Congratulations Maggie! FFA National Champion!

-posted by Jayne

This post is in recognition of our employee Maggie Hovermale, who was recently awarded the FFA National Winner, Agricultural Processing, Entrepreneurship, 2015.  

Yeah, she's sort of a big deal.  :-)

On October 30th we traveled to Louisville, KY to watch Maggie prepare for her final presentation in competition for this national award.  While we were there, we got to walk around the entire FFA convention.  It's huge!   What does one find at an FFA convention, you ask?   T-shirts.  Lots of T-shirts with FFA logos and and agricultural promo items.

Blue jackets for miles and miles....

Blue jackets shopping for FFA T-shirts...

FFA t-shirts pledging love and support for the blue jacket....

Escalators filled with blue jackets from around the United States.  Manly FFA men doing push-ups in the lobby.

Isaac got up close and personal with a live snake from the Sea World exhibit.

Ohio FFA represents with a booth detailing the importance of Ohio agriculture.

Did you know the blue jacket is still manufactured in OHIO?

My favorite booth was the Wisconsin cheese sampling booth (pictured below).  I had the best coffee cheese I ever tasted.  Yes, it was cheese covered with coffee grounds.  Delicious!  I wish I had remembered to write down the brand.

We looked all over for the booth about HONEYBEES.  After all, about one-third of the human diet comes from insect pollinated plants, and the honeybee is responsible for 80 percent of that pollination, according to the USDA.

Ah, yes.  There they were.  At the Bayer Bee Care Center booth.  A bit ironic.  But I won't get into that now.   You can refresh your memory by looking at some of our old blog posts detailing how we feel about Bayer.    

For now, we'll just keep things light and happy.  Because we're proud of Maggie and her public-speaking skills.  We're proud of how she has represented Honeyrun Farm and Westfall FFA.  And she has earned a great honor.

You can catch Maggie this Saturday at the North Market Farmer's Market from 8-2.  Or, you can come see us at our first annual Holiday Open House, here at the farm from 9 am - 5 pm.  We'll have free cookies and hot cider, and lots of gifts available for purchase.  Hope you can come join us!

The Wonderful Invasive Honeysuckle

-Posted by Isaac

I think this is a good time to blog about the honeysuckle.

There are several invasive honeysuckles 'round these parts, but the one that seems most prevalent is the Amur Honeysuckle. We call it bush honeysuckle.

And prevalent it is.

Native to China and southeast Asia, it found its way to the Ohio country in the 1950's. It was first spotted around Oxford in the southwest and seems to be on a tear to take over every woods, ditch and fence line in the state.

Farmers hate it!

This is a good time of year to see just how obnoxious this plant is-- you can pick it out. The bush honeysuckle is the first to green up in the spring and the very last to lose its leaves in the fall.

By mid November, honeysuckle is just about all the green we have left.

How does it take over? How does it so rapidly clog our forests, streams and roadsides?

Birds of course.

yum yum and bon appetit!

 Sightseers hate it!

And it's not only the forests, streams and roadsides.

If you don't watch out, it will sneak into your yard. Hiding behind trees and such.

Homeowners hate it!

There's no getting away from the stuff. What a nuisance!

Within a single season it can block your favorite trails.

Hikers hate it!

And divert your training on the cross country course.

Runners hate it!

Not to mention swallowing up the occasional mulligan ball far worse than any bunker.

Where's your ball, Bridger?

Golfers hate it!

"Don't know?? Must be lost in the honeysuckle!"

It's irritating. It's aggravating. It's annoying, troubling, and quite inconvenient.
Especially if you're trying to cast a line.

Fishermen hate it!

During its springtime bloom, about the middle of May, you've got a truckload of allergy triggering pollen coming your way.

People who breathe hate it!

As I said, around here it's really hard to avoid this awful stuff.

Even working the bees, it surrounds us!

I just can't fathom such a godawful thing having any value to anyone.

(Wink)

I'm with you, I totally agree. We should probably have a full-on eradication effort.

An onslaught aimed at this invasive obnoxious pest. Death to the honeysuckle!

(Wink Wink)

Because we all...

(Wink)

...Hate it!

Pumpkin Honey Pie Recipe

-posted by Jayne

It's that time of year again- time to try out some recipes for pumpkin pie!  Our favorite is loaded with honey, and we return to it each year because it never disappoints.  

Ingredients:  

3 eggs

2 cups pumpkin puree

3/4 cup honey

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1 9" single crust pie

Directions:  Beat eggs slightly in a large bowl.  Blend in pumpkin, milk, cream, honey, spices, and salt.  Pour the filling into the pie shell.  Cover edges of shell with strips of foil.  Bake at 400 degrees F for 35 minutes.  Remove foil, then continue to bake for 15 more minutes.  An inserted knife will come out clean when done.  Cool and serve.

I highly recommend finishing it with some freshly whipped cream!

And since we're on the topic of pumpkins, I'll share a few photos of some pumpkin highlights from the past few weeks.

Circleville Pumpkin Show - Giant pumpkins rolling into town.

Pictured Below:  our annual pumpkin carving ritual.  This year we actually got this done after Halloween.  Better late than never, right?

We had a visit from Portsmouth Brewing Co. who picked up several buckets of our Summer honey for an upcoming Christmas Ale.  They were kind enough to gift us some of the "Circleville Pumpkin Ale" which I had never tried before.  Made with REAL locally grown pumpkins.  

And now- to tell you about an upcoming event.  We'll be participating in the annual "Holiday Fest" which will take place at the Circleville Golf Course (Country Club) this year.  Check out the event webpage here for more details on location, hours, and other participating artists and crafters.  

Score one for the Good Guys!

-Posted by Isaac

I pulled in the lane yesterday and found 10TV interviewing my beautiful articulate wife.

Here's a little insight into what we've been fighting.



If you want to help us with this little fight, we'd love it.

We'll keep you updated.

Peaches in the Summertime. Apples in the Fall.

-Posted by Isaac

I've got two quick posts, both featuring my better half, both with very little to do with bees.

Except this:

And I thought my bees never swarmed?

I was working a yard a few days ago, looked up and found this ghost town. Cool picture.

So anyway, our friend Kristen Baughman from Curly Girl Farm throws a big apple butter party every year. Jayne never misses it, but me, I've always found an excuse.

Until this year.

Turns out, it was really fun. And a learning experience. Kristen gets about a thousand apples cooking in a big copper pot over the fire. Then she gathers about a hundred friends to help with the festivities.

About dark, the apple butter had become thick enough to scoop and put into mason jars. And I mean a lot of mason jars! It was a well-organized craziness. Jayne knew just what to do.

Me, I just hung out with my drinking buddies.

After filling what seemed like a few hundred jars, we all partook of the leftovers. Kristen had baked a bunch of biscuits for this very purpose. 

I swear, I've never tasted anything so good.

The apple party was two weeks ago. All those filled jars found their way home with many of the partiers. I wonder how many are still around? Not much left at our house.

 Every now and then, we even share with our children.