Honeyfest is Over, Goldenrod Begins

-Posted by Isaac

What a crazy time was this year's Honeyfest! As usual Jayne was responsible for the beautiful display. I was able to snap a few pictures while she added some finishing touches. This was around 11 a.m. Friday morning:

An hour before the official start, the early birds trickled in.

By afternoon (and the entire next day) we were swamped. Thank you for all the support and nice compliments, honey lovers. It was a happy, fun, busy weekend.

Because of the perpetual crowd surrounding, sampling and buying, I'm left with just a couple small regrets: one, I didn't get to talk to you in a relaxed way... too many people needing help. And two, I wanted to make it around the festival, finding interesting things to post on this blog... well, I didn't get to; same reason, just too busy. I guess that's a good problem. Maybe next year we'll hire more workers.

The goldenrod has now started to bloom in earnest:

The pollen traps are filling up, and as you can see, the bees have found it. This is the beautiful orange (tasty!) goldenrod pollen. In just the span of a few days the color has completely changed from browns and yellows (clover, ragweed) to pure orange.

We have four bee yards with pollen traps. Around 50 hives in all. Until today I would come home with maybe a third to half a five-gallon bucket full of pollen. Not now. The skinny times are over, the Fat-Cat (Big-Bee) days begin. This evening I should have brought another bucket! We were overflowing... what a difference the goldenrod makes!

This is my favorite of the four yards:

Just step out the front door, girls!

I think this is the equivalent to having prime lakeside real estate. Or if you're like me, a Swiss chalet on a mountain trail.

This evening the family joined me for a "pollen run."

It took a little prodding to get the kids to come along. They're suddenly at the age where Legos and cartoons become much more important than, in Mason's words, "a boring pollen run."

We had a small stinging incidence. We had tears.

Oh no.
They'll never come with me again.

Maybe we'll just stick to the bee yard with the near-by backyard swing set.

Not Just Another Color in the Crayola Box.

-posted by Jayne

My first recollection of the word "goldenrod" was describing a crayon.  It was always just another muted yellow in the crayon box.  Kind of a dull mustard color.  It wasn't until much later that I realized, the crayon color is describing a flower.  

So I dug out our crayon box and took a look.  Yep.. it's still there.  Still the same color.  But I'm not sure the color accurately depicts the actual flower.  The color changes as the season progresses.  It starts off as a dark greenish-yellow, then ripens to a vibrant bright yellow (seen below in the bright mid-day sun).

As the flower matures, it becomes the deep yellow color you see below, more like the actual color of the crayon.  Depending on the time of day, and how the sun is hitting it, the color of the flower can change drastically.  

This week we took the kids out for an evening hike, for the sole purpose of checking out the goldenrod.  I wanted to see what kind of pictures I could get as the sun was setting.

 I didn't do anything to these photos... no adjusting for color or anything.  This is what goldenrod really looks like when the sun is setting over the horizon, lighting up the flowers in such a beautiful way!

 The tiny white flowers you see interspersed with the goldenrod below are asters.  These are the next big nectar source for the bees.  They are just beginning to open.  Perfect timing.  Fall honey, primarily from goldenrod and asters, is deeply robust, with tones of butterscotch and mint.  I have been eating more Fall honey than anything else this year.  It has really grown on me!

As we approached the bee yard surrounded by this field of goldenrod... the smell was there.  While the bees are ripening the goldenrod nectar, it has a distinctly strong smell.  Some people think it smells like dirty laundry.  But I commented to Isaac... I don't really smell that anymore.  To me, it just smells like Fall honey.  And it smells pretty good.    Have a good weekend!

Bee Pollen - the Intricacies and Health Benefits of this Superfood

-posted by Jayne

So you want to know more about bee pollen?   We received some questions from one of our faithful blog followers (thanks Marfa!) and also get many questions from our farm market customers about bee pollen.  What is it?  What do you do with it?  How do you harvest it?  How does it get in that little granule form?  

All great questions.  I will attempt to answer them here.

Pollen can be eaten fresh, put in smoothies, on cereal, in yogurt, mixed with honey,  and more.

First of all, bee pollen could really be called plant pollen... because that is what it really is.  The bees just do the hard work of collecting it.  As they are wandering from flower to flower to gather nectar (which they turn into honey) they also gather the plant pollen on their hind legs.  The bees create a "bee bread" which is pollen mixed with honey and enzymes, which they feed to their babies.  The pollen provides a great source of protein and carbohydrates, as well as other nutrients important for the bees' growth.   The bees gather this pollen in their little pollen sacs on their legs, and take it back to the hive.

