Winter Renewing – Working with the Creator’s Gifts

New batch of propolis tincture “brewing”

Psalms from the Hive

by Jeannie Saum

Holidays are over and  a new year’s coming on

Enough of rest and relaxation.  Jump in again, strong.

Re-branding and revising, making products new.

Get out that new propolis! Let’s start our new brew!

Clover, Bee, and Revery

Reverie (revery) –(n.) state of dreamy meditation or fanciful musing; a fantastic, visionary, or impractical idea

With hustle and bustle of the holidays behind us, the Saums and Dotsons are anxious to use these next few cold months of winter to reflect on and refocus our efforts to bring amazing bee products to the public.  We have decided we want to re-brand our company to focus more on the bees and the “BEE POWER” they can provide to our  health.  We also want to re-formulate some of our products to improve them,  evaluate  the demand for individual products, review customer feedback and decide on products to add, change or drop.  We also  will be  looking for new stores to carry our product and new venues to attend in the spring, summer and fall.

But most importantly, because of our success of the last few months, we desperately need to mix up some new batches of our proprietary

treasured box of golden propolis

ingredients, so we can make products to replenish our supply!  We spent a night in December, processing our dried, home-grown herbs used in our soothing and healing oils.  We sat on tarps in the Dotson’s living room and  rubbed bags full of herbs through screens to crush into little pieces and then put each kind into big mason jars.   And now that we have lots of golden, healing propolis, we can get down to business, mixing up our brews.

Cooking propolis in oil on an induction burner

Laurie and Jeannie got together on New Year’s Eve day to start  brewing.  (Jeannie had already started 3 big jars of propolis in vodka last week, which must be soaked and shaken every day for at least 2 weeks, to make our propolis tincture.)  We started the day infusing propolis in olive oil using our induction cooking burner, which keeps the oil at a constant temperature.  We mix propolis and oil in a ratio, by weight and heat to 120 degrees farenheit for 20 minutes.  Then we pour through organza to strain.  Now we have 2 big jars of wonderful propolis oil.

Freshly made propolis olive oil

Next, we started our herbal oil infusions, by measuring our dried herbs by weight and pouring (measured) olive oil over them in the mason jars, to cover.  We set these herb-oil mixtures on a shelf and will shake them every day.  We’ll let them sit for a month or two and add more plant material as it becomes available, if we decide it is needed.  Then we will mix these herbal oils together to make our special soothing and healing oils to use in our skin care products.

Starting our herb infused oils

A big batch of lemon balm in olive oil

Rosemary in olive oil

Making herb infused oils

~  ~  ~

It’s fun and rather awe-inspiring to work with the Creator’s gifts!

Deuteronomy 33

¹³ About Joseph he said: “May the Lord bless his land  with the precious dew from heaven above  and with the deep waters that lie below;

¹⁴ with the best the sun brings forth  and the finest the moon can yield;

¹⁵ with the choicest gifts of the ancient mountains  and the fruitfulness of the everlasting hills;

¹⁶ with the best gifts of the earth and its fullness  and the favor of him who dwelt in the burning bush. Let all these rest on the head of Joseph,  on the brow of the prince among his brothers.

Propolis Has Arrived!

Psalms from the Hive

by Jeannie Saum

Eagerly anticipated, Our box of golden propolis

Purchased from a fellow beekeeper, Can not wait to open it!

We cherish every golden nugget Like the miners on TV’s “Gold Rush”.

It’s value is unmeasurable. We’ll make some tincture of it.

Clover, Bee, and Revery

Reverie (revery) –(n.) state of dreamy meditation or fanciful musing; a fantastic, visionary, or impractical idea

 

We found an Ohio beekeeper who was collecting propolis, and were able to purchase 6 pounds of this wonderful, healing goo!  We had run out of the propolis we had collected from our hives, and needed more to keep up with the demands for propolis oil and tincture from our customers.

treasured box of golden propolis

A whole box of propolis, what a beautiful sight!  We cherish every bit of it, and go around picking up tiny stray morsels of it, as if it were nuggets of gold!  We won’t let any of it go to waste, as we process it into useful healing forms.  We are continually amazed at how it works to keep us healthy.

