Audrey's Honey

Audrey's Honey is here again! 

Go by Volunteer Park Cafe http://alwaysfreshgoodness.com to buy some! All the proceeds go to helping Pollinator Pathway, a local Seattle organization working to help strengthen green spaces http://www.pollinatorpathway.com 

Have a lovely Thanksgiving week :) 

Time

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2149141,00.html?pcd=pw-edit

Check out Time magazine for the cover article on honeybees. 

Summer buzzing brings fall honey

The 2013 bee season is in full swing and the two hives in the back yard are thriving. Sadly, over the winter both hives did not survive (not sure what happened with the Blue hive, but in the Pink it appeared the Queen died). Thus, early this season I replaced both hives and was surprised by how quickly they took off. In addition, the difference in bee appearance is more pronounced this year. In the Blue hive the bees are large and dark while the Pink hive has small golden honeybees. So far walking around my yard and neighborhood I usually hear constant buzzing, which I'm sure are my bees out doing their work.  As the weather continues to heat up so will the activity of both hives!

Sunset Magazine

June 2013 Sunset issue had a wonderful section on Seattle, with a focus on urban beekeeping. I was lucky enough to be one of the three beekeepers featured, along with Gavin Stephenson, executive chef, Fairmont Olympic Hotel and Renee Erickson, chef and co-owner, The Walrus and the Carpenter. So, if you come across this June Sunset, go to page 34 and check it out! :)

Honey Tasting

Audrey's Honey review: http://honeyfiend.com/honey-tasting-audreys-honey-from-seattle/

A wonderful review that I am very thankful for!

Hi again

Well,  the bee season has come to a close. This year was similar to last, as the pink hive was stronger and more successful than the blue. I decided not to extract any honey from the blue and I removed about 10 frames from the pink. After that I fed both hives to increase the odds of both surviving the winter. I have again sold my honey to the Volunteer Park Cafe http://alwaysfreshgoodness.com/. This is a great restaurant and bakes really yummy food! The proceeds from my sales went to help Pollinator Pathways,  an organization working to make Seattle more green.  Pollinator Pathways is creating "a mile-long row along Columbia Street, standard planting strips (usually a band of grass between sidewalk and street) will be transformed into pollinator-friendly gardens, offering viable food and habitat to these vitally important insects." Of course honey bees are one of the most important pollinators.  

On another note, during October I was interviewed and photographed by Sunset magazine. They are doing a spread on bees and beekeepers in Seattle. I am still unsure if I will be featured, but fingers crossed I may be in the March issue if all works out. 

Hope the holiday season is going well and eat lots of honey

Audrey 

Summer in Seattle

Savannah Bee Company- Charleston 

Hello again!

It has been a long time since I've last posted and much has happened. Both hive lived through the winter and now are busy about my yard. The pink hive contains "the party girls" always out and busy. I plan to pull frames of honey from this hive and hope for about 40 pounds. The blue hive is more quiet and subdued.  Because there is less activity in this hive and I have decided to feed them again. Sadly, I plan on not pulling any honey from this hive in order for them to have sufficient food to survive through the winter.

About a month ago I decided to split both hives in order to help prevent a swarm. By splitting the hives I mean taking about 3-8 frames from the hives to move to another location. One must be careful not to move the queen when doing this, because then the hive will have no bee production occurring and will collapse. During the splitting, I accidentally removed the blue hive's queen. She had never been the greatest queen, so it was not the end of the world. Thus, we got a new queen and placed her into the hive about 3 weeks ago. This new queen appears very happy, for she has been laying a lot of eggs!

During June I took a trip to the southeast coast (Charleston to DC) and was very delighted to discover the Savannah Bee Company store in Charleston! I probably spent an hour walking around, sampling the many honey flavors, and buying Savannah bee gear! The store was great and so fun visit. I bought my fare share of honey from them too! ;)

 Glad that the sun has finally come out in Seattle!

Audrey