Honey Caramels...yum! Merry Blogmas #4

By the time this comes out, it will only be a couple days until Christmas. I had big plans now that we are newly retired, that i would be more organized then ever. I would slowly decorate the house in early December, the gifts would already be bought and wrapped and the Christmas menu would be sorted out and planned. None of that happened. Here it is 5 days away and i am scrambling. At least i got my families box mailed off but that was about all i managed to get done.
But today, i have made headway, got the tree up and decorated, gifts are wrapped (most anyways), and I got the trees along the road on our property decorated with big red balls.
Then i remembered i wanted to make a batch of honey caramels. I had found a new recipe and wanted to try. They were pretty darn good and who doesn't love sweets at Christmas...so here it is.

Honey Caramels

3/4 cup cream, 1 cup honey, 6 Tbs butter and 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

In a heavy pot, add the honey and cream and bring to a boil,

you will need to boil it about 10 to 15 minutes until the temperature reaches 275F

Once up to temperature, remove from heat and add in the butter and vanilla. Stir well then pour into a 9x13 greased pan.

The good stuff

Cook until the temperature reaches 275F

Once up to temperature, add butter and vanilla, stir and pour into buttered pan

                                       

Once cool, cut into pieces and wrap in paper. Keep in fridge.

You can fancy them up with laying pecans down on the pan add the caramel then put some melted chocolate on top to make turtles.
Anyways i better go and finish off the last of the things on my list. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and may 2020 bee a great year.

These are a few of my favorite things.....Blogmas #3

These are a few of my favorite things, to do with Beekeeping.

You Tube Channels
Although there are lots of beekeeping videos on You Tube, these are my 2 favorites. One  of them lives in Tennessee the other in Manitoba 

Kamon Reynolds- Tennessee's Bees
I have been watching and following Kamon for quite some time. Although he is located in Tennessee and has a totally different climate then us, for me, that is only one part of beekeeping. He is so good at explaining things and can easily laugh at himself....no big ego there!
He takes a practical approach to beekeeping and has a great sense of humor. He posts new videos almost every day.

a Canadian Beekeeper's Blog
This is Ian Stepplers channel and he is located in Manitoba. He too is a awesome speaker and although he is what i would call a commercial beekeeper (along as a farmer), he is very passionate about his bees. What i really like about him is that he really cares about his bees and talks about them like us hobby beekeepers do.
Kamon often mentions Ian in his videos so its nice to know a guy who has 400 hives and a guy who has 1200 hives have a lot in common. I was so lucky to be able to  meet and listen to Ian speak this year at the BCHP's conference.

My favorite beekeeping chore
I am not sure i can only pick one but here goes

I love to go and just sit out at the hives with a cuppa and listen to the constant hum. I love the feel of when  a bee lands on our bare arm and walks around. It does feel pretty neat. (not sure that is considered a chore though)

I love the smell when you crack open a hive in the summer during the nectar flow.

But one of my favorite things to do is......dealing with the wax. Not sure why i like this so much but maybe its the smell. The smell that reminds me of when my Grampa first gave me a bowl full of beeswax.  Ummm ok so that wasn't just one thing.........

My Favorite beekeeping tool
Ummm that may be a tough one to narrow down to one.
I love my  J-tool.
I love my 5 gallon bucket with tool bag on it. It holds all my beekeeping tools and supplies.

But i think the #1 tool would be....the meter to test my electric fence, so i don't shock myself with 2.5 Joules of power on the inside of my leg crawling thru the fence (ouch)

Well thats it for now. Merry Blogmas everyone.

Telling the Bees.....Blogmas #2

It is said, if you tell your bees about the deaths in your family and kept them up to date on all family happenings, in return this would prevent terrible losses to happen with your bees. It was important to sit outside the hives and discuss things, not unlike you do to the bartender at the pub or your hair dresser.
So the other day we thought perhaps it was time to go have a chat with our bees. We have had a couple tough years with our bees, so we would try anything. So armed with a lawn chair and cup of coffee we brought them up to speed on what was happening in our world. I am hoping this prevents them from dying off during the winter. It was worth a try and besides there is something quite relaxing about sitting listening to the constant hum of a happy hive. (even though it was -15C and the plastic lawn chair was cold on the arse)

Having a chat with the bees

A Strange Tradition

There was a time when almost every rural British family who kept bees followed a strange tradition. Whenever there was a death in the family, someone had to go out to the hives and tell the bees of the terrible loss that had befallen the family. Failing to do so often resulted in further losses such as the bees leaving the hive, or not producing enough honey or even dying. Traditionally, the bees were kept abreast of not only deaths but all important family matters including births, marriages, and long absence due to journeys. If the bees were not told, all sorts of calamities were thought to happen. This peculiar custom is known as “telling the bees”.

