Beekeeping is Awesome.... now Leave me Alone

-Posted by Isaac

I love this job.

Summer and winter. Spring and Fall. It's so varied and interesting. Sometimes stressful, sometimes surprising and joyful, always weather dependent, always reliant on mother nature.

You learn to work with the seasons. Just a month ago we were hauling food to our girls.

Two weeks ago, our girls could make it out, but the cupboards were bare. We were happy to help them... a little jumpstart on mother nature.

And now things are really taking off. Protein is a bit easier to come by. On a walk across the field yesterday, Jayne and the kids got to witness our willows from a distance.

Awakening. Awakening! The world is coming alive, and the bees are the first to notice. You can stand beneath these willows and it sounds like you're in the middle of a swarm.

But even on the rough days, the lean times, beekeeping has its joys. One winter's day not long ago, I was checking a yard and trying to entertain the three oldest- Mason, Maizy and Bridger. Maizy of course quickly found my phone and started entertaining herself. She managed to snap a few pictures.

I didn't know she was taking these until looking through my phone days later. I had been feeding and observing the growing brood nests. These hives were strong. I was overjoyed at what I was seeing. I remember pulling a frame (just bees, not brood) and walking it over to the truck to show the kids. Of course Maizy didn't get a picture of that. She did however manage to get me cleaning up the one dead-out.

Grrrr...

For maybe 20 minutes, I had been teaching, explaining, talking about bees and seasons and nature.

And I found a multitude of selfies.

Grrrr...

What a wonderful occupation this is. In that we can work and share and learn right along with our children.

And, especially this time of year, a few other children.

Here they come!

We have a big honey farm elementary tour every spring.

And just last week it was fun entertaining around 700 people at the Westfall Science Extravaganza.

The master imparts his wisdom.

Everyone is fascinated by bees. Everyone likes to see what goes on at a honey farm.

Just last week we gave three tours. And I almost missed the third one by taking a long, late afternoon nap. (Sorry Jared and Ken.)

I was tired!

Spring comes, grass greens, trees bloom, people hear that hum in the air... and they think, wow!... beekeeping... I think I want to try that... I think I want my kids to see that... I heard about local honey blah blah blah... Let's go to the bee farm!

And so, this time a year we play host on many separate occasions. The thing is, it's also the busiest time of year. Not for selling honey, but most definitely for the keeping of bees. And the feeding and splitting and checking and moving of bees.

And this can really crimp the schedule. It's kinda hard to work bees and teach bees and entertain kids all at once.

So if you don't mind, let's hold off until summer on those spontaneous honey house tours. (Or better yet, mid-winter!) Not that I don't like sharing, it's just that I love my job too much. And the job gets intense in the spring.

Monday morning. No tours scheduled for today... the way I like it.  I've got to get these girls ready for the apples!

"Signies" Not Selfies

-Posted by Isaac

One month ago I had the pleasure of traipsing around the west, reliving my twenties. Visiting old friends, running old trails, skiing, sleeping on couches... so many wonderful buried memories came to surface. I'm extremely thankful to my loving and gracious wife for letting me do this. It's not like the kids and schedules and appointments and Honeyrun work came to a halt. I left with her good graces and she carried the weight of Ohio. And I owe her.

Nothing much bee related, and if you were looking for a honey recipe, better scroll on down. I took lots of pictures. Some friends, some selfies, a lot of scenery.... but somewhere in there I decided that you, dear trapped audience, would rather see signs. Is this true? I'll let you decide. Here you are- "signies" from the west. (And a little commentary.)

Ah, Colorado. Smoke 'em if you got 'em!

Remember- Always wear your helmet.

A favorite trail.  A favorite beer.

Open Fire?

Brent Spence Bridge? Maybe Cincinnati needs a sign.

Maizy? Interested?

Cowboy shopping mall.

Found! (Finally.) Cross that off the list.

God resides in Monticello, Utah.

Really?

Anatomically correct.   No?

Huh?

Not bright enough.

Instructions: "...breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air."

-EWARD ABBY

Drumming up some Canyon business.

Bout time.

Honey + Whiskey. Great idea!

Yep.

Oh, Be Joyful!

It was a joyful, wonderful, wonderful trip. Thanks for letting me share.

When Life Hands You Granulated Honey... Make Honey Sweetened Lemonade

Every Saturday at the Worthington Farmer's Market, we get the question...

"What do you do when your honey gets all hard and thick at the bottom of the container?"

Yes, that's granulation.  A simple fact of life, a side effect of raw honey.  Like it or not, it will get thick and hard over time.  Sometimes this makes it very difficult to get out of the jar.  I don't mind the granulated texture, but some folks just insist their honey must be liquid.  

If you're one of the "I prefer liquid honey" folks, I recommend just using up the granulated honey and starting with a fresh jar of liquid honey, because any little tiny seed of granulated honey that is left in the jar will act just like..  well... a seed.  It will grow.  It's a tiny little crystal that will grow more tiny little crystals, even if you just spent 20 minutes putting your honey in a warm water bath to reliquify it.

My favorite ways to "use up" granulated honey is to make a big batch of granola, and to make a big pot of iced tea or lemonade.

So even though it is still pretty cold outside, I bring you a recipe for Honey Sweetened Lemonade.  Use up that granulated honey left in the jar and surprise your family with a refreshing pitcher of hand-squeezed lemonade.

Ingredients:

• 2 Lemons
• 2 TB Honey
• 1 Cup Hot Water (Keep it under 100 degrees to keep the honey raw)
• Large Pitcher of Ice

Squeeze the lemon juice into a pitcher, removing the seeds.   Use warm water to degranulate your honey (or if the honey is liquid, just mix it with the warm water).  I simply pour the hot water into the honey bottle and shake it until all the granulated honey is dissolved in the water.