A month ago, husband Steve felt as if he was getting sick.  He had congestion and a tightness in his chest, that usually means 2-3 weeks of bronchitis and asthma flare-up in addition to antibiotics.  He started taking 1/3 a dropperful of propolis tincture 3 times a day for three days, and was fine!

Last week, I had a flare-up of carpel tunnel syndrome and my arm and hand hurt so that I could not sleep.  Ibuprofen was not helping the deep ache in my forearm.  When I got up in the morning, I tried ice and then heat – no  help.  Then I decided to try rubbing my arm down with propolis oil.   I had a tin of propolis coconut oil, a new item we had made.  I rubbed this in and in about 30 seconds, the deep aching was GONE!

I just tried the propolis coconut oil on my very dry and peeling feet last night.  When I got up this morning, they were so much better.  I did another treatment before I put my socks on this morning, and by afternoon, my feet are almost completely smooth!  Steve used our wound salve on his cracked and dry feet a few days ago and had similar success.

A few days ago, we were at son Nate’s house and noticed his dog Bella’s hot spot on her paw was back and she had licked it raw.  I got out my tube of propolis tip balm, took a hunk off, rubbed it into the sore, and left the tube with Nate.  He said, the next morning it looked so much better, all the redness was gone.

New batch of propolis tincture “brewing”

We are continually amazed at what  propolis can do for health and healing.  We encourage everyone to try this nature made substance to see for yourselves what it can do!

HEALTH  ~  POWERED BY BEES!

John 6

²⁸ Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”²⁹ Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

³⁰ So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? ³¹ Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

³² Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴ “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

³⁵ Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

³⁶ But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.

³⁷ All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.

³⁹ And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.

⁴⁰ For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

Blessings for our Thanksgiving!

Land of Milk and Honey

Cooking with Honey by Laurie Dotson

Thanksgiving has become one of my favorite holidays. An acquaintance wrote my sentiments to a tee and I would like to post them. So without further ado… She says, For weeks I look forward to preparing a beautiful meal and relaxing with my family. Sadly, Thanksgiving night invariably finds me deflated. I regret having gotten irritable in the final crazy minutes of gravy making and turkey carving or feel dispirited by the lack of meaningful conversation at the table. I miss the family members who are absent. I wish people would have gotten along better and connected more deeply. The list of discontents varies from year to year but the theme is the same: it didn’t turn out exactly as I had hoped.

This year I am on to myself. All month I’ve been thinking about letting go of my imaginary ideals and showing up with an open heart for whatever happens. I anticipate that it may be a little hard to pull off on the big day. I know I’m not alone. For many people the holidays are a time of heightened need for things to be a particular way. Certainly there’s nothing wrong with wanting a lovely holiday. But high expectations can hold us in their grip. What we want to see blinds us to what is actually in front of us and diminishes it. If we then distance ourselves from the imperfect, that gap makes it even harder to connect to things as they are. It is only in approaching a thing — be it this particular holiday meal or an individual human being — with attention that we can fully appreciate it, for all its faults and strengths, for all its funky uniqueness. Paying attention with kindness opens us to the wholeness around us. From there it is a short leap to gratitude. That which we see deeply enough can virtually always be counted as a blessing.

As we each look around our Thanksgiving tables next week, may we focus on the kindness and generosity that is shared between us and give thanks for the day we have been given, whether or not it is the one we had imagined.

Blessings on your holiday table.  Don’t forget to invite a friend or two who need a family to share this day with! 

Honey Roast Turkey

Turkey ingredients

• 1  12 – 14  pound  fresh or frozen natural turkey
• 2 cups  water
• 1/2 cup  Hive & Honey BEEpothecary honey
• 1/4 cup  finely snipped fresh parsley
• 2 tablespoons  finely snipped fresh sage
• 2 tablespoons  snipped fresh thyme
• 4 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon  olive oil
• 1/2 kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup  Hive & Honey BEEpothecary honey
• 2 tablespoons  butter
•  Apple Cider Sauce (see recipe below) (optional)

directions

1.Thaw turkey if frozen. In a medium saucepan combine water, 1/2 cup honey, and about half of the parsley, sage, thyme, and garlic. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in olive oil. Cover; let stand 30 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve; discard solids.

