REFLECTIONS

We all should be a little sweeter.

When I accuse Judy of being a little crabby, she responds, “No, I am not crabby, but I can be.”

Seriously, she is seldom of the crabby nature.

Judy’s first cousin Tom and his wife, Kate, must have thought we both needed a little “sweetening up.” Let me explain.

Judy went to the front door the other morning and yelled to me, “Honey, did you see there’s a package at our front door?” 

I responded “No, I did not, honey.”

We investigated a bit further and discovered that it was a package from Tom and Kate, who reside in Montana.

Upon further checking, we realized that it was a special Christmas present sent for us. The package contained three bottles of honey: 16 oz. pure and raw honey, 8 oz. of Tom and Kate’s Almasla Farm lemon creamed honey, and an 8 oz. bottle of orange creamed honey They all are delicious.

Tom sent a short note, explaining some interesting honey facts. My experience comes from having his hive leave his farm and swarm to my father’s farm. The farmer, Ephraim Magnuson (Dennis’ father), came and took the honey bees to his Newry Township home.

I also did a feature story on a bee keeper from mid-Minnesota. He dressed me in the full beekeeper’s gear.

Tom and Kate have four hives of honey bees. They reported that their bees struggled to store away much honey as a result of a long, dry summer. However, they finished the season strong and left the Almasla Farm with several gallons of raw/natural honey.

Creamed honey

“In addition to the raw honey, we’ve included two jars of flavored creamed honey, one orange and one lemon,” Tom wrote. “Creamed honey is made by using honey that has previously crystalized. The crystals are ground into a cream and mixed 1 part to 9 parts of raw honey resulting in a creamier texture.

“It can be left on the counter or in the refrigerator, depending on the consistency you prefer.

“If the texture becomes sandy or gritty, meaning that it is beginning to crystalize, warm it up by placing it into warm water, or briefly in the microwave (without the lid). If your  creamed honey has a white foam on the surface, it’s air bubbles and can be removed or stirred in.”

Honey bee facts

Each hive can house up to 60,000 bees.

Worker bees are all female, and the colony is led by a single queen who can lay up to 2000 eggs a day.

The average worker bee lives for about 6-8 weeks in the summer and can live up to 6 months in the winter.

It takes the entire life cycle of 12 honeybees to make one teaspoon of honey.

It takes a hive visiting 2 million flowers to produce one pound of honey.