Merry Blogmas everyone

Let it snow Let it snow Let it snow

Welcome to my very first Blogmas. I will be attempting to write a post once a week until Christmas. Not too much happening with the bees right now. But i will be writing about the winter, some honey recipes. some photos and other bee related "stuff". So here we go.......

I know...some of you will think i am crazy but i love snow. Always have....always will.  There is something really magical about it, (in my mind anyways). I can never be sad if its snowing.
Monday night (Dec 2) was our first snow warning of the winter.  And it began before we went to bed. I had to stop the urge to get up every hour and look out the door. But i wasn't disappointed when i got up and saw it was still snowing. All i wanted to do was curl up on the couch with a blanket and a good book. But instead we spent the day putting wall boards up in the loft but took lots of coffee breaks so we could sit and stare out the window.
The next day i thought i should wander over and make sure the snow hadn't piled up in front the hives. While crawling thru the electric fence, it dawned on my the last of the bears were probably denned up by now so tomorrow we are taking in the battery for the winter. The entrances were fine so i just cleaned up a bit and left.  With all the snow the spirit of Christmas is starting to set in.  In my next Blog i may make some Honey Fudge or some Honey Sponge toffee. I think it may also be time to start to decorate

Remembrance Day November 11, 2019

      It seemed only fitting that today was the day i found a box that hadn't been unpacked for years. When opening it i discovered 2 bottles i hadnt been able to find for a few years now. As i gazed down it brought back the memories of the day i got them.

     Grama and Poppa Forrest had put their farm up for sale and were having a big garage sale. It was an emotional day for me as that was where i spent many happy years growing up and helping them on the farm. Wood cutting, haying and just spending time exploring the fields. I remembered out in one of the fields the rock with fossils in it and the little skull with movable lower jaw that hung off a keychain, which was always kept in the glove box of the red Farm All Tractor. But one of my favorite things was  the old wooden cupboard that hung on the wall in the barn and kept all the cow medicines and teat cream. It had been built out of Dynamite crates. During the garage sale, Poppa asked me if i would like that old cupboard. We walked to the barn and took it off the wall. It is one of my prized possessions.

Also that day, he found a case of what i thought was canning jars, but on further inspection they were glass jars in the shape of bee skeps. Each jar still held honey, which at that time was close to 50 years old. He gave me a couple of those jars and also a bag full of old beeswax.
My Grampa and Great Grampa owned a commercial nursery when my Mum was a child. They also kept bees. Each summer they would attend the local fairs and the PNE and set up displays of their flowers, honey and wax. My Mum and her siblings were in charge of melting the wax and pouring it into little decorative molds. The molded wax was used as part of their displays at the fairs.

Grampa and Great Grampa's honey jars

     Anyways, today i found those 2 little jars. I removed the lids hoping to still be able to smell the golden honey that once filled it. But the scent of honey was gone. I filled the sink with hot soapy water and when dry i decided those cute little bottles would once again hold honey.  I am not sure if it was allergies or if i got soap in my eye, but i felt a tear run down my cheek. I miss my Grampa, but i think  he would of been happy that i put some of my honey in his jars


A little about the jars:
The Hazel-Atlas Glass Company of Wheeling, West Virginia started out at Washington, PA and later plants included Clarksburg, WV; Zanesville, OH; Ada, Oklahoma; Montgomery, Alabama; Oakland, California; Pomona, California and other locations (1902 – 1964).  Hazel-Atlas made the Beehive Jars and listed them in 1935 Bee Culture magazine. They were made in three sizes from ½ pound to two pounds.

