Yes - today IS this special day, (that is, if you are me or a beekeeper or, well anyone!)  The best thing you can do is to search for and purchase some local honey, preferably from the beekeeper.  Lots of farmer's markets now have honey for sale.  Local, as you know, is better.

 

AND, in celebration of this day I am thrilled to announce that:

 

WE HAVE QUEENAGE!!!!

 

My friend Jessie is a tiny little thing who plays the HECK out of a drum.  She's going to be here this Thursday, August 25th at 7:30 to teach us (yes, me too) in a beginning drum workshop.

 

The cost is a mere $20.00.  If you have a drum, bring it, and if you don't Jessie will bring one for you. 

 

To save a spot, call 777-5115.

 

Give us a call by noon and we'll have your dinners ready by 3. You can come until 7.

 

828-252-1500

 

Monday, August 22

Chicken and Scallion Dumplings 6.75

 

Tuesday, August 23

Chickpea Cakes with Sesame Tabouli 5.95

 

Wednesday, August 24

Lexington-style BBQ Plate 10.95

 

Thursday, August 25

Chicken and Rice Empanada with Black Bean Salad 7.25 (GF)

 

Friday, August 26

Here is this week's casserole:

Chicken Tetrazini

Whole: 35 Half: 17.50

 

And this week's Lasagna is:

Local Hickory Nut Gap Beef Lasagna

Whole: 59.95 Half: 30

 

I had the great good fortune to have gotten out of the burning building that felled a number of our firefighters recently.  It's quite something to have been that close - and to be safe.

 

This coming Thursday a number of local restaurants are giving 10% of the day's sales to the Asheville Firefighters Fund.  Please come here or go to one of the other places (there ARE at least three opportunities for meals, you know).  You'll be supporting the brave men and women who put themselves in the middle of these frightening situations to make sure the rest of us are safe. 

 

Follow the link to find out all the restaurants.

Here's a look at Andy's presentation of one of our favorite dishes.  He's one of our shopsters, but he's also quite a cook and is also an all-around cheerful fellow.

 

I'm steadily working on my book these days. It will have twelve chapters and each chapter will feature a different honey varietal.  I've been ordering and collecting (and sampling) the honeys that are from other places and couldn't resist plunking them all together on my kitchen table the other day along with some candles and some sage and some bee things. 

 

 

Howdy ho. Happy “Honeybee Awareness” Day. (Who knew?)

 

As you’ve seen, I am delighted that the 4th attempt to get a Queen to Hive #1 worked. My oh my these girls resisted all my ministrations up until now. Whewf. The Hive is now “Queenright” and is doing what it needs to do to get settled for the winter.

 

My visit to the bees turned into a bit of a Keystone Kops routine. Actually the visit to Hive # 1 went smoothly. I removed the outer cover, the inner cover, the super (the box where honey is made and stored) and examined all of the frames of the top “hive body” (the box where eggs are laid and babies are raised and where the work of the hive really happens.) I found the Queen in the bottom hive body and, after greeting her and raising an imaginary toast to her, I replaced all the boxes and the covers and heaved a giant sigh of relief that FINALLY things were going in the right direction.

 

I have four hives, however, and I have not done a “State of the Union” (as my friend Debra says,) in some time. In all fairness, I’ve had some, um, extenuating circumstances – namely being unable to LIFT the boxes. But the other day, feeling good and strong, I decided to continue and visit the other hives to see how they were doing. I suited up with gloves and veil and my Tilley Endurables hat, not a regulation hat, but one that I’d started wearing since I don’t like the way my real bee hat fits. The Tilley hat has some little air vents which keep my head cool. (Remember this little tidbit)

 

I moved to Hive # 2. As you might notice if you scroll back and look at the picture at the beginning of this newsletter, Hive # 2 has a LOT of bees at its entrance. I removed the top cover, the inner cover, and the top box – the honey super, which was empty of honey. I was concerned about that because bees need honey to keep themselves fed through the winter, but I continued my investigation.

 

As I went to lift the top hive body, which was loaded with bees, I picked up the box and realized, too late, that it was too heavy for me, and was completely loaded with honey, meaning it could weigh more than 50 pounds. YIKES! But, it was also too late to go back, as I had already partially picked it up. By the time I got it to its temporary resting spot, behind me and on top of the inverted hive cover, it was really more than I could handle. And I dropped it.

 

Bad move, Masterton!

 

The bees flew up in alarm and whirled around madly. I was in my bee jacket, protected but surrounded by angry bees. I pumped my smoker but, argh, it had gone out. (One of the beginner tests is that you need to be able to keep your smoker going through the entire examination. And though I was fine on test day, my smoker was not ready when I needed it last week.) Smoke subdues the bees and, with that tool unavailable, the bees continued to hover and scold.

 

One stung my hand, right through my glove. A sting leaves a bit of an alarm pheromone which alerts other bees to sting too, so I hurried inside my house, took off my glove, tended to the sting, and then, with the glove back in place, headed back out to try to continue my examination of the hive. But it was hot and the bees were agitated and I was too slow and was kind of agitated too and, not finding the Queen, though finding lots of indications of her presence, decided to close the hive back up.

 

BUT, the bees, still mad and quite out of patience by this point, hovered closer and closer and all of a sudden I felt stinging on – my HEAD! Yes, more than one sting. YIPES! I leaped away from the hives and into my kitchen, wishing, once again, that my smoker was still lit – as I could have smoked the angry bees. By the time I hit the threshold of my kitchen I had unzipped my jacket, had whipped off the Tilley Endurable (whose ventilation holes had provided a convenient access point for the angry bees) and frantically beat my head, trying to free the bees that were by now tangled in my hair! OUCH!

 

I tended to my stung head by dousing it with “After Bite” (which did more to console me than it did to help the stings), and then re-donned my gear, with the old floppy but safe bee hat, gingerly ventured back out, and put the hive back together again – with my smoker lit once again, able to effectively smoke the agitated girls.

 

Okay - this is NOT the Hive #1 Queen.  I DID take a picture of her but my hand wobbled and it is too blurry to show here.  This is a snap of a previous Queen, but the new one bears a remarkable similarity to her. (I trust you can see the one bee that is bigger, right?)