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The Whistling Beekeeper
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25.01.2022 HOW TO BAKE WITH HONEY The general rule of thumb is that you can replace up to half the weight of sugar in a recipe with honey. I don’t usually use quite that much honey or sugar for that matter, not only to be frugal but also because honey is sweeter than sucrose (cane sugar). Honey is also hydroscopic, meaning it attracts moisture and so stops the bake from drying out. This is fantastic for cakes and loafs, though honey biscuits aren’t always super crisp. The messy remnants of honeycomb is often called ‘baker’s honey’ because this is how it is often used. Also, be careful that the honey doesn’t burn, as it browns faster than sugar and it is good idea to reduce oven temperature by around 25 degrees Celsius.
25.01.2022 NEW YEARS READING FOR BEE ENTHUSIASTS For new beekeepers - The Quest for the Perfect Hive by Gene Kritsky For veteran beekeepers - In Search of the Best Strains of Bees by Brother Adam... For honey connoisseurs - Manuka: The Biography of an Extraordinary Honey by Cliff Van Eaton For all bee lovers - Bees of Australia by James Dorey Please note: I get no commissions for promoting these books, I just found them fascinating reading #bees #gippslandbeekeepers #beehives #newbees #beelovers #beekeeping #gippslandbees
25.01.2022 New Wooden Cheese Knives and Chopping Boards now Available Hand-made by local craftsmen in Bairnsdale, these knives and chopping boards are polished with raw beeswax. Crafted from recycled timbers including blackwood, cypress, silky oak, myrtle, red gum, and more.... #handmade #beeswaxproducts #giftideas #madeinaustralia #choppingboards #madeingippsland #woodgifts #woodworking #chooselocal
25.01.2022 Peak hour traffic at the hive entrance
24.01.2022 It takes a bee 10,000,000 trips to collect enough nectar to make 1 pound of honey. -Sue Monk Kidd
24.01.2022 LAYING WORKER BEES Honeybees seem almost perfect, but they are not infallible. This colony has lost its queen and with no hope of raising a new one the worker bees have started laying eggs. These eggs are infertile though and cannot be used to raise a new queen. Eventually this colony would perish. It wasn’t always like this. Some types of honeybees workers in Africa can lay fertile eggs, and it seems European Honeybees used to be able to as well. But years of breeding has removed this ability from our bees.
23.01.2022 My favourite answers to the second most common question I’m asked: Do you ever get stung? Only when I deserve it.... Do you ever get stung? No, all our bees had their stingers removed surgically. Do you ever get stung? No pain, no gain Do you ever get stung? They don’t call them killers for nothing. Do you ever get stung? Yes, and the venom is so wholesome that I no longer need to eat. Do you ever get stung? Stung by what? Do you ever get stung? What do you mean by get? Do you ever get stung? Only when I’m not listening Do you ever get stung? When they are trying to tell me something Do you ever get stung? They only sting the slow and the weak Do you ever get stung? You should ask, do I get un-strung? Do you ever get stung? Only if you don’t bribe them Do you ever get stung? Nah, we use force fields these days! Do you ever get stung? That’s the best part about beekeeping Do you ever get stung? Stings cleanse the Doors of Perception. Do you ever get stung? Sticks and stones and Bees will never hurt me. Do you ever get stung? No but I saw Sting at a concert once Do you ever get stung? Only when you smell bad Do you ever get stung? Only when they make me wear the bullseye. Do you ever get stung? Only when I use my phone. Do you ever get stung? Buzz off! Do you ever get stung? Sure, but no one gains anything without a little discomfort Do you ever get stung? Only by the Tax man
23.01.2022 GERMAN BEE STING CAKE What could better epitomise baking with honey than Bee Sting Cake? A traditional Bavarian dessert, Bienenstich (literally Bee-Sting in German) earned its name from its honey topping. ... According to one legend, a bee was attracted to it, and the baker who invented the cake was stung. Another legend tells of German bakers from the 15th century who lobbed beehives at raiders and after successfully repelling them, celebrated by baking this cake with the leftovers! My favourite recipe for traditional Bienenstich is from https://www.alsothecrumbsplease.com/authentic-german-biene/
22.01.2022 After you get stung, you can’t get unstung no matter how much you whine about it. - Sue Monk Kidd
22.01.2022 Hand-cut honeycomb fresh from the hive
22.01.2022 Chess and Bees The queen is the most important individual in both games. If one loses a queen in a colony of bees he may requeen from the larva in the lowly worker cell. If he loses his queen in a game of chess he may requeen from the lowly pawn, or rather maybe he can. Again both games are so deep that the master minds of the past have not been able to delve to one-tenth of the depth of either game. - from Jay Smiths book Better Queens
21.01.2022 Harvesting honey fresh from our hives in Eagle Point
21.01.2022 He is not worthy of the honeycomb, That shuns the hives because the bees have stings. - William Shakespeare
21.01.2022 Kind words are like honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healthy to the body. - Proverbs 16:24
20.01.2022 POLLEN BUTTER SHORTBREAD Shortbread is simple yet so good. Though this recipe doesn’t call for honey, a 50-50 mix of sugar to honey works great and the dusting of golden pollen flecks combine beautifully to make this a shortbread with a difference. - Taken from Spoonfuls of Honey by Hattie Ellis, Pavilion Books, 2014.
