Happy New Beekeeping Year!

It's the middle of August and the new beekeeping year has begun. Honey should be harvested so that the beekeeper can begin treating for mites and consolidating the hive for the winter. We've been having some hot weather and some nights the bees have been hanging out at the front of the hive to cool off.

We had a block party where the kids had fun trying to make teach the local chickens some tricks and we discovered we have a mead maker in our midst.

This is a lovely mead infused with rose petals from the maker's garden and made with champagne yeast. It was like an aromatic sherry. What a treat!

We also got to taste an apple mead or cyser, which was full-bodied and off sweet. It's the best cyser I've ever tasted.

This is my favorite rose in our back yard. Maybe I'll collect some petals for mead making this fall.

The leaf cutters are staking out the wild bergamot as their territory, knocking bumble bees right off their perch. I have dried some of the petals and leaves of the bergamot and put them in shortbread cookie batter along with some fennel seeds for our MOP tea party this Sunday from 3-6 pm. Please come and sample the cookies!

I'm also in love with the sweet peas I grew in a container and I plan on saving the seeds. Next year I've got to plant more sweet peas for bouquets. They're my favorite!