Saturday: The bees are coming today! To get ready for their arrival, I’m preparing their sugar syrup and making a homemade version of Honey B Healthy, a nourishing supplement that is added to the syrup.
I’ll be teaching my co-workers how to be beekeepers and they’ll be installing the bees on Sunday with my guidance. Ray built us some beautiful Top Bar Hives (Thanks, Ray!) which will be their new home. We are very excited!
We have, over the last couple of weeks in our (very little) spare time, been creating a bee and butterfly sanctuary. It’s in its beginning stages and will soon be filled with plants that all the local pollinators will want to come and visit. We are also adding a labyrinth that will be planted with medicinal herbs and a vegetable garden filled with heirloom vegetables. The hives will be nestled in this wonderful little spot we’ve created located in the Animas River Valley. It’s coming together beautifully and I’ll be posting pictures of the hives and gardens soon.
Happy Spring everybody!
Recipe found on the Beekeepers of the Ozarks:
Honey B Healthy (generic)
- 5 cups of water
- 2 1/2 lbs of sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon lecithin granules (used as an emulsifier)
- 15 drops spearmint oil
- 15 drops lemongrass oil.
- 6 drops of thyme oil (optional)
Dissolve lecithin in 1/4 cup of water. This may take several hours. Bring water to a boil, remove from heat and stir in sugar until dissolved. Stir in lecithin until dissolved. Stir in essential oils until everything is evenly distributed. Cool before using.
I use 1 tablespoon per quart but I don’t use thyme in my mixture. One to two tablespoons per gallon works if using thyme oil.
Makes about 2 quarts.
