Wines Bee Yard

News Articles | www.blissfieldadvance.com

2010-08-27T09:01:00.000-04:00

News Articles | www.blissfieldadvance.com

What the heck happened to summer?

2010-07-21T09:25:00.000-04:00

You know that you are way to busy when you can't keep up with things. Somehow this summer things have gotten out of control. Yes we are still working on the garage project for the honey house. Jim has added a heated floor using the woodburner to the project which means every time I turn around it's getting bigger and bigger.
We helped a few new beekeepers get started this year and actually helped one of them harvest 80 lbs of honey from one hive last Sunday! Now us on the other hand well, we just haven't had a chance to harvest anything.
In order for us to get some extracting done I need to set up all the equiptment and in order for me to do that I have to have the garage finished. Do you see where this is going? Anyway I'm trying hard to keep things up.
I hope your summers are going better than ours.

Here is a link to some Helpful Information about Bee Pollen

2010-04-07T16:05:00.007-04:00

Honey and Treating the Common Cold

2010-03-20T14:19:00.001-04:00

Every week I get asked a number of questions about home remedies for illnesses. Because I'm not a Doctor and I don't want to give anyone the wrong information, I do what I tell most of you to do, I google it. Today my google search to me to the Mayo Clinic. While they don't 100% endorse honey as a cure, they do say it could relieve some symptoms. Getting a good nights sleep to be what is the most thing folks complain about. Taking a teaspoon or two of honey before you sleep seems a lot less harmful than cough and cold medicine.

The healing power of honey: From burns to weak bones, raw honey can help

2010-02-25T00:03:00.001-05:00

The healing power of honey: From burns to weak bones, raw honey can help

Snow can be fun and winter weather can be great. especially if you enjoy any of the popular outside activities like skiing. snowboarding, skating or just making snowballs. One thing you really have to be careful of though is dry chapped skin and dry chapped lips.

At the Bee Yard we use honey for and in just about everything. Cuts and sores always get a dab of honey covered by a band aid but I also use our honey and our beeswax in our flavored lip balm. In the winter there is nothing worse than those cracked sore lips. No matter how hard you try unless you protect them it's bound to happen. Using our lip balm will not only keep your lips nice and soft, but they will be naturally protected against whatever mother nature decides to throw your way!

I love this quote I took from the article above:

"Raw honey is exceptionally effective internally against bacteria and parasites. Plus, raw honey contains natural antibiotics, which help kill microbes directly. Raw honey, when applied topically, speeds the healing of tissues damaged by infection and/or trauma. It contains vitamins, minerals and enzymes, as well as sugars, all of which aid in the healing of wounds."

I think that pretty much says it all. . .well maybe not. Our lip balm tastes pretty darned good too! Your choice of Peppermint, Wintergreen or Lemon 100% natural.

2010-02-20T22:52:00.001-05:00

You should have come down to market today, we almost had Becky talked into teaching us the electric slide. So not only would you have gotten the chance to see a few of your farm market buddies, you would have gotten a dance lesson. . . See what your missing?

2010-02-18T08:51:00.001-05:00

Found this really great site which will allow you to make posts to all of your sites at once. No need to go to twitter, facebook, blogger etc. You do it all from one place. Go to http://ping.fm

Valentines Day at the Market

2010-02-15T16:59:00.004-05:00

We had a great time down at the market last weekend. So many people showed up that we stayed toasty warm just from all the extra body heat!

I sold out of all the Wines Bee Yard Honey and Hot and Spicy Honey Mustard that I brought down so if you want to make sure I'll have some waiting for you, just email me at debbiesuew@wildblue.net.

Stay warm and have a good week!

Giant Honey Bee Video - Awesome!

2010-02-04T10:36:00.002-05:00

Checking in on the Bees!

2010-02-04T10:18:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I got a phone call from one of the folks that visit us down at the market and they wondered how the bees are doing. Well I wish I could tell you. . . .It's too cold to actually open up the boxes and see how things are going, but there are a few ways that I can tell things are going ok.

If I try to pick up the boxes and they are still heavy I know that the food I left behind for them to enjoy is still good. If the box is light I have to worry about them starving, and if that's the case, I make some candy boards up and slip them on top of the box hoping that that will keep them satisfied.