20.01.2022 12 DAYS OF A BEEKEEPERS CHRISTMAS On The Twelfth Day Of Christmas a Beekeeper Gave To Me; Twelve Jars of Honey Eleven Brand-New Hives Ten Swarms a Swirling... Nine Field Bees Dancing Eight Smokers Smoking Seven Candles Dipping Six Queens a Laying Five Top-Bar Hives Four Buzzing Drones Three Hive Tools Two Angry Bees and And an Observation Hive just for Me See more
20.01.2022 "O honey-seeking bee, / How I envy your simplicity! / Going to and fro from rose to rose / In row upon row til the day's close ..." - excerpt from "Nostalgic Thoughts of An Aging Poet" by Joseph Lis, 2018
19.01.2022 BUMBLEBEES Though we don’t have bumblebees in mainland Australia, if you are travelling in Tasmania be sure to keep an eye out for these cuddly looking fellows. Like honeybees, bumblebees are social bees forming small colonies during the warmer months, but unlike honeybees only the queen or mother survives over the winter. Bumblebees are kept by some beekeepers for pollination purposes and not for honey as they make only small amounts of honey stored in special wax jars. In Europe bumblebees have been variously called by the names bombas, humblebee, hummel, hundrelbe, and dumbeldor.
18.01.2022 A work of art; and yet no art of man, Can work, this work, these little creatures can. - Geffrey Whitney
17.01.2022 My Mother’s Honey Pot Collection #honey #beekeepers #gippslandbeekeepers #honeylovers #honeypot
17.01.2022 A page from a charming old booklet titled The Story of Honey.
16.01.2022 Listen to the bees and let them guide you. - Brother Adam
16.01.2022 The bee is more honored than other animals, not because she labors, but because she labors for others. - St. John Chrysostom
16.01.2022 HONEY BANANA BREAD One of the easiest cakes to make and the richness honey keeps the loaf moist and fresh. - taken from Spoonfuls of Honey by Hattie Ellis, Pavilion Books, 2014
16.01.2022 Hope is the only bee that makes honey without flowers. - Robert Green Ingersoll
15.01.2022 Even on cold days like today the little girls like a cool drink. https://www.facebook.com/100000258423461/videos/3775281302490447/
14.01.2022 Aerodynamically, the bumblebee shouldn’t be able to fly, but the bumblebee doesn’t know it so it goes on flying anyway. - Mary Kay Ash
14.01.2022 A SLOVENIAN BEE HOUSE - Bees around the World Part 2 Rather than keeping bees in individual hives exposed to the elements, many beekeepers in Eastern Europe build purpose made buildings to keep their bees protected. These bee-houses allow the beekeeper to monitor and manage the bees from inside and some are even built on wheels - caravanning beehives! Follow link below to learn more about beekeeping in Slovenia:... www.google.com.au//ti/5815141/slovenia-bees-climate-change
14.01.2022 WILD BEE SWARM ON GROUND - EASTWOOD #gippslandbeekeepers #beeswarms #beeremovals #victorianapiarists #wildbees #beesaustralia
14.01.2022 SMOKED FISH AND HONEYED POTATO SALAD WITH PEPPERCORNS The strong salty flavour of smoked fish combined and contrasts beautifully with the soft sweetness of honey in this pretty salad. Other complementary elements include lime juice, perfumes pink peppercorns and parsley. This salad works especially well as a starter or as a lunchtime main course. - taken from Spoonfuls of Honey by Hattie Ellis, Pavillon Books, 2014
14.01.2022 Bees do have a smell, you know, and if they don’t they should, for their feet are dusted with spices from a million flowers. - Ray Bradbury
