beekeeping Archives - Page 2 of 2

Get your own tasting wheel from UC Davis.

Honey Tasting Tips

While attending the Heirloom Expo 2016 we discovered there would be a honey competition, that is to say, a contest for the best tasting honey. Since we are at or near honey harvesting time, it's appropriate to share a few tips if you plan to have your own honey tasting this fall. Honey tasting is fun, but more complex than you might expect. To keep it light, you can score the results from "best tasting" to "not so much." Judging …

Post author:Christy
Post published:September 27, 2016
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:3 Comments

The bees enjoyed the flowers of bolting kale and mustard greens.

Review: Natural Beekeeping Conference 2016

I had the good fortune of being a speaker at the first ever Natural Beekeeping Conference that took place this weekend in Pasadena, CA. Honeylove.org organized the event. They gathered top experts in treatment-free beekeeping from around the continent, and welcomed guests from all over the world. Yours truly taught Gardening for Beekeepers. Most of my beekeeping colleagues have attended regular beekeeping conferences, only to find themselves flabbergasted by the amount of attention given to chemicals: miticides, fungicides, artificial food…

Post author:Christy
Post published:August 24, 2016
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:2 Comments

Ours was #17. Would we win?

Field Trip: Honey Tasting Competition

You would never know how different honey can taste from hive to hive until you've tasted a few samples side by side. It's astounding, really. The flavor profiles range from grassy to floral to fruity, just like a good wine or chocolate. This past Sunday, beekeepers from all around submitted their honey for the Honeylove Honey Tasting Competition. There were jars sent from as far away as Nepal and as close by as our backyard. 17 samples in all, and…

Post author:Christy
Post published:January 27, 2015
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:1 Comment

Biodynamic Beekeeping with Michael Thiele

I had the pleasure of taking a biodynamic apiculture class with Michael Thiele of Gaia Bees this past weekend. WOW. Talk about taking a different approach. Michael does not use smoke, doesn't wear a protective suit, and doesn't use conventional Langstroth hives to house bees. What he had to share was an entire day filled with alternatives to modern beekeeping. Just as with biodynamic farming/gardening, Michael guided the participants to view bees, the colony, the hive, and their entire process…

Post author:Christy
Post published:September 25, 2013
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:0 Comments

New home for bees

Bee Hive Rescue – Fascinating Stuff!

Every once in a while, bees find a home at Ocean View Farms organic community garden. Sadly, we can't legally keep them there, but instead of calling the exterminators, a bee rescue team came to relocate them to a new home. I was on hand for said event, and it was thrilling to watch. Here's a play by play. The bees had taken up residence in a storage box. Rob McFarland of HoneyLove.org lit a smoker to start the process.…

Post author:Christy
Post published:November 27, 2012
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:2 Comments

Swarm box ready for guests

Installing a Swarm Box

As you may know, bees are responsible for pollinating 1 out of every 4 bites of food we eat, so attracting bees to your garden is a really good idea. One way to do it is to put up a swarm box. Swarm boxes give bees an attractive place to call home. When their hive grows too large, the queen will take some of the bees and leave in search of new digs. If they choose to inhabit your swarm…

Post author:Christy
Post published:October 23, 2012
Post category:Blog What's Growin' On
Post comments:6 Comments