Summer winds down, Autumn gets in gear...
Sunday April 1st 2012Season is over, technically at least. The bees aren’t hatching as furiously as they do in the heat of summer, they are busy now prepping their honey stores and chinking the Hive boxes against the bitter winter winds, curating their homes for what they innately know is coming despite none of them having seen it before. Bees are magnificent little things, aren’t they? We delivered hundreds of pounds of honey this year and have more to ship before its finished but that’s fine by me, in a funny little way it’s time for me to slip into a more quintessential time as the bee-man. Slow down and let the ice melt a little deeper into the glass, stack the winter’s firewood a little more carefully and most importantly in between prepping for the upcoming ski season, write so much more.
I am a satisfied man this Fall, I’ve earned the fireside times at the Cribbage board, the quiet evenings where the rain strums the patio against the subdued laughter of content family over for dinner or my favorite grizzled stories from the sea delivered by the old men whom I call the closest of friends. I hear the same stories now from these old smokes over and over again; it’s been years I’ve spent with this crew but for some reason listening to an old man talk about drinking gin out of a soup can in the middles of a gale in an (allegedly) infuriated North Pacific always gets me tuned. I’ve missed writing, missed the clacking of keys as I fumble my way around the alphabet trying to make pictures out of black words and white pages. It’s a canvas to be filled and thank God for auto-correct or I’d be sunk. Sunk I tell you. The thing I hate about auto-correct is I have to manually capitalize the Seasons and that seems an injustice to me. I like Winter, not winter. Summer is so much more than summer, y’know?
Let’s talk honey, now that Autumn is here. I am offering two strains for the 2011 line and they couldn’t be better than they each are. Before they are released though I will share the story of each blend and why they are called what they are. The first honey I am presenting this month is an elusive one, a surprise story that I first noticed late in the Summer but didn’t mention because I wanted to see what would happen with such an anomaly for bees who produce such black honey. I am proud to present the White Whale, a white honey that caught me unawares in a sea of black gold. Its precious stuff and I am only selling it in small parcels so that all can sample. More on that particular bounty as I get closer to market. The second and widely anticipated loot is of course our signature black: honey I call the Captain’s Daughter, named in tribute to the old smoke who owns the wooden ship in whose shadow these Shipwreck Hives flourish. I think that old man loves those bees more than I sometimes so it makes perfect sense to honor him this way. There is a story that accompanies both these fine releases of course but their time isn’t now, perhaps later this month. If you’ve bought one of my new shirts then you have already been smuggled a sample of this year’s goods so you know what’s coming, if not there is still time to lock in, email me to get your order before the shirts run aground. The feedback and support for this project has been overwhelming to me. I have a project manager who keeps me in line but the reality is that just like I did last year, if it were possible I would give all of this away. It’s impossible for me to describe the joy I get in delivering this honey. Old people light up and remind you without a word that you’re doing it right, better than they’ve seen in many a year, young people are blown away by how good it really is, it’s such a traditional item and its really special to be part of its production. I am fortunate to be here right now doing this, it’s an honor to me and while that’s about as cliché as it gets, I wouldn’t take the time to clack it out if I didn’t mean it. I’m excited about honey and honeybees, I’m doubly excited about seeing people fall in love with honey for the first time or just all over again. Honey has got to be the original soul food, I know because I see it all the time.
That’s what Ive got for tonight, thanks for reading and thanks for supporting the honeybees. It means the world…..actually it does….literally.
See you guys soon….
Daniel
Comments
inalt - Sunday, February 5, 2012 @ 7:24 AM
hi??
Nodin - Wednesday, December 21, 2011 @ 5:36 PM
This was so hlefpul and easy! Do you have any articles on rehab?
Bette - Tuesday, December 20, 2011 @ 6:34 AM
You Sir/Madam are the enemy of confsuion everywhere!
Joeie - Tuesday, December 20, 2011 @ 1:20 AM
You put the lime in the coconut and drink the atricle up.
Nona - Friday, October 14, 2011 @ 9:56 AM
Wham bam thank you, ma'am, my qsuetions are answered!
Mitch - Thursday, October 13, 2011 @ 7:42 PM
Alaakzaam-information found, problem solved, thanks!
The Crib Master - Thursday, October 13, 2011 @ 6:07 PM
So what goes better with my Spiced Rum, White Whale or Captain's Daughter? I can't wait to try both.