See the bee in the middle with the bright yellow pollen sac?

 We have a device called a "pollen trap" which sits on the bottom of their hive.  As the bees enter the pollen trap, the sac of pollen is brushed from their legs and falls through a screen below the hive.  But don't worry.... we never take all the pollen from a hive.  The trap can be turned on and off so the bees have plenty of pollen for their own health and vitality.  

Here you see another bee with a small amount of pollen on her leg.

This is what the pollen trap looks like when it is not attached to the hive.  It is basically a series of screens that the bees much walk through to get up into the hive.  As they pass through the screens, the pollen is knocked from their legs and falls to a tray below.  

This next picture shows the pollen trap on the bottom of the hive.  The very bottom wooden part is called the "screened bottom board."  The white part on top of that is the pollen trap.  You can see the little pull out compartment on the hive in the background.  

 

And here you see the compartment being pulled out... full of fresh pollen!   We simply pull out the screen, and drop the pollen in a bucket.  It is ready to be cleaned and bottled.  

Sometimes ants and other little insects find their way in to the pollen, so we have to sift through it and pick it out with tweezers.  It is tedious and time consuming, which is why pollen is worth at least $8 for 7 ounces.  But don't let the price scare you, because if you only take a teaspoon or two a day, it will last a long time.  It's less expensive than most multi-vitamins.

Why do people eat pollen?   Most of our customers eat pollen as a nutritional supplement.  Although all pollens will differ in nutritional components based on the kind of pollen, this gives you a good idea:

Protein 21.2%
Carbohydrates 48.5%
Fiber 14.2%
Fatty Acids 9.9%

Ash 3.5%
Bee pollen is abundant with vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and more.  It is the only food that contains all 22 essential known nutritional elements.  I have read that it is possible to survive on bee pollen alone, as long as you have enough "roughage" to aid digestion.

Another reason people eat bee pollen is to help prevent local pollen related allergies.  By eating just a teaspoon a day, the body gets used to the local pollens.  The pollen we have been harvesting over the past week is full of bright yellow ragweed.  If you have severe ragweed allergies, you will want to take it slow... don't sit down and eat a large spoonful right away, because you may have a severe allergic reaction.  Take just a little bit every day until your body is used to it.

If you are curious about the other benefits of bee pollen, do a simple google search and you will find more information.  Many people believe that pollen can cure almost any ailment.  We aren't going to claim that here... but we have plenty of happy customers that report feeling more energetic, healthier, appetite suppression, and more.  If you'd like to give it a try, here is the listing where you can purchase it in our Etsy shop online.

Please let us know if there are other questions that remain unanswered!  We love your comments!

Pollen Chasing

-Posted by Isaac

I put the pollen traps back on a few days ago, and took M and M out for the first "pollen run."

The goldenrod is yet to bloom (orange), so I was curious as to what the pollen would look like. As you can see, it's mostly a bright yellow.

Someone in the bee club said this is coming from rag weed.

Pretty stuff. It doesn't taste bad either, although I can't detect the faint sweetness that the goldenrod pollen has.

As part of this pollen run we made a detour to check out a hive. A renegade hive. A friend of a friend had called me about getting some old hives out of his horse pasture.  It turned out there was only one hive and some old hive-body boxes. He said it had been there for years and didn't know or care who's it was. I guess it's mine now.

You can see the previous beekeeper did a tar paper wrap for winter protection. I don't do this. Don't think it helps... but maybe it's just laziness.

As so often happens chasing bees on unknown properties, you find some misadventure. This day, it involved big birds.

I think these things are ostriches. Or maybe some cousin of the ostrich. Either way, pretty scary up close and personal. They showed no fear of the skinny guy and two small kids on their turf.

My conversation with Maizy went like this:

"Daddy, can we pet them!"

"I don't want to go to the hospital today, Maizy."

Pausing...   

"No... I said, can we pet them?"

Mason, thankfully, was a little more tentative.

The summer is winding down, the kids are back in school. (Well, most kids anyway.) Come out and get your honey fix (and honey stix!) at a farmers market before it's too late. Or better yet, come enjoy the Lithopolis Honeyfest on September 8th. It's a great educational and tasty experience.

My sister Molly who lives in Iowa and reads this blog said she thought it sounded like we had a bad honey season. Not true! Sorry I haven't posted about this incredible summer honey that just keeps coming in. I've got two more bee yards to hit this week, and we'll finally have a tally on the summer crop. It's big!
The bees are doing great and it's time to think about getting them ready for winter. We'll keep our fingers crossed for a good goldenrod flow.