Thank You Postal Service

/
My card and honey jar in my mailbox for my considerate mail carrier. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

My card and honey jar in my mailbox for my considerate mail carrier. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Thank You Postal Service!

I don’t mean to brag but I have one of the nicest and considerate mail carriers. Not only does she bring me my mail when she is making a package delivery but she stops by first thing in the morning when she knows the package has plants in it. That way the plants don’t spend all day in her car before she makes it to my neighborhood.

I was so touched with her latest consideration that I decided to treat her to something special. Adding a little card of explanation, I snuck a jar of fresh honey from my hives in the mailbox, hoping the card leaning on the jar would stay upright long enough for her to see it.

Sure enough, the following day I found a little thank you note from her scribbled on a torn piece of yellow paper. And she said she loves honey!

The thank you note from my mail carrier after I left her a honey jar. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The thank you note from my mail carrier after I left her a honey jar. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Sharing the honey from my bees is one of my favorite things to do!

Charlotte

A Gift of Honey

/
A gift of raw, strained honey from my bee buddy David. Thanks, David!

A gift of raw, strained honey from my bee buddy David. Thanks, David!

A Gift of Honey

One of the best gifts you can give a beekeeper is a bottle of honey, preferably from your own hives but a bottle of real honey nevertheless.

No two bottles of honey are the same, nor will they taste the same so giving honey is similar to gifting a bottle of wine. The soil terroir, what plants are available, weather conditions - all contribute to the unique taste of honey. It can also vary by time of year harvested and even by honey color.

As beekeeping friends, it's always a treat to have a honey jar gifted. My bee buddy David gave me a little honey bear of his 2016 honey harvest, raw strained honey with no other modifications. It's just like the bees made it.

The back of David's honey bear so that I will know where the honey came from - his apiary.

The back of David's honey bear so that I will know where the honey came from - his apiary.

In 2015, I was part of a Missouri State Beekeepers Association team working successfully with Missouri's Legislature to update the state's honey bottling law. Previously, honey was lumped in with jams and jellies, requiring beekeepers to invest in $30,000 commercial kitchens to be able to bottle honey for sale.

With the changes in Missouri's honey bottling laws, beekeepers can now bottle the honey in their kitchens and add labels with the honey source prior to sales. No need to build, or use, commercial kitchens. As beekeepers, we are not making the honey, as one does with jams and jellies. All beekeepers are doing is bottling what bees have made.

Sorry, this bottle of honey is not for sale. It was a gift and I fully intend to enjoy it over cold winter days.

Thank you, David, and please thank your bees. This honey looks more like Grade A+!

Charlotte

Catnip Honeybees

/ Bluebird Gardens/

One of my holiday traditions is making handmade catnip toys for family and friends' cats.

Catnip grows easily in my garden, pollinated by wild bumblebees that apparently love this perennial herb. After picking and drying the catnip, it's time to decide what to make.

This year it was easy. Catnip honeybees!

I used left over black cotton fabric and added yellow fabric stripes. After sewing the fabric into tubes, one end was sewn to make a point, suggesting the stinger, and the other was sewn closed after adding catnip.

Wings were made out of white fleece. Embroidery floss suggested the antenna.

Sweet!

The corduroy grey catnip toys? A computer mouse, what else!

Charlotte

Custom Bee Pillow

/

Before I ever had honeybees, I found this charming unfinished vintage crewel embroidered pink clover and honeybee  sampler at an auction.

I have always loved pink clover, which has the three-lobed leaves and usually blooms from spring into summer.I try not to remove anything growing in my garden, even transplanting some that were getting trampled on during house repairs.

The sampler sat for years in my project basket until I had my first two bee hives. To celebrate, I decided to make a custom throw pillow out of it. I didn't change the sampler size, I just cut a complimentary green cotton fabric for a backing and stitched the two together inside out. Leaving a 4-inch opening, I turned it inside out, filled it with stuffing and hand-sewed the opening closed.

It now keeps my favorite chair company where I often sit to read books on, what else - honeybees!

Charlotte

Welcome to Home Sweet Bees

/

When I started keeping honeybees in 2010, I had no intention of falling in love. Bees, I thought, would be fun to add to the garden to help plant pollination.


I now teach and lecture on beginning beekkeeping and started a bee club to help beekeepers share and learn from each other.

I’m also developing my own lines of honey and bee-related products, not to mention being hooked on my own homemade whipped honey.

Have you tried it yet?

Charlotte