First Beekeeping Class of 2021

| Becca

I’m so excited to be back in the swing of teaching classes! Our very first 2021 class starts tomorrow. The class sold out in FIVE HOURS! It’s going to be so very different from any class we’ve offered before. Instead of blasting folks with hours of advanced information, consider these classes a nice, gently flowing stream of information.

Or something like that. 😉

To that end, I went through all of my old class notebooks yesterday. Y’all, there is so much information that I have collected over the last 10 years. There are talks I’ve given, lectures I’ve taken notes on and research that I’ve done. Some of it is organized and some of it is in hopeless disarray. I’m happy to be offering my own classes but this is also the first year in 10 that I won’t be participating in any regional classes. Symposiums and local workshops have always been near and dear to my heart so not having any available is a little sad for us at Little Green Bees.

Moment of sadness.

So, what will WE be doing tomorrow? We’ll be talking about the very basic of basics of keeping bees. We’ll discuss where to buy bees and equipment: what you need and what you don’t need (and there’s a lot of stuff out there that’s cool but very expensive and completely unnecessary). We’ll discuss online and book learning resources. I’ll have some of Dr. James Tew’s books for sale. We’ll talk about becoming a registered beekeeper (required in the state of Florida) and exactly what the rules are about keeping bees in our sunny state.

We won’t be discussing harvesting honey or honey bee biology (those are two of our upcoming classes!) We won’t talk about selling honey. We won’t talking about plants for honey bees (again, separate classes). I promise that each session will be so jam-packed with information that we’ll be pushing it to cover just this information in two hours!

The next classes available will be offered on February 20th, 2021. The first class will be a repeat of this weekend’s class. The second class will be a swarm catching class and a discussion of WHY honey bees swarm. I LOVE catching swarms so I’m especially looking forward to sharing the information!

Gulf Coast Beekeeping School

| Becca

Several years ago (six to be precise), I taught my first series of Gulf Coast Beekeeping School classes. My friend and I came up with the format and I wrote the curriculum and provided the lectures and materials.

It was a full week of classes. They were intense.

Each session was about four hours long, with a full day open hive demonstration at the end of the week. I continued this teaching method for several years, eventually shortening the classes to four days with an open hive demonstration at the end of the week. Finally, we offered a one day class about two years ago. Honestly, the class went really well. We provided two meals, a full day of instruction, AND an open hive demonstration in the middle of the day. I was the only person to get stung on the face during that class. It was awesome.

We’ve had a lot of great feedback from beginning and more experienced beekeepers. We’ve had requests for more advanced classes. Last year (2020), we did not offer any classes at all for the very first time. Not that there wasn’t any interest. Lots of you have been interested and I’m excited to say we’re ready to start classes again!

Now, why do we even offer these classes to begin with? As I talked to more and more new beekeepers and people interested in keeping bees, I noticed folks were getting the majority of their information from the internet. Now, the internet is fine for lots of things. And you know what? There’s lots of great information about beekeeping on the internet. But let me tell you this, I know of approximately three beekeepers on the Gulf Coast with an online presence. Two of them offer classes and one of them is me. So, if you’re looking for information about Gulf Coast beekeeping online, you’re probably not finding it.

Why is it important to locate a Gulf Coast beekeeper (if you’re on the Gulf Coast)? Well, beekeeping is very climate specific. Florida and Alabama Gulf Coast, though almost identical, have very differing laws on beekeeping. I’ve kept bees in Florida for ten years, but I’m an Alabama Master Beekeeper, so I’m familiar with both sets of laws!

A lot of beekeeping information comes from more northerly climates (such as Vermont or Washington State or Minnesota) and that information is less than helpful for a Gulf Coast beekeeper. Why? Well, most of the rest of the country’s bees are having a respite from their work. Our bees? Working just as hard as they can and getting ready to swarm in approximately one month. Don’t believe me? Check back here and see how many swarms I’ve caught by the end of February!

In our classes, you’ll learn basics of beekeeping, how and why you MUST find a mentor, rudiments of beekeeping equipment (what you need and what you should absolutely avoid), beekeeping styles, honey bee anatomy and resources for beekeepers. The more advanced classes will learn how to make splits and harvest honey and catch swarms. We will also offer classes coincidental to beekeeping, like processing wax, making candles and mead making!

My favorite thing about these new classes is that we will be offering modules. Just want to know about gardening for honey bees and native pollinators? Sign up for that class! Need to know how to catch swarms? There’s a class for that! Want to start with the very basics and work your way up? We’ll help you do that too!

Classes start mid to late January and will be offered in two hour modules on a rolling basis. Look forward to seeing you!

