The Royal Jelly

A Honeybee Garden

Bees are in decline but you can help restore a healthy bee population right in your own garden by doing a couple of things.

First stop using pesticides and herbicides. There are a number of ingredients that are toxic to bees. If you absolutely must use a pesticide, spray in the evening when bee activity has ceased.

Next, plant a bee friendly garden. To name a few from our garden, bee balm, cosmos, lavender, zinnias, Russian sage, sunflower, poppy, mint, marigold, black eyed susan, and asters all attract bees and have ample pollen for the bees to make honey. Include various heights of flowers and only single form flowers. Those with double forms(multiple layers of petals) have less pollen.

Basically bees prefer a naturalistic landscape to live and feed. Maybe by educating others we can reverse the effects of the decline of bees and learn to live together.

Tags: asters, bee activity, bee balm, bee population, black eyed susan, decline of bees, Flowers, Honey, honeybee, lavender, mint, naturalistic landscape, pesticide spray, pesticides and herbicides, petals, pollen, poppy, russian sage

NEW-Colored & Scented Pillar Candles

Bee Global’s new colored and scented beeswax candles are un-bee-lievably irresistible. Made with pure beeswax  and lightly scented with natural artisan perfumes made here in the U.S. Each pillar is hand poured and colored using dyes made with only eco-friendly ingredients. Choose from amy of our 7 scents and colors:

• Citrus Twist – Uplifting and refreshing

• Sweet Chocolate – Sweet  and luxurious

• Lavender – Relaxing and comforting

• Honey Beary – A touch of honey

• Carolina Fir – Woodsy and natural

• Spring Rain – Soft and clean

• Lemon Verbena – Fresh squeezed lemon

Tags: artisan, beeswax candles, colors, eco-friendly candles, fir, Honey, lemon verbena, natural spring, non-toxic candles, perfumes, scented pillar candles, scents, spring rain, sweet chocolate

Flower garden

The flowers have always been an integral and growing part of our vision. The idea in the beginning was to grow and press the flowers from our gardens. We started with a tiller and a lot will, and began developing and planting beds. The arrival of each Spring has seen the addition of new plants, leading to new beds and new ideas. Our flower beds have grown and matured with time, reflecting the changes within us as artists, as parents, and as a business. The gardens have been managed in a sustainable, conscious manner. The flowers are nurtured with organic nutrients and, when needed, watered with gravity fed spring water. The addition of honeybees has added another layer to the symbiotic relationship- the bees pollinate the flowers while gathering their sustenance of pollen and nectar, allowing for the creation of honey. We hope in future years to be able to share this honey with our customers.

Tags: conscious manner, flower beds, Flower Garden, Flowers, gravity fed, Honey, honeybees, nectar, organic nutrients, plants, pollen, symbiotic relationship

The Royal Jelly

We are excited here at Bee Global to be launching our blog, The Royal Jelly.  It is something that has been in the pipeline of ideas and intentions for a while, so to finally bring it to life is great.  We feel The Royal Jelly is an opportunity to bring into focus the different aspects and interests of our life and business that are difficult to communicate through the website.

The blog name, The Royal Jelly, was chosen to pay respect to the honey bee, and in particular the queen bee.  Royal jelly, or bee’s milk, is produced by young worker bees and secreted through glands in their head, creating a food source that is then fed to the brood, or larvae, in the colony. All larvae are fed some royal jelly for the first 2-3 days of development, but the queen bee receives a diet solely of royal jelly for her entire life.  The queen cells are stocked with royal jelly providing the larvae with continual feed on this nutrient rich substance.  The continual feeding of the queen cell with royal jelly modifies the bee’s genome, allowing the larvae to develop queen morphology and functioning ovaries.  The queen matures in 16 days, as opposed to 21 days for a worker bee, and can live 5-6 years.

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Tags: bee hives, bee’s genome, bee’s milk, brood, colony, Honey, honey bee, larvae, pollination, queen bee, queen cells, The Royal Jelly, wax, worker bee, worker bees

Adventures in Bee Keeping

This is the year that we have finally brought honey bees to our property in Stecoah. After many years of discussion, the combination of timing and circumstances led to the arrival of eight hives of Russian honey bees this spring on our property, and three hives of Italian bees on my brother’s property.

The story began many years ago when my father, LB, began keeping bees. Curiosity and intrigue brought two hives that grew to four over time. The experiment provided many experiences, some rewarding and some painful, but the lasting memory is of summers harvesting sweet tasting sourwood honey. Time and life changes led to the decline of the hives. After 5 years, it was deemed time to bring back the honeybees.
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Tags: bee hives, bee keeping, Bees, bee’s genome, bee’s milk, brood, brood cells, colony, Honey, honey bee, honey flow, honey time, honeybees, italian bees, keeping bees, larvae, packaged bees, pollination, queen bee, queen cells, russian bees, russian honey bees, sourwood honey, sugar syrup, The Royal Jelly, wax production, worker bee, worker bees