Honey Bees rock at Appalachian Bee! Our passion is creating the best quality honey along with skin care products that contain beneficial elements from the beehive.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Spring Pollens - My favorite time of year!
The spring pollens will be flowing from the trees soon. The bees have been bringing in plant pollens aggressively in the south for the past month. The reported pollen counts on the nightly news have been climbing, and they will only climb higher once the trees start blossoming.
Although many suffer from the high pollen counts, it is a favorite time of year for me, and the bees. The excessive pollen that is produced is a time for the honeybees to get to work. You see, pollen is baby food. The main reason honeybees bring in pollen is to feed young larvae. The abundance of pollen in a colony is a sign for the hive to start laying young, to start growing for the honey flow. Sometimes the bees bring in so much pollen, they leave little room for the queen to lay. This is one of the reasons for spring swarming, we call it pollen bound. It is one of the many jobs for a beekeeper, to make sure the colony has room for the queen to lay eggs.
Late hot summers and dry weather slows up the pollens being produced and brought into colonies. The lack of pollen being brought in then slows up brood production in a colony. They do not need the high populations to gather nectar, so the size of the colony will recede.
Yellow, red, purple, white, black, green, orange. No, not the colors of the rainbow, the color of various pollens being brought into the colony. Cars covered in pollen dust. Yellow rivers of water flowing when it rains. Love it. Honeybees Rock!
Although many suffer from the high pollen counts, it is a favorite time of year for me, and the bees. The excessive pollen that is produced is a time for the honeybees to get to work. You see, pollen is baby food. The main reason honeybees bring in pollen is to feed young larvae. The abundance of pollen in a colony is a sign for the hive to start laying young, to start growing for the honey flow. Sometimes the bees bring in so much pollen, they leave little room for the queen to lay. This is one of the reasons for spring swarming, we call it pollen bound. It is one of the many jobs for a beekeeper, to make sure the colony has room for the queen to lay eggs.
Late hot summers and dry weather slows up the pollens being produced and brought into colonies. The lack of pollen being brought in then slows up brood production in a colony. They do not need the high populations to gather nectar, so the size of the colony will recede.
Yellow, red, purple, white, black, green, orange. No, not the colors of the rainbow, the color of various pollens being brought into the colony. Cars covered in pollen dust. Yellow rivers of water flowing when it rains. Love it. Honeybees Rock!
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Bees are bringing in red pollen today. Temp is about 60 degrees, and the bees are active. It's a good thing and a bad thing for them. They are more active and eat more, but risk starvation if they do not have enough honey stores to support the population. http://ping.fm/x7gCf
Thursday, January 12, 2012
What's the difference between honey and wildflower honey?
Honey is a general term used for the sweet nectar the bees gather and bring back to the colony for sustenance. Some beekeepers call this product honey, and others can determine the floral source that the majority of the crop has been produced from.
When a flower blooms and produces nectar (not all flowers produce nectar), the flavors will all be distinctive to its botanical variety. A sourwood blossom's nectar will taste different from a crimson clover nectar, or a tupelo honey nectar.
Bees will generally visit the same variety of flowers to collect nectar, however when a honey flow is on from several floral sources at the same time, some bees will visit one variety, and some the other varieties. This will result in a blended honey of multiple floral sources. Many novice beekeepers just call all their product "honey". Experienced beekeepers can differentiate the flavors in the honey, and frequently one of the varieties of honey can be a majority. In the case when one flavor dominates the blend, the beekeeper will call the honey by the dominant flavor (it's floral variety).
It is quite difficult or impossible to have a honey that is 100% one floral variety. That would mean the bees only visited one type of flower during it's bloom season. Unfortunately we cannot tell our bees where to forage.
Wildflower honey is gathered from a variety of wildflower blossoms. The honey is usually darker in color, with a stronger, bolder flavor. It is a favorite of mine over mild honey because of this bolder flavor. If I have a variety of honey that I cannot differentiate the floral sources it contains, I might just call it "Honey". It's not a bad thing, just a generalized term. In my area, I am aware of most of the honey flows that my bees are foraging.
Honey is regional. So depending on where you are located in North America, or anywhere in the world for that matter, you will be exposed to different varieties of honey. I would encourage you to try different varieties of honey, keeping in mind that generally darker honeys are stronger in flavor, and lighter honeys tend to be milder.
Visit HoneyBeesRock.com to see my varieties of Honey! And, yes, Honeybees do ROCK!
When a flower blooms and produces nectar (not all flowers produce nectar), the flavors will all be distinctive to its botanical variety. A sourwood blossom's nectar will taste different from a crimson clover nectar, or a tupelo honey nectar.
