Bee Specific: Northwest Flower and Garden Show 2016

I am covering the 2016 Northwest Flower and Garden Show to provide insight and increase enjoyment. My blog posts will spotlight specific categories and will leave a trail a breadcrumbs to help my readers find the items or features that will interest them the most. The categories are: Apartment Living, Farm Chic, French Flair, Romantic Touch, Love of Cuisine and Bee Specific.

Gardeners know that bees are everything. I noticed all kinds of bee and honey related items in the show and I want to put them in the spotlight and encourage you to help keep the bees in Washington state strong. I thought these mason bee homes were very interesting and they are on the shelf in McLendon Hardware (booth 2434, green, Plant Market). 

To brush up on the necessity of bees, you can sit in on a free seminar:

"Beneficial Orchard Mason Bees: Our Northwest Native Pollinator" on Friday, Feb 19 at 10 am on the DIY Stage

or

"Gardening 101: Protecting Vital Wildlife and Pollinators" on Saturday, Feb 20 at 2:15 pm in the Rainier Room.

Bee sure to look for Bainbridge Beewax Works (booth 2150) which offers exquisitely designed beeswax pillars. Burn them if you must, I would leave them in their natural glory as art on the shelf-  delicate vines and flowers twisting round and round. 

Have you ever served white cheddar cheese with a slice of apple and a dab of honey on a cracker? It is delicious! Tarboo Creek Honey (booth 2426, green, Plant Market) is selling gorgeous jars of honey (above) and beeswax candles from their own bees. We tried a sample and bought a jar on the spot.

Northwest Flower and Garden Show at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. Show is open Wednesday, Feb 16 - Saturday, Feb 20 from 9am- 8pm, and Sunday, Feb 21 from 9am - 6pm.
#NWFGS #springinfeb #seattle

Sun is Shining and the Bees Are Buzzing

I was happy to find this sunflower, set against a natural backdrop of sea foam green and blooming within my reach.  I'm only 5'2" and I have many photos at an angle looking up at the flowers face, like a child trying to aim up and take pictures of the bride at a wedding.  I rarely find a sunflower that I can photograph "head on."

I was even more pleased when I uploaded the photo to my computer and noticed the bees all over the sunflower face!  

I have been bothered by the cover of recent Time magazine called "The Plight of the Honeybees."  The article (I read ever word) enumerates the many possible causes for the rise in colony deaths since in 2006.  Seeing bees out and about made me feel better and I found this helpful article about bees pollinating sunflowers online.

While this photo was taken in northern Michigan at a small farm, I have many varieties of flowers and herbs on my own property in the suburbs, because giving bees a variety of pollination options helps.  The more home gardens, the better.

Beehive Blondies, Butterscotch Cookies

I have wanted to make some natural honey-like cookies that would look beautiful as bee skeps.  I considered gingerbread, but that tastes too much like December.  It finally dawned on my that I could use my Heavenly Bites cookie recipe to make some Beehive Blondies.

Heavenly Bites Butterscotch Cookies

1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. baking powder
1/8 t. baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter (or use vegetable spray) and flour a rimmed cookie sheet. In a mixing bowl, beat melted butter and brown sugar together. Mix in egg and vanilla extract. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix. Pour the batter onto a cookie sheet and smooth it out.  It should cover about 2/3 of the pan. You are basically making very thin brownies.  

Bake at 350 degrees for approx 15-18 minutes, depending on your oven.  Cookie base should have some "give" when pressed.  If you allow it to bake until crisp, you won't be able to cut out shapes.

Cool until just warm, cut out beehive and bee shapes to enjoy with a friend. Yum!

Queen Bee

I love honey and when I had the chance to photograph an active hive (in a narrow glass box) this is the result!

Can you see the honey glistening in the honeycomb? So natural and so gorgeous - love it!

I think of September as a time when all of my friends are "busy bees" buzzing about their hives and gathering the information they need from the fields.

I love when Fall activities are finally on the calendar, field trips are planned, committee meetings start up. I was surprised last week when I had to buy a 2011 calendar to keep up with all the dates coming in.

So think of yourself as a "Queen Bee" this week, managing the house, planning the fun and making things happen. Buzz...buzz.

Bee Hive Cake

I will never regret the money spent on a beautiful cake pan. Imagine arriving at my house and seeing this on the table!

You be happy, right? You'd feel special (and maybe even a little lucky) that you'd get to eat a cake that was this pretty. Never underestimate the power of cute.

My bee hive cake pan came from the Martha Stewart Living catalog years ago, but you can get a similar pan here. The sugar bumble bees can be ordered online or found at a cake supply store.

This time my beehive is a lemon pound cake. I drizzled it with a lemon glaze after serving - yum!

Now how about a slice?

Bee Sure to Visit BeeDazzled

I love this little place! Tucked away in northern Michigan, BeeDazzled is an herb garden and beeswax shop in Benzonia that specializes in "gifts from the hive." My favorite part is what you see here. Walking from the car and seeing this view. It smells like honey and Springtime and calm.

A favorite of mine is their lavender-scented lotion bars (when you hold them, the warmth of your hand melts the bar and releases the emollient oils) - they make wonderful hostess gifts.

So the next time you see a sign for a shop that sells honey, bee sure to stop in! You never know what handmade treasures you'll find.

Lilac Festival

Can you smell these lilacs right through the computer? I love the heady fragrance of lilacs and would like to point you to a lovely festival on Mackinac Island (in northern Michigan) held the last week of June. What could be more romantic than a lilac festival?

Can you see the bee buzzing in my picture? I couldn't believe my luck!