On a sunny day the bees might still decide to head out for a cleansing flight and I look for any action on those days. That would be a good sign. But it would also mean that they are going through more of the honey stores to replenish themselves because of the flying, I suppose it's a win, lose situation.

I also look for dead bees in front of the boxes. Bees clean the hive and if it's warm enough for them to do it they will. Too many dead bees in front of the boxes is not a good sign.

So for now, I have no news, but as soon as it warms up here enough to find out, I'll let you know.
In the meantime have a great week and if you get a chance come down to the Toledo Farmers Market this weekend and visit us!

Farm Market Saturdays

2010-01-28T14:17:00.011-05:00

Don't forget to join us on Saturday mornings. Not only do we have a great fun but we bring our products there so you don't have to miss what we have during the winter.

If you are looking for honey that comes from organically raisied bees, well don't worry at harvest time we were able to put lots of buckets away to get us through the winter. Our honey is what is considered to be raw. We don't heat it, we extract it and bucket it. The room we store it in is warm enough to keep it from crystallizing.
We also have pollen available, so if you started to take it this summer don't use the excuse that you can't find it anymore, it's here at the market.
Beeswax candles are some of natures finest candles. Well actually they are the best candle you can possibly burn and they are the only all natural candle made. I can reach into a hive squish some wax together and put a wick in it and burn it.
Our lip balm is the best. I only use all natural ingredients and it's been proven to be the most awesome lip balm to keep your lips lovingly cared for.
Our Hot and Spicy Honey Mustard is great year around. With the Super Bowl coming up it would be phenomenal to use on pretzels, dips, sandwhiches and tons of other things.
Whipped honey is great on toast and muffins and bagels but it's also great as a vinagrette and it tastes yum in a hot cup of tea.

Yes I know it's been awhile. . . ..

2009-12-17T08:05:00.004-05:00

I've been overwhelmingly busy. The last part of the year I decided to do craft shows to get my product out in front of the public more. It took a toll on me and I'm recouping now. Last Sunday when I was suppose to be at my last show I ended up in the Emergency Room. . . . .Note to self, when parts of your body start to swell (especially if the swelling isn't where you would like it) head to the hospital. It took me a few days to get there and I could have probably nipped this right in the bud if I would have headed there right away.
But enough said. . . .This year though things will be changing for us here at the Bee Yard. We have done really well with a few of our products. For instance our Hot and Spicy Honey Mustard has been flying off the shelves. I'm barely able to keep up with it. We are currently in the process of making this commercially and I hope and pray that we will be able to have this in stores by the summer. As usual it's me setting goals. . . .
We started developing a problem making the Apple Cinnamon Whipped Honey. The organic fruit that add to our Whipped Honey just wouldn't allow it to set up right. We went through 3 buckets or 180 lbs. trying to get this to work and just haven't been able to. So until I can get it to work I'm taking off our available products for sale list. Yes I know it's going to make some of you sad but I don't want to sell a product that I don't think will make you happy either.
Which brings me to remind all of you of something I strongly believe in:
Our goal at the Bee Yard is to create and produce products that we love and believe you will love. If you purchase anything from us and are unhappy with it in any way I want you to return it to me where you will be given the option to exchange it for something else or I will refund you your money. At the market I really like you to try something before you buy it and I'm able to do that there but online if it doesn't work for you, please let me know and I will follow through with our commitment.
So this year, you might see a few less products, after all it's just me and the girls in the bee yard. But what you will see are quality products that I'd send to any of my very own family members who mean the world to me as gifts. How many businesses can say that?
Here are photo's of our family Christmas Tree this year, as we take a moment to reflect on what the Holiday Season is truly about we hope your family enjoys a Merry Christmas and a Joyous Holiday Season as well!

Weekend Update

2009-12-04T07:22:00.002-05:00

It's going to be such a great weekend. Saturday we are going to be at Start High School in Toledo Ohio for their craft show and on Sunday we will be with the Ladies of the Old West End for their annual Tour de Noel (which we have been a part of for the last 4 years!). Dana will be at the Toledo Farm Market downtown at Erie Street on Saturday from 9:00-1:00. So we have our bases covered and if you need anything you should be able to find us somewhere!
I'm sending the holiday candles along with some beautiful light honey downtown with Dana. I really should have marked the buckets as I took them in but at least this way I am pleasantly surprised.
Monday I'm heading to my Mamasita's and will get to spend a short but I'm sure jam packed four days home. Return home on Friday and will be at Market on Saturday and will be at the Toledo Craftmans' Guild show at Lourdes College on Saturday!
I'm so busy that even I feel like I'm in a whirlwind!

