Where to Find Windtree Bee Honey

We’re a bit past halfway through this season, and it’s been terrific! The bees were very generous to us this year. Below are all the places you can find us and our honey. Stock up for winter! HONEY NEVER SPOILS! It will keep forever. So get your jars now for winter tea, oatmeal, pancakes, peanut butter & banana sandwiches, etc.

HEREFORD FARM MARKET

Our regular market is HFM, which is held every Saturday from 9:00 am to noon in the Hereford High School parking lot. Look for us at the “Hats & Honey” table with Mandi from Rosie Posie Design Co. Regular vendors include produce farmers, dairy farmers, fruit growers, flower growers & florists, fiber artists, pottery artists, fungi aficionados, bakers, beekeepers & honey sellers + plenty of pepper sellers (hot, specialty, etc.) There’s usually live music, a food truck, and fresh, organic juices. More information on HFM can be found on its website or Facebook page.

OAK SPRING FARM STORE

Craig is the beekeeper for Oak Spring Farm, so we keep two of our hives there. For anyone who isn’t already familiar with Lisa Duff’s awesome CSA farm, check out her website. Members can pick up their share at the farm on Tuesdays from 1:00-6:00 pm. During that time, Lisa sells extras and other goodies, including our honey, at her farm store. 20633 Mt. Zion Road in Freeland.

OREGON RIDGE HONEY HARVEST FESTIVAL

This local festival is on Sunday, October 6th, at the Oregon Ridge Nature Center from 11:00am – 4:00 pm. They’ll have education stations, children’s crafts, animal encounters, pumpkin painting, cider making, and of course — lots of beekeepers and honey! For more info, check out the event page.

HEREFORD FALL FESTIVAL

October 19th (10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.) & October 20th (10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) This year is the 25th Hereford Fall Fest. 24 Mt. Carmel Road in Parkton, behind the Royal Farms. We’ve participated in this event for years and it’s always fun. It’s a fundraiser for the Hereford Volunteer Fire Company. They’ll have food trucks, beer trucks, craft vendors, and live music. Past years have offered helicopter rides, mechanical bulls, and monster trucks. Wear shoes that can get muddy and dress for blustery autumn weather!

FEDERAL ARMORED MUSEUM CHRISTMAS BAZAAR

On Sunday, December 8th, from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. at 130 Lakefront Drive in Hunt Valley. This is a FREE event. Santa will be there, so your kids can come with their lists and you can get pictures with little to no wait. Music majors at Towson University will be singing carols and they’ll be vendors selling jewelry, ornaments, stained glass, candles, cards — and honey! My winter jars will have holiday quilt square toppers. Our honey makes a great gift for teachers, neighbors, friends, family, and coworkers! More info on the museum can be found on its website.

OTHER VENUES…?

I’m actively searching for some additional markets for our honey — both in-person events and small, boutique retail stores. If you know of a place where home-harvested honey would be a welcome addition to the offerings, please reach out. I’ll be posting here if/when we add more places and events to our calendar.

OTHER UPDATES SOON

It’s been a busy year! Be on the lookout for future updates on: our hives and queen bees, local and exotic butterflies, beeswax candle making, and Apple Valley honey (a fun partnership with Karen Dubs of Flexible Warrior Yoga).

May 10, 2023

Introducing the 2023 Queens

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.

Hives #8 and #9 are at Lisa Duff’s Oak Spring Farm

#8 – Clover (a.k.a. Boudica IV)

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. 🙂

October 21, 2022

Oak Spring Farm Chili Feast

Tomorrow, we’ll be at our regular market — Hereford Farm Market — from 9:00 a.m. to noon. And then on Sunday, we’re vending at Oak Spring Farm’s Chili Feast. For anyone who hasn’t yet heard of Oak Spring, it’s an organic CSA farm in north Baltimore County run by Lisa Duff. She and her farm are awesome! We’ve been CSA members for years. We also keep a few hives over there. You can find us there on Sunday from 2:00-6:00 p.m. NON-CSA MEMBERS ARE WELCOME AND ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND!

From Lisa’s Facebook events page:

Let's celebrate YOU, our amazing CSA Members who helped us make this season an absolute success, with a chili feast and potluck!

SUNDAY, October 23rd, 2022 from 2pm - 6pm

We will provide two BIG pots of chili - one meat based and the other suitable for vegans and vegetarians. Please bring a dish to share, whether it is more chili, a chili-friendly side like cornbread, chips, or crackers, or other toppings like sour cream, cheese, fritos, etc. You're also welcome to bring dessert, drinks, and of course BYOB. Anything is welcome, and we encourage you to use as local and sustainable as possible!

There will be LIVE MUSIC, family friendly GAMES, and a RAFFLE for CSA members to win $100 off of their 2023 Season CSA Share!

Bring your picnic blankets, chairs, family, friends, dogs, and good spirit. We can't wait to see you.