13.01.2022 It isn’t what a queen is fed that makes her a queen, but rather what she wasn’t.
13.01.2022 HOW TO MEASURE HONEY Honey is sticky stuff, and measuring exact amounts for cooking is difficult. Try these tricks next time you’re backing: 1. Dip the measuring spoon first into very hot water. The honey will easily slide off the hot spoon. 2. If the recipe uses oil, measure out the oil with the spoon first and then the honey. 3. Honey is usually measured by weight and if you need large quantities, measure it directly in the bowl you are going to use; less waste. ... Remember, honey is heavy and a little goes a long way! See more
12.01.2022 BEES AND SHAKESPEARE - From Shakespeare’s Henry V For so work the honey-bees, Creatures that by a rule in nature teach The act of order to a peopled kingdom They have a king and officers of sorts Where some, like magistrates, correct at home, Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad, Others, like soldiers, armèd in their stings, Make boot upon the summer’s velvet buds; Which pillage they with merry march bring home To the tent-royal of their emperor Who, busied in his majesty, surveys The singing masons building roofs of gold, The civil citizens kneading up the honey, The poor mechanic porters crowding in Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate, The sad-eyed justice with his surly hum Delivering o’er to executors pale The lazy yawning drone. I this infer . . .
12.01.2022 7 DELICIOUS WAYS TO USE HONEYCOMB Honeycomb is as pure and natural as honey gets, made by the bees and untouched by human hands. Made of wax, these combs are not only completely edible and safe to eat, but also a delicious and versatile ingredient. Below are a few creative ways to use this golden treat...... 1. Arugula SALAD, goats cheese, slivered almonds and chunks of honeycomb 2. Mixed with Greek yogurt and muesli 3. Drizzled on hot PANCAKES or waffles 4. Pair with salty crackers on a CHEESE plater 5. Use instead of cane sugar when BAKING 6. Spread on wholemeal BREAD fresh from the oven 7. Simply eaten by the SPOONFUL! Please share your favourite ways to use honeycomb below...
12.01.2022 Blue-Banded Bees sleep by hanging from their mouths! #nativebees #amazingcreatures #naturelovers #bluebee #nativeaustralia #sleeping #naturephotography
12.01.2022 Bearding during these hot days of Summer. This is one method used by the bees to cool their hive. When it’s to hot in the house, everyone hangs out on the porch!
