|
Where’s the Honey ?
Spring is the time for bees to make honey. Bees make honey from flowers that bloom in Spring time. The flowers open their petals to invite the bees to come and pollinate them and as a reward, the bee gets to collect a tiny amount of nectar from that flower. Bees visit many flowers before they take the nectar back to the beehive - an amount that is about less than a drop. It takes lots of bees visiting about a million flowers to just make one pound of honey. March, April and May is the time when bees collect most of that nectar -Spring time. Nectar is about 70% water. Once the bees reduce the nectar to about 17%, the honey will be ready. Usually, in June, we will be able to collect the honey from the beehives and make it available for you. Make sure you are on our mailing list and we’ll let you know when the honey is ready. Honey is so good. With all the hard work they do to make the honey, you just have to taste it fresh. That unmistakable rich flavor always comes from local raw honey. Try it. Taste the difference yourself.
2 Comments
New Beginnings
The new year and Spring are all about new beginnings. Starting a new habit, trying something new or seeing what blooms in Spring. This year, we have had lots of rain in North Georgia and hope that we will have lots of flowers to bloom. Those new flowers will give the honeybees lots of nectar to make into honey. In exchange, the bees will pollinate the flowers they visit. Many of those flowers turn into the food we eat. Usually, it takes the bees from March to May to collect enough excess honey for us to remove from the hive, bottle it and have ready for sale in June. Join our mailing list and we will be glad to let you know just as soon as that fresh first harvest of honey is ready. Bees collect nectar from from so many flowers throughout the year that every harvest provides just a slightly different color and flavor. It is that unique combination of flowers that were blooming at that time of year that helps to make Wildflower honey so special. That unmistakable rich flavor always comes from local raw honey. Try it. Taste the difference yourself. New Beginnings... For all of us We enter this new decade with anticipation that what lies before us will give us a greater experience in life. Our journey is the story of how we got here and how it prepared us for what is next. Creating and embracing the new beginnings all around us inspire and encourage those around us. It will do the same for you too. Be a part of it and see what happens.  Comb Honey Block - approx. 4" x 4" We do, how about you? The second harvest is in and we have a surprise for you: Comb Honey blocks.
How would you like to taste honey as the bees have saved it in the beehive? This is the purest way to eat honey. Spread it on warm toast or just eat it by the spoonful. There is nothing like the burst of flavor you get when you take a bite. We have a very limited supply so give it a try and see how truly special it is. Try our second harvest of honey. It is a little bit darker than the first harvest of the year and has a smooth rich flavor. Bees collect nectar from from so many flowers throughout the year that every harvest provides just a slightly different color and flavor. It is that unique combination of flowers that were blooming at that time of year that helps to make Wildflower honey so special. That unmistakable rich flavor always comes from local raw honey. Try it. Taste the difference yourself.  We are always so excited when the first Honey of the season is available. This first batch of honey is a small amount, so the quantities are limited, but it really tastes great. The picture above is the very first bottle so you can see what it looks like, but it is much better to taste it. Place your order now to make sure you get this special honey.
The bees have worked very hard this spring to find flowers that have enough nectar to make honey. Here in the Suwanee, Georgia area, we have had lots of rain and while rain is good, it prevents the bees from flying out to the flowers and sometimes, the rain washes out the nectar from the flowers, leaving little to no nectar for the bees to collect and make honey. So our first batch is not a large quantity, but there is more honey in the beehives – it is just not ready yet. Since flowers are different, they produce a different type of nectar and that makes the honey taste slightly different every year. Wildflower honey is a unique combination of nectar and pollen from the flowers that our bees can fly to and bring back to the beehive. Wildflower honey will always have slightly different colors and different taste, but what is always the same is the unmistakable rich flavor that comes from local, raw honey. Taste the difference yourself. Spring is here. Warmer weather, flowers blooming and thoughts of Easter are in the air. While the weather here in North East Georgia has been a mix of cold blasts, rain and temperatures in the 70's, the bees have already been making good use of any day they can to collect the much needed pollen and nectar for the young to grow to adult bees. Pollen and nectar from flowers is used to make food for the bees. They raise more bees every day so they can collect more nectar and the nectar is what is made into honey.
One bee can create about 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey. So it takes a lot of bees to just make a pound of honey. The bees take care of that honey and make sure it is just right before they seal it in honeycomb. Each honeycomb cell is made of beeswax and when that cell is full, beeswax is used to close it for storage. Just like putting a lid on a jar. So where does the beeswax come from? The bees eat honey and they can begin to make wax that is used to make the honeycomb. It takes about 8 pounds of honey to make 1 pound of wax. So you can see that honey is very valuable to the bees and they make sure the honey has just the right amount of nutrients and pollen for life. As a local beekeeper, it is important to take the same care of that precious honey as the bees do. At Double Bee Honey, we only strain the honey to remove bits of wax. The nutrients and pollen the bees worked so hard to put in still remain. Honey comes from a mixture of flowers. Sometimes it is lighter or darker depending on the flowers in bloom at the time. That is why it is called Wildflower - a mixture of what the bees found in bloom. What is unmistakable is the taste. Pure honey straight from the beehive is the best. It has a rich flavor and enhances just about any type of food. Taste the difference yourself. There is nothing like it.  Did you know that honey is different every year? The single most important factor that affects honey is the weather. How is this possible?
As we move from Winter to Spring, the weather gives us the cold, the rain and eventually the warmth to entice the flowers from trees, shrubs and ground cover to begin to bloom. Sometimes flowers bloom early or late depending on the weather. These variations produce variations of nectar that is available for bees to collect and make into honey. Our climate changes the taste, the consistency and color of honey every year. Honey is like a recipe. With a little bit of this and a lot of that, your recipe will have a certain taste and consistency. If you change the amounts of any part of that recipe, it will come out completely different. That is what happens to honey. The weather can cause a certain flower to bloom earlier before other flowers and therefore the bees will collect more of that flower's nectar than another. The honey could be lighter or darker and with a different taste. So every year we look forward to the new honey. Pure Wildflower honey is a unique collection of nectars and pollen specific to the area and to the time of year. We harvest honey twice a year - Spring and Summer. The honey from each season is different because the bees collected nectar from different flowers blooming at that time. What remains consistent year after year is our honey will be the freshest of the season. We strain our honey. It is not micro-filtered. Honey should contain the micro amounts of pollen and nutrients so we can benefit from what nature provides. Taste the difference yourself. |
The Bee keeperI am a beekeeper, wood working enthusiast, and fix all things kind of guy (just ask my wife). I have been interested in Honey and bees since I was a kid but did not get into learning about them till much later in life. There is so much to learn and so much to share. That is the reason for this Blog page. To share what I have learned from this journey in keeping bees. Hope you find this information interesting and helpful. Archives
June 2021
Categories |
RSS Feed