***Non-CSA members are absolutely welcome to come!!***

What are we bringing this weekend?

We still have a few jars of honey left, but they are going fast. I also still have little 4 oz jars of mulled cider jelly left, some spiced pear jam, and — new for this week!! — HONEY MAPLE CRANBERRY SAUCE, SMOKY CHIPOTLE BERRY JAM, and OUR LOOSE LEAF CHAI TEA BLEND.

The cranberry sauce recipe I use is THE BEST. It’s a whole cranberry sauce with a smooth texture. Sweetened with my two favorite natural sweeteners, honey & maple syrup, and seasoned with cinnamon and a pinch of lemon zest, it is sublime!! Makes a perfect hostess gift for the holidays!

The smoky chipotle berry jam is a traditional blackberry jam with a hint of chipotle chili powder. It turns my ever-popular berry jam into a specialty spread that is perfect for turkey sandwiches, grown-up grilled cheese, or as an addition to your weekend charcuterie tray. This jam would pair excellently with gouda, goat cheese, or Brie. I’m offering it in little 4 oz jars — a perfect size for sampling.

My loose leaf chai tea blend is back on the menu too! Just in time for cooler weather! Stock up!! (My favorite way to sweeten it is to use honey, of course, but maple syrup works wonderfully too.

Enjoy your weekend! Hope to see you soon!

July 8, 2022

Black Raspberry Jam, Birds, Bees & Biking

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!

This beautiful bee linen napkin was hand-stitched by Mandi at Rosie Posie Design Co.

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.

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.

May 13, 2022

This Weekend: Hereford Farm Market Opening Day & Oak Spring Farm Festival

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!

September 20, 2019April 2, 2020

Selling Season + Winterizing the Hives

Craig harvested about the same amount of honey as last year (roughly 120 pounds). I was hopeful for a bit more because we had one more hive this year, but… bees, ya know? Totally unpredictable – at least that’s been our experience with backyard beekeeping. (We don’t claim to know how the big commercial beekeepers/honey producers operate and, in fact, aren’t advocating for that type of practice. We both continue to think that beekeeping is best for bees if done on a small scale.)

So, we jarred up this year’s harvest and started selling. It’s been fun!

We’re selling at these places this year:

OAK SPRING FARM STORE: Tuesdays from 2:00-6:00

HEREFORD FARMERS MARKET: Saturday, September 21st from 9:00-12:00 (possibly additional Saturdays)

HEREFORD FALL FEST: October 19th (10-5) and October 20th (10-6)

Craig and his friend, Chuck, are also offering another free “Intro to Beekeeping” class at:

PERRY HALL LIBRARY: September 28th from 2:00-3:00

BEE REPORT

We decided to keep our little nuc instead of over-wintering it at a friend’s house, so now we’re up to four hives. I think that will be our max. As stated above, we’re not looking to go big. We’ll see how many make it through winter. For now, they’re looking good!

Winterizing the Hives

Here’s a neat thing about bees – they are super tidy. They like to keep their hive clean and will also clean any honey-covered equipment you leave in the yard for them.

After harvesting, we put the supers and buckets outside for a few days so the bees can clean them. Here are some other common things beekeepers do to prepare for winter:

HIVE CHECK UP: Basically, beekeepers want their hives as healthy as possible before heading into winter. This means assessing the strength of the queen, estimating how many bees are in the hive, seeing how much honey they have left, and checking for problems.

FEEDING: We try to leave lots of honey in the hives for our bees, but some beekeepers (us included) occasionally feed sugar water to their bees after the harvest to give them an extra calorie boost heading into winter.

TREAT FOR VARROA: Varroa mites are like vampires to bees. They suck a bee’s insides out while also probably infecting it with a virus. Lovely, huh? Varroa are pests whose full scientific name is varroa destructor for a reason. A varroa infestation can easily wipe out an entire hive and spread to another hive very quickly. But you don’t want to treat for varroa before the harvest, which means it’s usually a fall task.

ENTRANCE REDUCER: Once summer is over, there are less bees, making less trips. To help the bees keep their hives warm in the winter, and to keep out intruders like mice, beekeepers sometimes install “entrance reducers.” You have to be careful about using them though, because if the bees are still too active, the entrance can get clogged with bees and the whole hive will die. (Yep, that happened to us one year. Always heartbreaking when you lose a hive, no matter the cause. Doubly bad when you feel like it was something you did.)

VIVALDI BOARDS: These are specially built frames that help with winter moisture, ventilation, and feeding problems. We’ve never used them before, but this year Craig made them for all our hives. (Every year, our goal is to have ALL OF OUR HIVES SURVIVE. Will this be the year?) Click here for a link on how to make these yourself.

Craig has been beekeeping since 2015. Jill started selling honey in 2018. Currently, they have four winterized hives and a flower garden that needs to be put to bed. Their latest experiment: Vivaldi boards. Stay tuned…