Warm weather in Michigan.

2009-11-13T07:18:00.006-05:00

The weather the last few days here has been amazing. If I wasn't so busy with getting inside stuff done for the upcoming craft shows I would have loved to have spent more time outside.
Today though it looks like I'll get some time in the bee yard.
While taking pictures of all the flowers and flowering kale

I have still outside this late in the season I stopped by a few of the hives to check on them and when I went to lift them up I noticed they were a bit light. What I mean by that is they should all weigh over 100 lbs. each so that they can get through the winter with more than enough honey. When Jim came home last night he told me where the boxes of honey we didn't extract were so I'll head to the barn and load a few up to put on some of the hives. I'm so glad we decided to hold onto more honey for the bees than we did last year. When the weather is this nice the girls like to head out and fly and look for food and when there isn't any well they end up using what is stored up in the hives. That means there is less food to get them through the winter. Get it now?

So between getting things together for the

LUCAS COUNTY REC CENTER Sat 10a-5p and Sun 11a-4p admission is $4.00 children 12 & under free (You name it they will have it...)

and feeding the bees I'm gonna have a pretty busy day. . .

Hope to see those of you in the area down at the Rec Center!

Craft shows coming down the pike. . .

2009-11-05T19:04:00.004-05:00

This Saturday my daughter Dana will be at the market making sure that anyone there looking for our products will be able to buy them, while I'm going to be in Sylvania at the High School from I think 10-4. I've been busy making sure we have enough of our products for both markets and just put together the table for the craft show.
What do you think?

Pumpkin Fest at the Market

2009-10-19T09:33:00.004-04:00

I passed my Test!!!!

2009-10-06T14:37:00.006-04:00

Remember the test I was so stressed about? The one I had to miss a Wed. market to take. Well, I actually passed. I was sure I wouldn't and I didn't do half bad. I scored a 100% on the legal part of the test. I still don't understand what a beekeeper who doesn't deal with meat had to take a test all about hazardous food issues. Honey isn't a dangerous food.

We finished our extracting and our bees did a fabulous job. I should have more than enough to get me through my markets. We found another box of cut comb so I'll be able to bring that to market too!

Celebrating National Honey Day was a blast. Dana my daughter came down to be my
"Big Bee"

She looked darling while I look like I was just sucking on lemons. . . .It was a long day and seeing the kids smile made it perfect. My husband Jim jumped in and helped out by bringing the observation hive and giving out out the prizes for the kids. They loved him and by the time he left he was being called "The Honey Man!":)

Life has been good to us here on the bee farm. Got to squeeze in a visit to my Aunt and Uncles and visit with some cousins, that was great!
This weekend we are at Kapnick Orchards in Tecumseh Michigan for their Apple Umpkin Festival, don't worry we will still be at the market too! Dana is going to work at the market while I think I'm going to be at Kapnick's. Hopefully we will see you at one of the two locations.
Meanwhile, have a great week!

Visitors to the Bee Yard

2009-09-06T23:54:00.002-04:00

Photo's to follow. . .
We had a really great Saturday night after market. Lori (Homestead Soaps) and her three children came out to visit. Jerry and Lilly put on bee suits and spent time with the bees. Jim gave them a really good guided tour and it was hard for me to tell who was having a better time, the kids or Jim. After a short dinner break the kids got to see how honey was extracted and took some home with them. It was late when they left and Lori said it didn't take much to get the kids into bed. It was the first time I'd been able to see Jim show off the girls in the Bee Yard and he did such a nice job. I was so impressed with how he explained things to the kids and he was really interested in making sure they understood what was going on out there. When I was listening to him it made me smile from ear to ear.
Then tonight I was coming in from cleaning up the candle area when we heard someone pull up out side, it was Jane and Jim coming to see the girls too. I asked Jim if he wouldn't mind taking them out to the yard and before I knew it he was headed out looking for Jackets and getting his smoker lit. I think he really enjoys this whole end of the bee business. If I seem a bit surprised it's because Jim has usually been the quiet shy one of the two of us and it's almost like "A Star is Born!" I took some pictures of all of them and in the process got stung, and within a few more minutes I got stung two more times. That's when I decided enough is enough and I headed back to the garage to shut things off while they ended their tour of the bee yard.
Jane had brought us some bread and we invited them in and showed them the house. They had never been here before and after they saw the house they visited with us a little bit before they left.
It was nice to have company but it was nice to settle down and watch the race on tv too! Kasey Kahne won and totally came out of nowhere this week. It was good to see him win, but Tony Stewart it's time to get back in the game!
Have a good night, if I get a chance I'll put up some pictures tomorrow evening of our "little visitors."

