Trade Days, Bee Class & a New Recipe

Seguin Trade Days

It’s been one of our busiest weekends in a while and we actually had to split up in order to cover different events. Belinda and I headed down to the town square for Seguin Trade Days early Saturday morning. Thankfully, Mark was able to help us set up the single tent and then unload all the honeys, beeswax products and gift baskets. Then he had to head back to the Bee Ranch for an Introduction to Beekeeping class (we had ten students this weekend!). Belinda and I had steady business all morning pretty much – that’s good. I think people are starting to think holidays because we had several people discuss gift-giving and placing orders for gift baskets. I loved hearing that! By the way, just so you know, you CAN place an order with us for gift baskets for Christmas. We haven’t had a chance to get the new products (gift baskets and pine cone candle) on the website yet so just email us at info@gretchenbeeranch.com for information or to order. 🙂

SMILE! YOU’RE HOLDIN’ BEES!

While the ladies were down on the square, the men were back at the Bee Ranch teaching another big group of wonderful students. While I had fun on the square, I did miss being at the class as well. It’s great to meet people so interested in beekeeping! The class got a real treat this weekend. Remember the 28 Olivarez queens Mark got in the mail earlier this week? Well, as part of class, he had the students help him install two of them in the learning hives. Sound like they all had a great time. We love sharing new experiences with folks! After class was over, Mark and David cleaned up and then Mark joined us at booth on the square. Thank goodness because he had some fans looking for him but they had to settle for me and Bel. 🙂

HONEY RECIPE WINNER: HONEY CURRY CHICKEN

Finally, we wrapped up our busy weekend with a new recipe that won our weekly recipe promotion. If you have a great honey recipe you’d like to share, be sure to send it to recipes@gretchenbeeranch.com. Each week a recipe is selected and the person will get a jar of GBR honey! AND the recipe may end up on our website. This week’s winning recipe is the super-awesome Honey Curry Chicken. WOW. I made it this evening and it was not only easy to prepare, but also delicious. I told Mark it’s the first curry recipe I have liked that wasn’t Vietnamese or Indian. 🙂 We both highly recommend this one!

COMING UP THIS WEEK

We are heading to Gonzales on Friday for the Come & Take It Festival! That’s right – one of our favorite events is already here. Hard to believe it’s been a year already. Last year we sold out by Saturday and were so tired we didn’t go back Sunday. Well, we have a lot more honey this year as well as more new products so we plan to be there all three days. You folks in Gonzales be sure to come by and visit! We will have a double booth very close to where we were last year, near the fire station side of the square – with our backs to the theatre. See you there!

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Busy Bees’ Weekend

It is great to be home. The worst part of work travel for me is that I feel like I am missing out on all the excitment and fun at the Ranch. Even that snake post Mark did made me wish I was with him when he saw it – I miss out on so many adventures when he goes out to the yards without me! lol – I hope one day soon I will be able to do this full time with him.

In the meantime, we got home from the airport Friday night and went straight out to the honey house so he could show me all the things he’d been doing while I was away. Candles, candles, candles – YAY! We need lots of them for the orders and shows so I thought he was making great progress though he thought he had not. It was definitely significantly more candles than before I left. Oh, and the scent of it all…didn’t realize how much I missed the scent until I stepped into the honey house and it hit me. Oh, my sweet beeswax, how will I bear selling you off to others? Actually, I DO enjoy sharing it with others but it’s sort of like when I make a beautiful pair of earrings and though I want the other person to wear it and enjoy it, parting with something I made is like sending a part of you away. Okay, I’ll stop with the sappiness or else Mark won’t let me post anymore on behalf of GBR. lol

So…Mark poured a lot this weekend and he also found a little time to paint – now’s a good time to get boxes sanded, painted and ready to go for next spring. Or when our Russell queens come in soon and Mark makes more splits. He is seriously going to be running around next year, checking on all the bees. Currently we are at 60-something. Looks like we’ll be adding some more before the end of the year.

Meanwhile, I have been photographing more products, updating flyers and I get to be in charge of packaging. Sweet! I love packaging stuff! When I get some more done, I’ll show you a picture. Gosh, we (really, Mark since I’m not the baker in the family) tried out a pecan pie recipe tonight with honey substituted in there for sugar. WOW. I ate TWO pieces (they were small, really) – that’s how good it is. So yay for Mark! We’ll put the recipe on our new website so you can try it also. But if you’re dying to try it for Thanksgiving, email me and I’ll send you the recipe. Wouldn’t want you to miss out.

And as I close, you know what I realized just now?? I never even posted any pictures or an entry here about our conference in Kerrville at the Texas Beekeepers Association’s Annual Conference. How did that happen? Sorry, guys. That’s what happens when I travel, come home, leave the next day again. Ugh, I am getting more forgetful every single day! I will load some of those pictures this week and do a post. 🙂 Night and have a great Monday tomorrow!

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Making the SA News

Sunday was a wonderful day for Gretchen Bee Ranch – we got a great endorsement from our friend Christine, owner of Lily’s Cookies in San Antonio! Remember those fabulous Texas Mesquite Honey Cookies she started offering in her shop? You know, the ones Mark and I devoured about two dozen of in under a week? 🙂 Well, her yummy recipe and a write-up on the cookies were featured in the Taste section of the San Antonio Express News. And she gave GBR a huge plug by using our mesquite honey and mentioning us in her interview. EXCITING! I’d include a direct link here if except it appears the article is not yet available online. So here’s a scan of it just for show. You can click on the image and it’ll take you to our Flickr page where you can view the original size scan, which is quite easily readable. If you prefer a PDF document of it, then email me at thien@gretchenbeeranch.com and I’ll be glad to email it to you.

I want to thank everyone who called or sent emails and text messages to us Sunday about the article. We really appreciate all the great support you all have given us. It is so much fun to see GBR mentioned! Of course, the picture and write-up really made us want some cookies but I haven’t tried the recipe YET. I opted for making pho Sunday, a Vietnamese soup that takes several hours to prep and cook. Not to mention all the condiments to go in the soup…I’m not the fastest of cooks. We’ll be sure to try the recipe for the cookies and let you know how we do. At least we know we can always get some from Lily’s Cookies if I can’t bake them right. 😉

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Texas Mesquite Honey Cookies (Lily’s Cookies)

Okay, we’re head over heels in love with this cookie that Lily’s Cookies has baked up using some of our honey! If you are in SA or nearby, you really need to go and get some. Then tell us what YOU think. Christine says it’s been doing well at the shop and I know we got two dozen today but most of it is gone (I did share a couple at work). We love partnering with such an awesome, awesome business like Lily’s Cookies – great people and great product. 🙂

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