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Yesterday, in honor of the International Day of the Honey Bee, J and I hosted a honey tasting, including some comb from our two block diet hive. J and her daughter made some cute bee balloons to lead the neighbors to the event, which was graciously sponsored by a small grant from the Little Mountain Neighborhood House Small Neighborhood Grants program.
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J has an awesome bee garden. This is a variety of monarda, aka bee balm. J has a monarda with red blossoms which the bumble bees like and I have a wild variety in my garden with mauve blossoms.
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These are the nectars which will inevitably form the floral bouquet which will find its way into our honey. The bees have obviously done a great job pollinating this cherry tree. The raccoons will be happy!
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Clover honey is one of the most common of the monofloral honeys in Canada.
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Jerusalem artichokes are a great fall food source for bees, but be advised that they can be a very invasive plant.
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Lavenders are excellent bee plants and you can really taste the floral oils in the honey made by lavender fields.
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In fact all the plants in the mint family are wonderful for bees.
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We laid the honeys out from left to right, with the lighter honeys first, just like you would in a wine tasting. I put out some sheets where people could write their tasting notes, with guides such as: viscosity, mouthfeel, aroma, color, and taste.
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This linden honey was a favorite of a few people, including me. One person said it tasted like Indian sweets and rose water. I thought it had a bit of lemon peel in the finish.
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These are the darker honeys, with buckwheat near the end and finally a honey with propolis which has a funky piney medicinal taste people either love or hate. Buckwheat honey has an earthy, rich molasses, malty flavor. When I was at UBC farm this week someone had brought a tea cake made with whiskey, coffee, and buckwheat honey that was absolutely gorgeous. I've got to get that recipe!
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I also gave away some of my friend L's great handmade paper embedded with seeds. She describes this guerilla gardening project on her
website.
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It was a drizzly day, so unfortunately we couldn't open up the hive, but I showed a few local beekeepers what our set-up looked like. There were a few bees huddling inside the entrance peeling out at the rain, and a few brave foragers who were making foraging trips. One of the boys who came by was writing a paper for school on colony collapse disorder, so he was very keen to take photos the next time we do a hive check.
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Some people really preferred the lighter honeys such as the fireweed and acacia. In doing research for the tasting I read that there are over 3000 monofloral honeys in the world, with 300 in North America. Once again I was inspired by the mystery and magic of honey. Our honey was a big favorite, with its fresh, complex floral bouquet of white blossoms.
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J looked lovely in her leopard spot boots! Thanks to every one who came out to have a taste. Hopefully next year the sun will shine.