Prepping for winter

Frosty leaves

    Well here it is October 31, and i have to ask myself...where has this year gone. I had always heard that the older you get the faster the time goes....but enough already! I am having trouble keeping up.
    Over the last month, we have been working hard getting ready for winter. I have been canning, James has been hunting and we are trying to get the insulation put  in here and there around the basement ceiling area.

Cold room is filling up

    The hunting so far has been unsuccessful but we are hoping that will change soon. We both enjoy game and its so rewarding to look down at your plate and most of the food on it is food you harvested yourself. So hopefully in the next week or so he will get us a moose or deer.
    We had no garden this year as there wasn't enough time, but this winter we will be planning out the new greenhouse. I did manage to buy fruit and was given some vegis out of our neighbors garden so I was able to put away a few things for the winter.
     Last week James moved a lot of the "stuff" that was laying around the yard, stuff that hadnt been put away since we got home. So we can rest knowing we won't be hitting anything while plowing the driveway this winter.  At the same time I worked on getting the bees ready for winter. I got them moved down into 2 boxes and gave them some Apipasta fondant as a treat. I had also made them 8lb candy boards for each hive. So along with their 2 boxes of honey, they should have more than enough food for winter.

Ready for winter

     So this winter, we will be keeping busy putting in the shower and vanity then organizing the basement more. Then on those real cold days we will be sitting with a steaming hot cuppa and drawing up plans for the new greenhouse. So this winter i will be updating you on whats going on inside the house, new plans for next year, how the bees are doing and the new batch of mead i plan on making.and maybe a few honey based recipes.
But for now....bee warm and have a safe winter.
,

BC Honey Producers Conference

For the past 4 years while running the Motel, i sat and watched (and whined a little, ok  a lot!) how people got to go the BCHP's conferences. I was envious and swore once retired...I would go too damnit.
So I was pretty excited when the PG beekeeping club was going to host the next conference in Prince George in October.
James and I registered and were set to go for 2 of the 3 days. We opted to drive in each day since staying at a motel wasn't really going to work with our clingy 14 year old dog who howls when ever you leave. So this was easier.

Conference

They had a great line up of speakers from all over Canada and the US. The one i was really excited to hear was Ian Steppler from Steppler Farms in Manitoba. I follow him on You Tube and really have learned a lot from him. So to see and hear him in person was pretty neat. The conference was 3 days long but we only attended the Sat and Sunday. During one of the talks, we had a lesson in honey tasting. Like wine tasting but not quite as fun...heheheh. We were given  6 different samples of  honey to analyze by taste and aroma then write down what you tasted. It was amazing when you really concentrate what you can taste and smell. My favorite honey that day was from Meadowfoam flowers and it tasted like chocolate, vanilla and maybe a little caramel thrown for good measure. Each honey tasted so different.

 Ian Steppler,

For fun i had decided to enter some honey and Mead into the competition. I had never entered anything like this before so i was completely out of the loop on how it worked. The first thing i did was put the honey in too big of jars (it was suppose to be 500g or a pound) according to the rules. Then i didnt fill the jar full enough to hide the level under the lid. Oh and i didnt filter the honey through a fine enough filter to get the specks of pollen out.The honey were critiqued but disqualified because of the bottle size. But saying all this, i learnt so much and now i know better for next time. But we did get full points for taste and aroma, so i was pretty pleased about that!

But my mead looked good, it was clear and the right size bottles, so i felt good about that. But i entered it without any expectations since this was only the second time i had ever made mead...i didn't even know what it was suppose to taste like....but we liked it so that's what i went with.
Well Saturday night on Facebook a friend who was at the Banquet posted that my mead won 1st in its category....what??? Really??? No it couldn't of.
But sure enough when we arrived Sunday morning...i was given a blue ribbon. I was shocked.

Mine are the ones with no professional label or fancy bottle. (far right). Yup these were recycled Cattle Boyz BBQ sauce bottles!

Photo Credit: Bini Ball

The rest of the conference was great. The speakers were really informative and we brought home a ton of info and some goodies. One of the best things of the whole weekend was meeting in person, some of the folks i had only chatted to one some beekeeping pages i belong too. We even brought home a gift of 2 jars of honey from friends in Terrace. Thank you Tavis and Christine. We are loving this very interesting mystery honey of yours.