Life in the Bee Yard!

2009-09-01T09:22:00.005-04:00

Well we have had a few ups and we have had a few downs this week. Right now my truck is out of commission, the four wheel drive wants to start whenever it wants to start. Not a good thing when you are driving down the highway. Instead of getting all stressed, I'm thinking it's God's way of telling me I've got other stuff to take care of. So I'm focusing today on getting the extractor area taken care of. Jim made the most awesome stand for me. He's been busy working on nuc boxes (Small hives, only 4 or 5 frames each). After our great visit to Uncle Ted and Aunt Mars house, Jim got inspired to try to overwinter like Uncle Ted has been able to do. So we will try and see if it works out. We are trying to increase our hive size without buying new bees every year.

I also came across a great video which I've put as a link to the right of the daily updates. "Do the Honey Bee!"

If this doesn't make you laugh I don't know what would!!!!

Can't you see a whole bunch of us at the farm market doing this?

What part would you play?

Ancient Orange Cinnamon & Clove Mead

2009-08-20T12:40:00.005-04:00

I've been wanting to make mead for a long time, but Jim has always said, no no no no no, no more honey projects. A really nice mead maker gave me a link to check out a recipe. Joes Ancient Orange Cinnamon & Clove Mead. It didn't look complicated and actually it looked much easier than I thought it would. I got the gallon jug and funny top at a wine making store in Dundee Home Winery Supply Company for about 9.00. The rest was history. It's sitting nice and quiet down in my cubby in the basement. Here is a photo.
It's Thursday and this weekend we are headed out to visit my Aunt and Uncle in Missouri, and I can't wait. Getting to see both of them will be soo great. We never take time off and it will be a great break.

Pictures of our "Cut Comb"

2009-08-09T18:36:00.003-04:00

Here is the first four of the forty we are cutting for today!

Cut Comb Coming to market this Week!!!!!!

2009-08-09T17:01:00.002-04:00

It was horribly hot outside, but I managed to convince Jim to go and get a box of comb honey. We will start getting it ready and will bring it to market on Tuesday. I'll make the phone calls for those of you who wanted me to hold it for you and don't worry, if I've got your name and no phone number I will still hold it. I realize that this is vacation time. . . . .
Debbie:)

Saturday at the Market

2009-08-08T21:11:00.006-04:00

Our new packaging for whipped honey! Won't it look good in a gift basket!

Jim checking on a couple of boxes he brought home from cleaning bees out of a barn! It was a much bigger chore than he thought. He brought along a good friend of ours Steve and the poor guy ended up getting stung:(

This is what he started out with. He put new boxes on top and has been trying to lure the queen to start laying up above but up until now she has pretty much refused and continues to lay in this mess:( But all the other bees have been busy getting the frames ready on the box he put on top of this one so maybe she will move soon.

These are the two hives right outside our dining room window. One is nice and the other one is mean. . . . .
Forgive me but this is my littles "Drone" grandson R.J. hopefully some day he will become a beekeeper.

This is Boo (Becky) and her Princess "Bee" Ava. If she never works in the hive that's fine, but she makes a really cute bee!

Princess Bee Ava

Now the real Blog. . . . . .

