Sourwood honey and soul food on a Saturday!

So on Saturday, I had the chance to finally meet Lynn, a fellow blogger and beekeeper who attended the Certified Naturally Grown workshop in Winston Salem. Lynn writes great posts on her blog, Walter Bee, and includes experiences and pictures of her bees and her beautiful garden. My friend Jared, a soon-to-be beekeeper who blogs at Jared's Adventure in Beekeeping also attended the class. He's the person that mentioned the class to me in the beginning and got me interested in the workshop, then Lynn decided to come down from her home in the mountains and go too. I'm glad she did because it was fun to finally meet and talk face-to-face.

Lynn came bearing gifts. She brought me some wonderful beekeeping literature from other sources in North Carolina and Tennessee. I can't wait to read them on these cold winter days when I can't get outside. She also brought some information on bee attractive plants for your yard which I'm sharing with Jared who has a jump on me in the planting department. While I've planted some things around my property, I could do a lot more, and I'm glad Lynn shared this information. She also brought some information on how to catch swarms. Lots of good reading to keep my eyes and brain busy for awhile.

After our morning workshop session ended and it was time for lunch, Jared suggested this nearby place called Mountain Fried Chicken. I had never been there and neither had Lynn so we decided to give it a try on Jared's recommendation. It was great! The chicken was terrific and they had a ton of side items like green beans, mashed potatoes, stewed apples, turnip greens, corn on the cob, and different fruit cobblers. It was definitely soul food, maybe it would be better described as Southern comfort food. I stuffed myself on chicken tenders and potato wedges and sweet tea (if you're Southern, you have to drink sweet tea). As we ate we had the chance to talk and catch up on life since we didn't have much time to do that in class. I really enjoyed it and I think Lynn and Jared did too.

As I mentioned, Lynn came bearing gifts. Not only did she bring me the wonderful beekeeping literature, but she brought me a jar of her very own sourwood honey! I love honey (after all, I keep bees) and Lynn's sourwood is a really light, golden brown. I knew as soon as I got home, I would have to sample some of it. It was almost as if it was calling my name all the way back. And I knew the perfect food to accompany my honey would be some fresh honey wheat bread. So later after the workshop, Jared and I made a stop at Dewey's Bakery and I got a couple loaves of bread, wheat and white. If you ever get the chance to go to a Dewey's...GO! But if you're on a diet, you can kiss that goodbye with a trip to the bakery! 

The pictures you see of the honey and the bread are ones I made myself (and my bosses at the television station would be very proud of me for making a visually pleasing presentation). But I just wanted you to see how light and beautiful Lynn's honey is. And it tastes absolutely terrific! There's nothing like sourwood honey. If people know you have it, it goes very fast. Unfortunately sourwood doesn't fare too well here is what I'm told..otherwise I would plant some just to have the same taste Lynn's honey has. Lynn, great job on the nectar of the hive! I know you're proud and you should be.

I learned that Lynn is a really great person and a lot of fun to hang out with. You can talk with her and tell she's passionate about her bees and about her gardening. When she talks about them, she positively glows. She has a lot to share with others on her ideas and passions. I know that if need to ask a question, especially when it comes to good things for my yard or bees, I would readily ask Lynn what she would do for sure. 

Lynn, thanks for coming down and going to the workshop and thanks for my bag of goodies! It was very sweet of you to do! Literally!

Call when you come back this way and let's all go to dinner.   

Excited about class...and hanging out with my fellow bloggers!

I'm headed to school on Saturday. That's right, I'm packing up my pencil and notebook and highlighter and heading to an all-natural beekeeping class. For nine years I taught basic law enforcement students in the local community college system, but it has been a good while since I've been a student. So this time I'm on the other side of the desk. This should be a lot of fun!

I've going to the class with my new friend who is local and into beekeeping, and that's Jared of Jared's Beekeeping Adventure. Jared will get started with his bees this spring, but he's already blogging about his ride so far; buying equipment, getting set up, etc. Jared and I already have a lot in common.

And I'm really excited that I'm going to finally meet Lynn who blogs about her venture into beekeeping over at Walter Bee. Lynn used to live in this area and now she resides in the mountains of North Carolina..so she has local ties. Lynn was one of the first persons I ever spoke to who is into beekeeping and blogging, and I'm darn excited to finally meet her face-to-face! 

The one-day workshop we're going to centers around organic beekeeping which I totally believe is necessary for healthy hives. I've never introduced man-made chemicals into my hive and unless its an emergency of some kind, I don't plan to. My belief is that man and his overuse of chemicals has caused the emergency situation we're in now with our bees. The last thing we need? More chemicals.  

I'm planning to take my camera to get some pictures too. So watch for highlights on my blog in the next few days!