near-perfect disc of wax. For one night’s effort we probably rendered enough wax to make one 4oz candle. Hahaha!
LUNATIC: 1. Middle English lunatik, from Anglo-French or Late Latin; Anglo-French lunatic, from Late Latin lunaticus, from Latin luna; from the belief that lunacy fluctuated with the phases of the moon. 2. Someone who thinks making beeswax candles will be easy.
Still, with a good night’s sleep, I was able to look at the project more objectively. Most things are difficult in the beginning. Next time, I’ll start earlier and have realistic expectations. It will be messy. There will not be a lot of yield. But it will be worth it!!! (I think.)
To be continued…
What are we bringing to the market?
I’m bringing honey-sweetened jam and preserves – honey lemon apple jam and honey cinnamon pears. I intentionally did not add pectin to the jam, to keep the ingredients all natural. The pears can be added to oatmeal, yogurt, cottage cheese, or just eaten on their own. We still have honey (it will probably sell out by mid-October), as well as some favorites from past market days.
Craig’s bringing some of his beekeeping equipment and would love to answer any questions you have about beginner backyard beekeeping! 🙂
We’ll be at the Hereford Farm Market, 17004 York Road, in Parkton, Maryland, from 9:00 a.m. until noon this Saturday. Look for us at the “Hats & Honey” table beside The Contented Rooster.
Windtree Bee 