New in the Shop: Dark Wax Ornaments

| Becca

Wait a minute. Before you get ready to take a bite of these delicious chocolate wafers, you should know they’re NOT chocolate! No, these beautiful ornaments are inedible but made of entirely natural, 100% pure local beeswax. Never seen dark beeswax before?

I try to inform people of the different grades and variations of beeswax available. Most beeswax you will see sold in big box stores has been bleached and deodorized. It’s not paraffin wax but it’s also only a couple of steps above paraffin wax. 😦 The golden beeswax, or cosmetic grade beeswax, is a product of removing the cappings from honey frames. Beekeepers call it cappings wax. It’s the cleanest wax and the easiest to process. Sometimes, it doesn’t even need to be filtered.

Occasionally, beekeepers melt down older brood frames. This wax has seen several generations of baby bees raised and is high in propolis content. The wax derived from melting down brood frames is usually a rich chocolatey brown. I love it for candles and ornaments because its beauty is so unique.

Our beeswax has been filtered multiple times but never bleached. So, you receive all natural beeswax when you buy our candles, nativities, ornaments or just plain beeswax bars.

Cooking with Honey: Smoky Honey Hot Wings

| Becca

I’ve never gone to a restaurant and ordered a plate of hot wings. In fact, I’m fairly certain I’ve never had them, ever, before a month ago. I was offered a plate of hot wings while on a job and was quite, quite happy with those little pieces of chicken meat.

A bit later, I saw wings on the hot bar of a local grocery store in town. I was dismayed when I realized I paid over a dollar each for those little morsels. Immediately, I decided to make some myself. I bought the meat (which turned out to be under $3/pound for even good quality meat) but was still nervous about trying a recipe.

Until today.

I started with this recipe and then quickly branched out on my own.

Deliciousness

So, I stuck to the main devices of the recipe. I used the baking powder (I’m guessing it helped make it crispy since I didn’t use flour??), the salt and the garlic powder. For the pepper, I used a cayenne blend, a turmeric blend and a chipotle blend, all from a good friend of ours. I don’t like bland foods… 😉

I did not vary much from the sauce blend: using Tillamook butter, Slap Ya Mama Cajun hot sauce, and our very own smoked honey. You guys! The sauce blend was so good, I literally ate it with a spoon!

I doused the chicken wings and drumettes (about 3 pounds) with the dry blend–I had to double the dry blend recipe--(after meticulously drying the meat as recommended) and baked at 450 F for about 25 minutes. Then, I drenched the cooked meat in the hot sauce and cooked for another 8-10 minutes.

After removing from the oven, I studiously avoided the piteous stares of our two doggies and dipped my cooked wings into yet more sauce. At this point, I may have lost my head a bit and eaten more hot wings than I had planned.

Oh my! These wings were delicious and SO easy to make! Try them and let me know what you think!

Here’s basically what I used ingredients wise:

3 lbs wings and drumettes

5 t baking powder

2 t garlic powder

2 t sea salt

( about a tablespoon of whatever blend of peppers you prefer: I used a locally made turmeric blend, chipotle peppers smoked by a friend and a cayenne pepper blend)

SAUCE:

5 T Tillamook butter

5 ounces Slap Ya Mama Cajun hot sauce

2 T Little Green Bees smoked honey

And YES, we will have smoked honey available for sale soon! Get your orders in so we know how much to make!

Pine Trees and Beeswax Wraps

| Becca

When I first started making beeswax wraps, I thought it was simply a matter of melting beeswax and then coating fabric with the melted wax. Then, I learned that I needed to add oil to the wax in order to make the coating a bit softer. Eventually, I found out that pine resin melted into the blend would make the wax mixture stickier–which is exactly what you want in a beeswax wrap. It needs to be soft, pliable and just a little bit sticky.

Instead of using pine resin, I used propolis, something I already had on hand. I looked at sourcing pine resin from suppliers but, for some reason or other, I just never did.

This year, Pensacola was hit by Hurricane Sally and we lost around 50%!! of the tree cover in our area. That tree loss included many old pine trees. I drove around and collected lots of pine resin from these fallen trees. With this locally sourced pine resin, I made more beeswax wraps. Unfortunately, the resin did not melt into the mixture quite the way I was led to believe that it would! It was goopy and stuck to the bottom of the melting pot. However, I believe that at least a little of the resin made it into the mixture because the feel of these beeswax wraps is different than any wraps I’ve made before.

That said, this new and improved recipe was used to make the newest wraps in the shop! Hop on over to Little Green Bees Vintage Apothecary and pick up a set of these new wraps for yourself! Lots of sizes and patterns available. As well, if you need a different size, just let me know and I’ll make it happen!

Save 10% on your first order of beeswax wraps from the shop with this coupon code–>BEEWRAPPY

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