I had about a TB of orange blossom honey that had been gifted to us by another beekeeper.  I filled the jar with warm water, and shook the jar until the granulated honey was dissolved.

Next, just add ice and cool water to taste.  Our lemons were pretty tangy, so I added extra fall honey to the pot to sweeten it, and filled about half of the pitcher up with ice to cool the water so it was ready to drink immediately.

Do you have any other favorite ways to use your granulated honey?  If so, please post it in the comments!  We'd love to hear about them.

-posted by Jayne

Blog Slacker, Yes. Lazy, No.

-Posted by Isaac

Yes, it has been a while. Months almost. And I'm truly sorry. I used this confusing new blog layout as an excuse. For maybe a week or two. But you can only milk computer illiteracy for so long. (It took Jayne five whole minutes to explain how to use Squarespace!) At some point I took a vacation out west, and returning home, forgot all about the habit of weekly blogging. Pleasant in some ways... One less thing, you know? But in other ways, I did actually miss it. Although I harbor grand delusions of you hanging on every word, anticipating every weekly report from the bee farm, I think the truth is that I get much more from this than you.

A sad truth or a happy truth? Hmmm.

It's healthy to journal and I think it's healthy to blog. I'll leave it at that.

So not much has changed since I quit blogging. (Aside from a slight increase in honey sales.) (And the sharp decline in hate mail.) We're still plugging along. Bees and projects and kids. And that's what you're getting today. A little catch-up from the last two months.

Holes in the pants, Seth? How long have you been doing this?

In the bee department, I'm happy to report that we have so far had the best winter survival ever. The bees are looking great and if we can weather the next month, we should come out with less than 10% loss.

Although most hives went into winter pretty heavy, by now the bees are making their way up through the stored honey and need some food directly above them to push through these March cold snaps.

So getting around, yard to yard, hive to hive, has been the number one priority. In a month, we'll be splitting the strong ones. Making increase.

But feeding bees is a pretty quick process. we can be in and out of a yard in 15 minutes. What to do with the rest of the day? Projects, of course.

This winter I got around to storage issues.

Barrel storage:

How to stack 700 lb honey barrels? Build a ramp... ahh ha!

For Bridger, this was less barrel ramp and more roller coaster.

And then I tackled the problem of container storage. For the longest time we've been walking cases of honey bottles from the barn. Not any more.

A large hanging platform did the trick.

Bridger volunteered to test carrying capacity.

Shelving and wall space really make things convenient.

And the more barn space we have available, the better.

We've been able to add another 400 supers and 600 hive bodies to the arsenal.  We're ready for those April splits.

The busyness continues. Building, painting, feeding and so on. But don't let me fool you into thinking it's all work. Last month Jayne let me mingle for a bit with an old love-- The West. A week in the Rockies. My next post I'm going to share a few cool photos. But no selfies!

Outside my window the wind howls and the leafless maples try to hold on to their swelling buds. March is coming in like a lion.

Hold on to your hats, Spring is only three weeks away!

Honey Apple Challah Recipe

Today I bring you a recipe for a delicious style of bread featuring honey and apples:   Honey Apple Challah  (Holla!)

For the challah dough:

1/2 cup lukewarm water

6 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/4 cup honey

2 large eggs

4 cups flour

1 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon instant yeast

For the apple filling:

2 large apples, cored and diced into chunks

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 cup granulated sugar

1/8 cup honey

For the glaze:

1 large egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water

honey for drizzling (we recommend buckwheat!)

1) To make the dough: Combine all of the dough ingredients and mix and knead them, by hand, mixer, or bread machine, until you have a soft, smooth dough.  You may need to gradually add a little more flour if the dough continues to stick to the bottom of the bowl.

2) With a floured hand, remove the dough from the mixing bowl and gently knead into a ball. Place in a large, greased bowl, and turn once to coat. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk. This will take approximately 2-2 1/2 hours.

3.) Lightly grease a 9-inch cake pan that has sides at least 2" tall.

4.) Combine all the filling ingredients in a bowl and mix to evenly coat the apples with the cinnamon, sugar, and honey.

5.) Gently deflate the dough and shape it into a 8" x 10" rectangle.  Spread half of the apple chunks down the center of the rectangle.  

6.)  Fold the long side of the dough over the apples and seal the edges.  Spread the other half of the apple chunks over the folded over dough.   Cover the other side of the dough over the apples and pinch to seal the edges.  

Don't forget to pinch to seal the edges!

7.  With a large, sharp knife, cut the dough into 16 uniform-size pieces.  The pieces will be messy, not uniform, and apples will spill out, which is okay.  Lay the dough chunks into the pan, doing your best to fit them in a single layer.

8.)  Cover and let rise in a warm place until the dough appears puffy and has risen a generous 2" high, about 1 hour. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 325 degrees and set an oven rack in the lower third of the oven.

See how messy it is?!  That's alright... it will taste great after it bakes, and you will love those apple chunks spilling out.

9.)  Whisk together the egg and water. When the dough has risen, brush the top with the glaze.

10.)  Bake at 325 degrees for 50-55 minutes or until the top is browned and the internal temperature of the bread reads 190 degrees. Remove from the oven and let the bread rest in the pan 5 minutes before loosening the sides. 

11.)  Drizzle with honey just before serving.  We love it with robust Buckwheat honey!

adapted from King Arthur Flour and A Beautiful Mess Blog