Bees will generally visit the same variety of flowers to collect nectar, however when a honey flow is on from several floral sources at the same time, some bees will visit one variety, and some the other varieties. This will result in a blended honey of multiple floral sources. Many novice beekeepers just call all their product "honey". Experienced beekeepers can differentiate the flavors in the honey, and frequently one of the varieties of honey can be a majority. In the case when one flavor dominates the blend, the beekeeper will call the honey by the dominant flavor (it's floral variety).
It is quite difficult or impossible to have a honey that is 100% one floral variety. That would mean the bees only visited one type of flower during it's bloom season. Unfortunately we cannot tell our bees where to forage.
Wildflower honey is gathered from a variety of wildflower blossoms. The honey is usually darker in color, with a stronger, bolder flavor. It is a favorite of mine over mild honey because of this bolder flavor. If I have a variety of honey that I cannot differentiate the floral sources it contains, I might just call it "Honey". It's not a bad thing, just a generalized term. In my area, I am aware of most of the honey flows that my bees are foraging.
Honey is regional. So depending on where you are located in North America, or anywhere in the world for that matter, you will be exposed to different varieties of honey. I would encourage you to try different varieties of honey, keeping in mind that generally darker honeys are stronger in flavor, and lighter honeys tend to be milder.
Visit HoneyBeesRock.com to see my varieties of Honey! And, yes, Honeybees do ROCK!
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Is Sourwood Honey Really Sour?
Sourwood Honey confuses many who are not from the southeast United States, even though this tree can be found in the midwest from Illinois to as far north as New York. In many northern states it is on the endangered or threatened list and is protected. It does grow plentiful in the southeast mountainous areas which is where beekeepers will move their colonies for bees to forage. Contrary to its name, sourwood honey has no hint of sourness, and produces a premium honey gathered in the mountainous regions of the southeast. Formally "oxydendrum arboreum", the "sourwood" name refers to the sour taste of the twigs, which are chewed by woodsmen as a thirst quencher. Some also refer to it as a "lily of the valley tree" because of the blossoms that resemble the flower.
Sourwood honey is basically clear in color. When other honey is foraged simultaneously, it can change the color of the sourwood. Sourwood honey harvested at the beginning of the season can look different than honey harvested at the end of the blossom season. Even if there is a hint of other honeys foraged by the bees with the sourwood honey, its unique flavor shines through.
In mid-June, many beekeepers like myself will move colonies to the mountainous regions where these trees are in abundance. The rows of white, bell shaped flowers start to bloom, and the bees will start collecting nectar. Unfortunately, this is a time when the summer storms come through, and occasionally the high winds will knock the blossoms off the trees, and our season comes to an abrupt halt. The daily rain that sometimes happens also limits the amount of honey produced during that time, so suffice it to say that when we make sourwood honey, we feel fortunate.
Once the sourwood season is over, my colonies are moved back to my bee yards closer to home because that is usually the last crop in my area in Southeast Tennessee. The 90+ degree days working in the full sun in the sourwood yards takes a toll on a person, and I look forward to everything slowing down a bit after this final crop.
I look forward to the sourwood season every year, and enjoy visiting with the property owner where my bees are kept. It is not a crop I can depend on every year, so I feel fortunate when I am able to say I had a good Sourwood crop.
Sourwood honey is basically clear in color. When other honey is foraged simultaneously, it can change the color of the sourwood. Sourwood honey harvested at the beginning of the season can look different than honey harvested at the end of the blossom season. Even if there is a hint of other honeys foraged by the bees with the sourwood honey, its unique flavor shines through.
In mid-June, many beekeepers like myself will move colonies to the mountainous regions where these trees are in abundance. The rows of white, bell shaped flowers start to bloom, and the bees will start collecting nectar. Unfortunately, this is a time when the summer storms come through, and occasionally the high winds will knock the blossoms off the trees, and our season comes to an abrupt halt. The daily rain that sometimes happens also limits the amount of honey produced during that time, so suffice it to say that when we make sourwood honey, we feel fortunate.
Once the sourwood season is over, my colonies are moved back to my bee yards closer to home because that is usually the last crop in my area in Southeast Tennessee. The 90+ degree days working in the full sun in the sourwood yards takes a toll on a person, and I look forward to everything slowing down a bit after this final crop.
I look forward to the sourwood season every year, and enjoy visiting with the property owner where my bees are kept. It is not a crop I can depend on every year, so I feel fortunate when I am able to say I had a good Sourwood crop.
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