This month, I suited up and learned all about bees and their hives! I was a bit familiar with bees and honey. I took a hive tour with Round Rock Honey about eight years ago and went to this fun honey event about four years ago. Visiting Two Hives Honey was the perfect refresher as part of my farm-to-table challenge.

Two Hives Honey

Two Hives Honey is a local Austin company providing honey, hive tours, and beekeeping classes. Their hives are located on the land of Texas Keeper Cider, one of Austin’s cideries.

For our hour and a half long tour, we learned a lot about bees! They are so fascinating. Here are some of the things:

• The history of honey goes back to ancient Egypt. Honey bees can be seen on hieroglyphics and pots of honey have been found in tombs.
• Honey bees aren’t native to the Americas. They were brought by European settlers in the 1600s. Now, 4,000 species of native bees live in the U.S.
• Honey bees will visit two million flowers to make one pound of honey.
• There are three types of bees in a hive. One queen, female workers, and male drones. Workers do everything from foraging, cleaning, and feeding.
• A queen bee typically lives three years.
• The drones’ job is to mate with a queen bee, but they usually do not mate with the queen in their own hive. They fly to a drone congregation area. Mating lasts for less than five seconds and then the drone DIES! Drones usually live about 90 days.

After we learned about bees, we got into our protective jackets and gloves and got very close to more than 100,000 bees! A smoker was used to calm the bees down. If a smoker isn’t used, the bees would send out alarm pheromones.

Can you believe this honeycomb is all made by bees? There is no wiring holding this up.

We even got a little taste straight from the hive!

As you may know, colony collapse disorder is a global problem. They don’t know the cause of it, but we do know that a decreasing number of bees is detrimental to our ecology. Bee pollination is critical for crops and they’re responsible for pollinating about 75% of human food plants. That’s why education and preservation are so important. Our food system depends on it!

You can help in several ways.

• Support your local farmers and beekeepers. Two Hives Honey sells their honey at their shop and various retailers around Austin.
• Help your local bees. Grow a flower garden for the bees. Put a shallow container of water nearby for bees to hydrate, but make sure there are surfaces to land on so they don’t drown!
• Keep your land natural. Avoid the chemicals in pesticides and find natural alternatives.
• Spread knowledge!

September’s Farm-to-Table Meals

In addition to the honey I bought from Two Hives Honey, here’s what I bought at the farmers market for $31.88:

• Three pattypan squash, one zucchini, one bag of carrots, and one eggplant from Johnson’s Backyard Garden of Austin, TX ($12)
• One bag of spinach from Flintrock Hill Farm from Kingsbury, TX ($4)
• One dozen eggs and about one pound of chicken leg quarters from Humble Rooster Farm of Austin, TX ($15.88)

Here are the resulting meals:

Breakfast: scrambled eggs with spinach

Lunch/Dinner: roasted patty pan squash, grilled chicken and honey glazed carrots

Eat More Honey

How do you eat honey? Here are some suggestions:

• Sweeten your tea
• Glaze meat or veggies for roasting
• Peanut butter and honey sandwiches
• Drizzle over popcorn
• Swap sugar for honey in baked goods

You can get more recipes at Honey.com.

Conclusion

Visiting a local hive is a great way to learn more about bees and get to know your local food system. Plus, you can use the tasty honey for so many things, from food to skincare.

P.S. Curious about my other posts from this challenge so far? See them here.

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The post Farm-to-Table Challenge: Local Honey appeared first on Fearless Captivations.

Did you know there are more than 300 unique types of honey (named for the bee’s floral source) available in the U.S.?

Did you know one-third of the human diet is derived from insect-pollinated plants, and honey bees are responsible for about 80% of this pollination?

Did you know you can use honey as a natural beauty ingredient, natural sweetener, natural cough suppressor and natural energy boost?

There are many, many interesting facts about bees and benefits of honey and I got to learn all about them at a fantastic community event by the National Honey Board last week.

Held at an event venue called Vuka, the space was decorated with beautiful photos of bees and honey. There was reading material and recipes available at every table. (You can find most of this information on their website Honey.com.) Of course, the signature drinks and all the bites had honey in it. I loved these bites made by Pink Avocado.

Grilled Honey Glazed Shrimp
Flatbread with Melted Manchego, Rosemary and Honey
Cold Chinese Noodles with Spicy Honey Peanut Sauce
Velvety Honey Chocolate Pudding
Also pictured: Sriracha and Honey Stuffed Eggs

My friend, fellow Austin-based blogger, and natural beauty and skin care expert Mary Helen Leonard demoed how to make a honey grapefruit salt scrub. It was super quick and easy to make. It only needs four ingredients: honey, grapefruit juice, olive oil, and salt. This scrub helps retain moisture, which gives your face a natural glow and keeps away wrinkles.

Beekeeper Brent Barkman was very informative about the myths about beekeeping (they’re not a fan of African bees but they aren’t really destroying bee colonies) and explained the process the bees go through to create honey. He even had live bees (secured in a box with glass panels) we could look at.

Nurse Barb Dehn was excellent in explaining what medical research with honey is currently going on and she explained the natural cough suppressor recipe she created. Also, honey sticks are perfect for small portions to-go (quick drizzle on yogurt or boost before working out) or to give to kids as an alternative to candy.

Lastly, cookbook author and food writer Marie Simmons gave us a honey tasting while explaining great pairings. It was a beautiful spread of cheese and chocolate and it was interesting to really taste the differences in the honeys. We tried Alfalfa, Orange Blossom, Tupelo and Buckwheat honey. Next time you’re at the grocery store, read the label to find out what kind of honey it is!

We received Marie’s Taste of Honey cookbook in our goodie bags and I’ve already begun digging into it. It lists the many kinds of honey and provides many recipes for different meals. Yep, there are already some desserts I’m eyeing!

I knew bees were important and honey was good for me before this event, but learning more about honey has inspired me to try substituting sugar with honey when possible, especially baking. Perhaps I’ll take what I learned and my goodies, especially the cookbook, to throw a honey-themed party!

If you want to learn more about honey, there’s a wealth of information on the National Honey Board website, including recipes and tips.

How do you like to consume honey? Do you have any great recipes to share?

The post The Big Benefits of Honey for Everyday Life appeared first on Fearless Captivations.