We had a pretty rainy day today, but it still is really cool to come down to the market. I don't know how to make people realize what a great experience it is when you visit us. We are covered so you won't get wet, we have the most phenomenal coffee from Flying Rhino. So when it rains, head down to our end, (we hang out at the end opposite of the Libby Glass Factory), grab a cup of coffee and stroll through all the stands. Meet the folks that grow your food, ask them the questions you always wondered. And believe me there are no stupid questions. We love to talk about what we do and we love it more when people want information and we can share. Most of us offer great samples so you can try things to see if you like them. Today we had "Slow Food" at the market and they served some great samples of food and handed out the recipes as well. If you still are hungry at lunchtime stop by and see Karen at Nicks World Famous Hot Dogs and grab a bite to eat.
We have a ton of great produce, herbs, plants, bread (Country Grains - most excellent bread with the nicest employees, gotta love that little Lauren), great Cakes Pies and Cookies (Sugar Cubes - Leslie) and please forgive me but Shannon is there with a table of cute decorated cookies and cakes and cup cakes. And I have to tell you I've made the best friends with all the people down here at the market and there isn't one I would not recommend.
P.S. My buddy at Homestead Soaps Lori has a great soap for you if you are having a problem with poison ivy. Check it out.

And as usual I'm going to upload some photo's of what's been going on.

The Summer Is Flying right by.

2009-07-27T08:41:00.002-04:00

I've had the pleasure of spending the last few weeks with my husband. He's been taking a few days off here and there and it's been great having him home. Of course Jim had a list of things he was trying to get done, and I had a list of things I needed him to get done for me. I think all the things he wanted to get done got done, and almost all my things got done. Still waiting for the display stuff:(

The bees are doing really great. I took the first box of cut honey comb to market and it was gone by the end of my first trip. Yikeroo. We still have cut comb boxes out in the bee yard, and I thought Jim was going to bring me one back to the house yesterday but he said it had a couple of frames that just were not drawn out yet.

On Tuesday Jim called me to tell me he was on his way to pick up a swarm. Well most of us don't really look forward to picking up a swarm in July because it means it won't give us any honey this year and we will end up feeding it, but Jim explained that it wasn't a swarm, it was a hive that had taken over a shed. Great. . . . . so Jim and his buddy Steve headed out and came back with two boxes full of bees brood and wrecked comb. They took them out to the same yard, against my better wishes, and set them up placing a empty box on top of each box. They didn't put them back together as one hive. I ordered a couple of queens because I couldn't believe she would have survived and didn't want to take the chance that they didn't. (They went to our "special" yard, that's where all the mean bees live.) I told him I thought they would go back to one hive but I think because both boxes are full of brood they didn't. Jim checked on them yesterday and they are doing just fine. I think he is going to move one hive over here later on this week, he just didn't feel like moving them any more.

We watched a great special on Colony Collapse disorder and bees last night, it was great, they mentioned that they had a virus they were looking at specifically but it still sounds like it's only one part of the puzzle. Jim is worried that although we have bees our production of honey is down from last year. Usually we do two extractions but I'm not sure if that's going to happen this year.

Got lots of stuff to do today, see you all at the market later on!!!!

Another Rainy day!

2009-06-03T09:36:00.002-04:00

Well if it's Wed. it must be raining. Since Westgate has opened I think we have only had two non rainy Wednesday's. I wasn't able to go to Fallen Timbers yesterday, I was taking care of things here at home and the rain was more than I could handle yesterday. I plan on going today and sure hope I'm at least able to load and unload without it raining while I'm in the process.

The bees are doing great! Jim was out in the Bee Yard last weekend without me so therefore no pictures got taken. I was busy trying to get product ready for the market. I can't be everywhere at once. It's times like this that I wish I would have been twins. My mom I'm sure is glad I wasn't twins.

We've spent this week working on the website. My main page is kind of rough right now and I'm going to make it sparkly shiny soon enough, what I was worried about was the shopping cart. Where I had it before (Go Daddy) it charged outrageous prices for shipping and I usually ended up sending money back to folks who paid too much for shipping. Hopefully this will all work out.

I survived Flower Weekend and our son Jon and Emilys Wedding. They were both beautiful, but you have to know that I enjoyed the wedding so much more than Flower Weekend. Jim and I got a beautiful new Daughter in Law. Our table is getting fuller and fuller:)

I'll update with photo's later on.
Have a great week. . .

Oh and Mean Green Wild Thing Hot Pepper Whipped Honey is Back:)
Remember this is a limited engagement. One run only. So for all you Mean Green Fans, make sure you pick it up while we have it.