12.01.2022 One can no more approach people without love than one can approach bees without care. Such is the quality of bees - Leo Tolstoy
11.01.2022 THE TASTES OF HONEY Honey tasting vocabulary is not an exact science but may help you in describing flavours and how honeys differ COLOUR Some honeys are light golden, clear even, pale lemon or egg-yolk yellow. Medium honeys range from amber to rust brown, wine red, or soft gold, with every hue and shade in between. Dark honeys have colours as varied as woods, mahogany to oak to almost black. ... SCENT Smell two or three different honeys and you’ll immediately discern the differences. Floral or fruity, mellow or sharp, resinous, heady, spicy, citrus, or even medicinal. TEXTURE Most honeys start of runny, some thick and viscous, others light, a few even watery. Crystallised honeys vary greatly, from fine smooth and creamy, to course crunchy grains like castor sugar. Some are even gel-like in texture. TASTE Is the honey mild or strong, simple or complex, acidic or mild, gently aromatic or strongly scented, even pungent. Fruity like berries, or more citrus, a floral nature, rose, aniseed or hyacinth. A honey can be herbal or vegetal, with hints of cut grass or green beans. Spicy notes of clove, nutmeg or coffee, resinous or woody. It may have burnt sugar tastes of toffee, butterscotch, caramel or molasses, or a hint of bitter or leather. See more
11.01.2022 Finishing a Wooden Chopping Board using a Heat Gun and Beeswax #beeswaxproducts #woodchoppingboards #beeswax #naturalcooking #diyprojects #woodfinish #beeswaxpolish #diyvarnish #homemadevarnish #rawbeeswax
10.01.2022 BEE WORDS Here’s a quick explanation of bee related terms: Bees - your probably thinking of European Honeybees (Apis Mellifera) and these are the main species kept by beekeepers but there are many other types including bumblebees, sugarbag bees, giant Asian bees, solitary bees, mason bees and so many more!... Colony - Honey bees are social insects that live in colonies and consist of a single queen, hundreds of male drones and 20,000 to 80,000 female worker bees. Hive - the nest or space where a colony makes its home Swarm - Bee colonies create a new colony when the majority of the adult bees and the old queen leave the original hive and go searching for a new home Cutout - the process of a beekeeper removing or cutting out a wild beehive Apiary - the bee-yard, a place beehives are kept Apiarist - a beekeeper Queen - there is a single queen or mother bee in each colony that lays all the eggs Workers - the majority of the bees you see are workers who, as the name suggests, do all the work in a colony Drones - male bees. There are usually several hundred in a colony over Summer and are bigger and louder than workers, though they have no stinger. Brood - baby bees developing in the brood nest or area where bee larva and pupae are raised Combs - the 3D hexagonal wax structures honeybees build and use for honey storage and raising brood. Candied honey - most honeys will naturally crystallise or ‘candy’ in time during which sugar crystals form causing the honey to become cloudy and then solidify. This is a natural process and is still perfectly edible. Creamed honey - honey that is intentionally crystallised to form candied honey that is smooth and creamy #honey #bees #gippslandbees #beelovers #jargon #beekeepers
10.01.2022 Honey in the Making Last night as I was sleeping, I dreamtmarvelous error! that a spring was breaking... out in my heart. I said: Along which secret aqueduct, Oh water, are you coming to me, water of a new life that I have never drunk? Last night as I was sleeping, I dreamtmarvelous error! that I had a beehive here inside my heart. And the golden bees were making white combs and sweet honey from my old failures. Last night as I was sleeping, I dreamtmarvelous error! that a fiery sun was giving light inside my heart. It was fiery because I felt warmth as from a hearth, and sun because it gave light and brought tears to my eyes. Last night as I slept, I dreamtmarvelous error! that it was God I had here inside my heart. Last Night As I Was Sleeping by Antonio Machado #honeycomb #beelovers #naturalhoney #savethebees
09.01.2022 Beekeeping Around The World Check out the fascinating way bees are kept in Oman at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/16179847/Beekeeping-in-Oman
08.01.2022 Removing Wild Beehive from a Cupboard in Forge Creek It’s prime season for bee swarms and they can choose some unusual places to make their home. This year we’ve seen bee colonies inside wall cavities, compost bins, a boat hull, a large pot, under a cubby house, an old couch, a car boot and even in the open air. And today one in a disused cupboard, with cups and bowls still inside! Top shelf honey!
08.01.2022 Gorgeous old booklet on Honey Recipes that I found - Year unknown. #honey #honeyrecipes #australianbeekeeping #beelovers #cookingwithhoney
07.01.2022 Fields of garlic flowers Letting your garden plants flower is a great way to help your local bees. #beekeeping #gippslandgardeners #gardeningaustralia #bees #beelovers #savethebees #diggersclub #honeylovers
06.01.2022 Keep an eye out for the native Blue Banded Bee (Amegilla cingulata) in your garden this Summer #bluebee #gippslandbees #bruthen #bluebeebake #aussiebees #victoriagardens #australianature #gippslandbeekeepers #naturelovers #gippslandgardens
06.01.2022 HUGE WILD BEEHIVE IN CARPORT CEILING AT METUNG This large colony has been successfully relocated its new home
05.01.2022 Keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams Henry David Thoreau
05.01.2022 Inspecting a Kenyan Top Bar Hive in Paynesville
05.01.2022 LUCKY LEBKUCHEN PIGS German-speaking countries have a long standing tradition, dating back to at least the 14th century, of honey-and-spice cakes and biscuits that are made to celebrate feast days and holidays. Perfect for Christmas! - from Spoonfuls of Honey by Hattie Ellis, Pavilion Books, 2014.
