Comments on: Award Winning Bees

By: One Sock Short

One Sock Short — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:14:27 +0000

I can’t believe people not wanting the comb honey. That was always such a treat growing up. Congratulations to all of you, again!

By: Marjorie

Marjorie — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 19:26:06 +0000

Many Congratulations! I’ve never had honeycomb but would love to try it some day. And I love your picture of the bees

By: nikkikoval

nikkikoval — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 19:08:00 +0000

That is really fantastic, a big bravo to all of you.

By: Rabbits' Guy

Rabbits' Guy — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:08:04 +0000

Whoa .. congrats on the great win and a thumb up for a most interesting post! Someone around here is going to have some Linden-taste honey because our big tree was full of that buzzing-bees sound for many days too.

Out here in the Pac. NW, just down the road, is a little roadside Honey Stand that has been there for many many years. It was the inspiration for Tom Robbin’s book “Just Another Roadside Attraction”.

By: Mike Watson

Mike Watson — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:25:19 +0000

Hi Sharon

Congratulations on the bees’ award. You may find this link interesting http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8184655.stm Bees are getting some much needed publicity here at the moment. One of my passions in bumblebees – particularly Bilberry (or Mountain) Bumblebee, which is quite common in Bowland. Keep up the good work. BR, Mike

By: Mel

Mel — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:39:21 +0000

This is so exciting! Congratulations–seems like yesterday I was reading about your award last time.
You really should have a contest of some sort, and ship one honey jar out to a lucky reader. I know I, for one, would LOVE to have some of that honey!
Mel

By: Emily Olive Petit

Emily Olive Petit — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 00:50:03 +0000

Oh congratulations! Truly wonderful. I am so glad you showed us the bees and birds and everything – I wish I could come back there to do it again.

By: Roy Harvey

Roy Harvey — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 22:39:32 +0000

Your mention of basswood caught my attention. We don’t keep bees, but we have a large basswood shading our back deck. Years ago when it was smaller, and the foliage closer to the trunk and ground, I noticed that if I stood near the trunk I was surrounded by this amazing all encompassing buzzing sound. That was the first time I noticed all the bees. This is the first year in several that the flowers survived the weather – not just survived, they thrived – and the bees were back in large numbers. Now the tree is taller so you get the best effect out the upstairs window. There were at least two different varieties of bees, probably more like three or four. All that was a month ago, of course.

At any rate if your readers want a nice shade tree they might want to check out basswood (Linden) and do some bees a favor, not every year perhaps but often enough to be worth watching when it happens. Now I’m waiting to see what eats the seeds when they develop.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 20:56:55 +0000

Your blue ribbons on the bees made me laugh!

A huge YES to what you said about honey taste – bought honey always did have a funny after taste! I didn’t notice until I tasted the honey from our hive, and it is the best tasting honey I have ever had. Our friends (none of them have hives) are also saying it’s the best honey they’ve had. <3. It's a good feeling!

We do use a hand crank extractor for our honey, and the honey experiences a brief time of low heat from the uncapping knife. (it's always cool enough that we can touch it with no pain.) Forget heating to prevent granulation — We eat the honey to prevent granulation!

Congrats on the blue ribbon! Go bees!

By: mcmatz

mcmatz — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 20:20:56 +0000

Congratulations on the sophomore win! I bet not heating the honey and the natural good vibes of the local vegetation and beekeepers keep your bees happy! Or perhaps Cabal secretly is a bee whisperer?
If you ever have too much honey to handle, I’m available to relieve you of your surplus .
p.s. I found this old book on bee behavior and picked it up because I thought you might enjoy it. Let me know where to send it to you! madeline@mcmatz.com