If you haven’t checked out the Mercantile yet, go! It is such a unique and cool place to see! There are over 80 different arts, crafters and vendors all under one roof. Also they have a bar and food in the back! We are one of the artists/crafters so make sure to check out our space with our new bee facts on the ground!

The season has come to an end for 2020 with our last honey harvest. This honey is beautiful, full of flavor and is a dark amber color. Our honey is ethically harvested, and the girls have plenty for winter time. Now is the time the queen will slow down production of laying eggs and the bees are raising the winter bees. Winter bees will live for about 6 months throughout the winter, keeping the hive warm. They vibrate their little bodies to produce heat so it is very important that they have honey because that is their food for the winter. Without food, they will starve and it is the saddest thing to see come a nice day the beekeeper opens up the hive and finds bees with their butts in the air and faces in the cell of the comb.. they are dead. This is why it is so important to only harvest excess honey. We aren’t doing anybody good if we harvest all the honey the bees worked so hard to get and leave nothing for them. That is why you should know your beekeeper or where your honey is coming from!

Check out our home made beeswax wraps! Instead of using plastic wrap or ziplock bags try out some wraps! They mold to your food, cover your bowls and you can even make a little pouch to store fruit, nuts or cheese in them. Made with 100% beeswax straight from my backyard hives, jojoba oil, pine resin and 100% cotton fabric. The sizes that we offer right now are 10x10, 8x8 and 6x6 squares. They are also very easy to clean by rinsing them off with cool water and dish detergent. These wraps are not to be used with raw meats. Beeswax wraps are environmentally friendly! Check them out on my Etsy site!

Spring weather is swarm season and this year is swarming! What do you think of when you hear a swarm of bees? Well I can tell you it is a cool sight to see it happening. Bees are everywhere, landing in different directions, then when the queen lands somewhere, the bees follow her. The hive that she left is now left with only half the amount of bees and queen cells to raise a new queen. This is the way bees make more colonies and propagate. When they settle down with the queen, they look like a large clump on a tree branch. These bees are homeless, nothing to defend, filled to the gills with honey, so usually they are most docile the first few days. When they can’t find a home and are still clumped together, they will start to get a little cranky but they are still manageable to catch. This hive here was up in a pine tree for a few days. I had this beehive which I baited, and the first nice day, they flew right to it. They wanted this home! So far so good, the queen has not started laying yet, might be a virgin so i will check later in the week.

I love seeing the changes of honey over the summer time. In my experience, Spring honey has been light in color and starts to get darker with every harvest throughout the summer. The taste changes also. This Spring, the honey was packed with a sweet wildflower taste. This early August was dark with a little sweet tang at the end. All in all, it was delicious. We always leave enough for the bees for winter because this is their food too. If they don’t have sufficient food during the winter, they starve and die. Bees don’t hibernate during the winter, they cluster up to keep the queen warm, so it is important for them to have ventilation and food supply throughout the cold season.