But now its back to getting ready for winter and putting the bees to bed. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Until next time......

Bee Inspection

Last spring our area got news that we would finally have a Bee Inspector. It had been years since our area had one, so it was great finding out the news.
 Barry, our inspector, had attended several of our bee meetings and our Bee Day in May. He had asked if anyone in the club would like their bees inspected. I never turn down the opportunity to learn new things and work along side someone who had been keeping bees for years. So i said Yes, i do.
With the very wet summer, our inspector had to keep delaying his road trip out this way until after he was able to get his hay off the fields. So on the 22nd of August he arrived. Barry is a great guy, very easy going and willing to share his years of knowledge and never makes you feel bad for doing rookie mistakes or asking dumb questions.

Barry and I checking out the hives

My hives had suffered a bit early in the season with Chalk Brood, a fungal desease and this summers damp weather really didnt help the situation. However they rebounded and had really taken off. The populations had grown and judging by the inspection. ...were doing well. Barry and I tore apart each hive, looking at the frames, checking for brood, desease and looking at their overall health. 

There was only very minor indications of chalk brood, which i was so happy about and everything looked good. 

The one thing he noted was .....our equipment. He suggested perhaps it was time to replace our brood boxes and supers. James and I had already planned a trip to Bee Maid before winter to purchase a bunch,since all of ours are.....almost classed as antiques. We thought that perhaps some of the boxes were homemade since the frames didnt fit in some of them very well and kept slipping down inside. Also with the size difference there was all kinds of very ornate burr comb under the frames. We left all that mess in place and when we get the new boxes...i can clean them up then.

Next came the testing for Varroa Mites. We took a sample of approx 300 bees (around a 1/2 cup) and put them into a 2 cup Mason jar. It was fitted with a screen and then 2 Tbs of icing sugar was pushed thru the screened top and onto the bees.  The jar was then rolled around and given a shake then let sit for a minute or so. The process was repeated. Then into a white container, the contents were shaken out thru the screened top leaving the bees inside the jar covered with white icing sugar. They were returned to their hive where their sisters would clean them off.  In the white container we poured a small amount of water to dissolve the sugar and  looked for mites. You are hoping for 2% or less mites. (well actually you are hoping for 0 mites) If your numbers are higher than you need to treat the bees. We were really happy as we counted 0 mites. However i will test again near the end of Sept and see then. There will be less capped brood then, so you may find you have more mites (the mites like to rear their young inside capped brood).

Setting up the mite testing station

Bees coated in icing sugar

Returning the sugar coated girls back to their hive

Anyways, it was a good day. I was so thankful to find out my bees were doing good and was very grateful to had learnt new things

Until next time.....Bee Happy

Getting ready for winter....already???

Dearth
 A scarcity or lack of something.
Synonyms: lack, scarcity, scarceness, shortage, shortfall, want, deficiency, insufficiency, inadequacy,
paucity, sparseness, meagerness, scantiness, rareness, infrequency, uncommonness.

Long gone spring flowers

In the world of Honey Bees it means...A nectar dearth in some areas means there is a lot less forage than before, in other areas, it means nearly a complete absence of nectar. We are now in the dearth here.
I started feeding our bees in July, which is insanely early and we have never fed that early before. But with 2 full months of cool temperatures and rain, i felt it was a necessity to help out the bees.
I also started giving the bees in their syrup, Pro Health stimulant, to help build them up. It aides in overall health and helps builds up nucs and packages and assists in drawing out comb. Anyways i had never used anything like this before so decided i had nothing to lose. I must say, i was quite surprised when i  checked the bees a few days ago. They had almost or completely drawn out the 10 brand new foundation i had put in a month before. The population had increased and considering all the rain and lack of foraging time...they seemed to be putting up a lot of pollen and nectar. So i was pleased.