05.01.2022 Inside the beehive #bees #beekeepers #naturelovers #honeycomb #gippslandbees #beehives
05.01.2022 Well if you have a queen and a group of independent-minded bees that split off from the rest of the hive and look for another place to live, then you’ve got a swarm. - August
04.01.2022 Beauty is in the eye of the BEE-holder! #beekeepers #naturelovers #gippslandbees #beekeepingaustralia #victoriabeekeepers #bees
04.01.2022 WHY RAW HONEY? When honey is heated, it not only ruins the aroma and flavour, but also destroys the natural enzymes and produces a harmful organic compound called hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF for short). HMF is known to be carcinogenic along with numerous other harmful effects. Corn syrup is even worse than heated honey, containing significant amounts of HMF. WHY IS SOME HONEY HEATED? Heating honey melts the naturally formed sugar crystals that would otherwise cause honey to g...o cloudy and crystallise. Most raw honey will eventually crystallise, guaranteeing the goodness is preserved. DOESN’T HONEY NEED TO BE PASTEURISED? Honey is naturally antibacterial so pasteurising to kill microbes in unnecessary. Bees refuse to eat heated honey, and so should people. See more
04.01.2022 SUGARBAG BEE NEST Commonly called Sugarbag bees, Tetragonula carbonaria is a stingless bee, endemic to the north-east coast of Australia. They are one of the few social bee species in Australia, which means the live together in a colony year round.
03.01.2022 SUMMER READING FOR BEE ENTHUSIASTS For new beekeepers - Honeybee Democracy by Thomas Seeley, a beekeeping classic. For beekeeper veterans - Better Queens by Jay Smith, on the art of queen rearing. ... For honey connoisseurs - Spoonfuls of Honey by Hattie Ellis. For all bee lovers - More Than Honey by Claus-Peter Lieckfeld and Markus Imhoof.
02.01.2022 For bees, the flower is the fountain of life. For flowers, the bee is the messenger of love. -Kahlil Gibran
02.01.2022 Another Beehive Removal... Removing a wild beehive from a wall like this is lengthy process. Step 1 is removing the weatherboards so you can get to the combs... Step 2 is clearing the bees with a vacuum cleaner (bee vac) specially designed not to hurt the bees. Hopefully the queen is spotted or is safely vacuumed with the other bees. Step 3 is cutting out the honey and brood combs and fixing them inside a new beehive Step 4 Make repairs. I’m not a qualified builder and you may need a separate contractor to repair and fix any damage. Sealing any holes and cracks prevents other swarms from moving in. Step 5 Move the new colony to its new home!
01.01.2022 HONEY AS MEDICINE Bald’s Leechbook (leech means physician) is a 10th century Old English medical book containing countless remedies for ever malady imaginable, the majority of which include honey as an ingredient. For example the cure for head wark was to crush together beetroot and honey, smear the juice all over the patient’s head, and then have them lie on their back in the sun and let the juice run down their face. Another recipe containing leek, garlic, honey, wine, onion, and bile from a freshly slaughtered cow has been proven in modern times to kill Staph bacterial infections, including the antibiotic resistant MRSA strain!
01.01.2022 HONEY AND LEMON DRIZZLE CAKE Serves 8-10 125g butter at room temperature 125g castor sugar or brown sugar Pinch of salt... 2 large eggs 225g Self-Raising flour 1 tsp cardamom or 3 cardamom pods Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon Honey-Lemon Drizzle Juice of 1 1/2 lemon 60g of honey (light or medium flavoured) - taken from Spoonfuls of Honey by Hattie Ellis, 2014, Pavilion Books
01.01.2022 A big thank you to Ross and his wonderful family for giving these hives a place to call home!