Nice brood pattern in one of our hives

August is when you remove the extra honey and extract it. We are not taking any honey this year. Any extra frames i will save it and give it back to them in the spring. All our bees were new packages this year so normally you don't get a lot of extra honey the first year. August is also the time you check for Varroa and treat if necessary. I will start testing next week if the weather is good. Near the end of the month i will also be switching to a thicker syrup for them. It will be a 2:1 ratio. You make it thicker in Sept so the bees have time to process it and get the humidity levels down so they can cap it.  Somehow the bees know when the honey is at the right humidity level, (usually around 17% humidity) at that point they cap it with wax. I don't have that ability so i have to use a refractometer to tell if its 17%,
Anyways this is just a short ramble this time. Lots going on right now. In the next post, i will be telling you about our bee inspection, mite tests and getting more prep done for winter in our new place.
Bye for now. Bee Happy

Life inside a rain forest

As i sit here watching the rain fall again (and wishing it would stop), i have to remind myself we do live in a rainforest and this is to be expected.

Dome Creek is located at the very edge of the Robson Valley on highway 16 east. We live a few minutes from the fairly new Ancient Forest/Chun T’oh Whudujut Park. Its a very unique area and is the only inland temperate rainforest in the world. People come from all parts of the world to visit the park and to experience wrapping their arms around 1000 year old Cedars. We feel so blessed to be living in such a beautiful untouched area.

Everything is so lush this year and the fear of a forest fire in our area is pretty low. But unlike when we lived at the coast, it would rain for 30 days and 30 nights (well that is what it seems like) . Dome Creek rains for a hour or two then stops. Although this summer has been a tad more wet than usual, it is still bearable.

                                   

But i feel bad for our bees during all this damp weather. I have been battling chalk brood this year, which sucks. Its been a challenge and i am hoping they will build up the colony big enough to survive the winter. Three out of four hives seem to be doing really good, the other one....not so much. And although they do get out foraging...its quite limited by all the rain.

Its been a tough couple years beekeeping, but each time you have a failure, you do learn lots. But enough already!

Well even though i am kind of sick of the rain, i must say everything is so beautiful and the abundance of wild flowers is incredible. So when its not raining there is lots for the bees to forage.



                                             


We have a friend from Belgium who comes to Canada each year to fish. His little base camp is set up on our property where the bee yard is. He sets up his canoe under the eves of our cabin to catch rain water and the other day i went over to the bee yard and this is what i spotted.



                                     


When i asked him about it, he explained that it saddened him to see the bees go in the canoe to drink then drown. So he took some of that non slip rubber matting you use in your RV so your dishes don't slide around and put it in the canoe. The bees can sit on the mats and the water comes up thru the holes. It was rather clever i thought. I added the thinly sliced pool noodles.

Anyways, once the weather straightens out a bit, i will be able to get in the hives and check out how they are making out with their winter stores. Then maybe i will have more to talk about in my next blog. Well i should go, since its raining today i think i will bottle up my batch of mead i made a few months ago. I may have to sample a little to make sure its going to be good.

Til next time......     .

Getthing things done

Good morning everyone
Its been a few months since i have put pen to paper so i decided what better day then to do it, then today
So much has been happening since my last post. First and foremost, James managed to finish the bee yard while i worked at the Post Office for 3 weeks. He did a fab job and it ended up being larger than the original plan. It turned out to be 35' x 50'

Moving them was somewhat of a night mare. It was easy moving the hives but really hard to convince the bees where their new home was. Even though it was a short distance so many of the bees coudnt figure it out. I spent nights rounding up stray bees and putting in Nuc boxes and carrying them over to the bee yard. It went on for 4 nights. After that, they finally figured it out.

So the bees are doing pretty good, we have been battling a bit with Chalk Brood. Last year our bees also had it and i read up on it and sadly i didnt read how the spores can stay in the frames for up to 15 years. Sheesh. So now i am dealing with it. Our Bee Inspector, Barry Clark spent some time talking about it and he made some suggestions which i have done. He is coming our way to do inspections for some of our club members so he will stop in here on his way home and inspect ours. We will decide then if we need to replace queens. But the populations are increasing so i am hoping they will be able to get through it ok.

New bee yard

So what else has been going on at the homestead, well....lots  On our trip to Prince George the other day, we went to a nursery to check on fruit trees. We had in mind 2 apples and 2 cherries. We came home with 2 apples, 1 cherry and 1 plum. So now the bees share their compound with the 4 fruit trees and the black currant i started 3 years ago from a cutting. I really didn't think the orchard was going to happen this year so its a bonus it has.

Hard to see but 4 fruit trees planted

  Another little project we got done yesterday morning was, we got the outhouse (dubbed the "Confessional") over a hole and set up. So now when the power goes off....we are covered.  The new 3 bay woodshed has been started. James had to fall a few trees to make room for the shed, so he was in his glory.

James dropping trees to make room

New 3 bay woodhouse

Well so much for working on the woodshed right now....the blue sky dissappeared and the thunder clouds rolled in. But as they say......wait an hour and the weather will change.
Till next time. Bye for now

Riverside Apiary's new home

After we first moved in before we moved it

March 19, 2019
We made it home, although not until March 11 but never the less we made it.
The house had been locked up for 6 1/2 long years so needless to say, there was a lot of cleaning and organizing to do.
Our house is not the typical house and by now you probably figured it out that its a old church. We bought it back in about 2006   where it sat in a sorry state for many years, unloved. Over the years we have slowly picked away at it until it became a house.
The church first opened its doors in 1959 when the Bishop traveled by train from Giscome to bless it, Our Lady of Fatima. It only remained a church for about 10 years when it closed it doors forever and sat basically empty until we bought it.

When we first bought it, it was rather sad looking and it was no wonder no one ever gave it a second look. One of the little boys in the neighbourhood  shot out 9 panes of windows with a sling shot and there was broken glass inside, dead birds, bats and lots of flies and lord knows (no pun intended) what else. But we saw its potential.

When we first bought it

 

Back before the highway was in, the priests use to travel by train to some of the small towns. One of the locals would go over before the priest would arrive and light the barrel heater in the main room so it would be warm when he arrived. Once we bought it, we went ahead and wired it so we could have lights. We moved into it in 2007 and just recently have water lines run throughout it with hopes this summer there will be a indoor toilet and running water. For the time being....the little house (dubbed the Confessional) out back gets plenty of use. In 2010 we  purchased another piece of property out of the same estate and made plans to move the church onto that.
It was a big deal in Sept 2011 when the old Dome Creek Church moved down the road to its new location. The whole town came out.

The bell tower was removed for the move

The towns people following it down the road

So now that we are home. Maybe we can finally finish it and give it the love it deserves. But first......the bee yard has to be built before the bears wake up. So...the confessional out back will get used a little while longer

How it looks today

My bags are packed, I'm ready to go............

Now that i have put that song in everyone's head, let me share some exciting news. Its been 2 years in the making and I so ready. Riverside Apiary is moving and expanding...wooohooo.
Thats right, the Motel sold and we are heading home March 9th. I haven't had a lot of time to get real excited yet, as there is so much to do to shut down the business, change over addresses, pack plus all the other chores in the life of a Motelier. (is that a real word?)
Despite all the obstacles and hurdles....we are going to make it happen.  Like the other day,James took a load of stuff and his welding trailer home  and got 20 minutes out of town, when the engine in his truck decided to pack it in. Not the best of times to not have a truck! Anyways, we have some pretty great friends and its coming together.
So earlier i mentioned we were expanding the Apiary, i have ordered 4 packages of bees, which should be arriving near the end of May sometime. So once the snow goes, we will be busy putting in fence posts and building a bear proof compound for the future orchard/bee yard. 

So, a few weeks ago, i decided since we were heading home, i should bottle the Bochet (caramelized honey mead) I made months ago. A short time later some friends came over and Barb and I got to talking about mead. I mentioned that the Bochet was such a nice color and went and brought a bottle out to show her. Then we decided we should smell it...oh my, it did smell good. So out came the glasses. Now i am no expert in the art of wine tasting...but i do love food and really like to savor each morsel i put in my mouth, so  I tried to do the same with the mead. The two of us sat there, taking in the aroma and discussed what we smelt. Then we let it slide over our tongues. Oh it was so smooth and sweet, but sweet in a delightful way. We were so enjoying it, that the guys decided they needed to try it too.

It was a hit and i will definitely be making it again. Oh and after a couple (or more) glasses of it....i dubbed it Bitchin Bochet

Anyways, i should really go and get some more packing done. Not that i am counting or anything but there is  only 7 more sleeps and we are heading home to our little old church in the boonies.