2.Rinse turkey; pat dry with paper towels. Skewer the neck skin to the back. Tie legs to tail. Twist wing tips under the back.

3.Place the turkey, breast side up, on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Using a flavor-injector syringe, inject the honey mixture into the meat of the turkey. (This may take up to 20 injections, so try to evenly distribute the seasoned mixture in the turkey. If the syringe gets clogged with a bit of seasoning, you will need to flush it out with water and a toothpick.) Sprinkle turkey lightly with salt and pepper.

4.Insert a meat thermometer into the center of one of the inside thigh muscles without the thermometer touching the bone. Cover turkey loosely with foil. Roast in a 325 degree F oven for 2-1/2 hours.

5.For glaze, in a small saucepan, heat and stir 1/4 cup honey and butter until butter is melted. Stir in remaining parsley, sage, thyme, garlic, salt, and pepper.

6.Remove turkey from oven. Cut the string between the drumsticks so the thighs will cook evenly. Remove the foil to let the bird brown. Brush about one-third of the glaze over turkey. Return turkey to oven and roast for 30 to 60 minutes more, brushing two more times with remaining glaze, or until meat thermometer registers 180 degrees F and juices run clear.

7.Remove turkey from oven and cover loosely with foil. Let stand for 15 minutes before carving. Carve turkey into thin slices and, if desired, serve with Apple Cider Sauce. Makes 18 servings.

Apple Cider Sauce

 ingredients

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 tablespoons  butter
• 3 tablespoons  flour
• 1 1/2 cups  chicken broth
• 1 cup  apple cider
• 1/4 cup  Hive & Honey BEEpothecary honey
• 2 tablespoons  cider vinegar
•  Salt
•  Pepper

directions

1.In a medium saucepan, cook onion in butter until tender. Stir in flour, broth, apple cider, honey and cider vinegar. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 1 minute more. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

From the Laurie and Pete Dotson and Jeannie and Steve Saum,

We wish you Great Blessings and Happy Thanksgiving Eating !

(P.S. Take your Propolis and Honey and stay healthy this holiday season!)

Psalm 95:2-3  Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.  For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods.

Cumin Chicken Skewers with Honey Lemon Yogurt Dipping Sauce

Land of Milk and Honey

Cooking with Honey by Laurie Dotson

You can tell fall is in the air.  The cool smell of fall in the mornings, the leaves are starting to fall, and the neighbors burning their garden waste…ahhh!     I wasn’t happy about this a month ago, when school started back up and I had to go back.  I just wanted to enjoy every last minute of summer.  But today, Pete and I went to the Cyclopes Festival in Yellow Springs, Ohio. We  just needed to take a day trip away from everything.  A fun place to be with a market of DIY items for sale.  To tell the truth, I felt quite comfortable, like I was home…a bunch of modern day hippies living life, simply.  We went to get some ideas for our booth and our next event, but came away with a full tummy and excitement for whatever.  I still want to enjoy what I have left of this tween season.   At the Festival there was a vendor who made Lebanese food and that got me a thinkin’. I pulled chicken out to thaw this morning and I’ve been harvesting onions, cucumbers, garlic, tomatoes and herbs.  So, how can I use these and make a delicious meal .  Lightbulb going off – festival, garden, summerish food …Try this out, So yummy!  

Cumin Chicken Skewers with Honey Lemon Yogurt Dipping Sauce

INGREDIENTS

Cumin Chicken Skewers

• 1 tbs ground cumin
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 oranges, rind finely grated, segmented
• 2.5 lbs chicken thigh fillets, excess fat trimmed, cut into 1 inch square pieces
• 2 x 14 oz cans brown lentils, rinsed, drained
• 1/2 cup firmly packed fresh continental parsley leaves
• 1 bunch fresh chives, cut into 1cm lengths
• 1 small red onion, halved, thinly sliced
• 2 Lebanese cucumbers, trimmed, halved lengthways, thinly sliced

Honey Lemon Yogurt Dipping Sauce

• 1-1/2 Tablespoons – honey
• 2-1/2 Tablespoons – fresh lemon juice
• 1-1/2 cups – plain Greek yogurt
• 1-1/2 teaspoons – sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon – black pepper, fresh ground

Step 1  Honey Lemon Sauce:  In a mixing bowl, combine the honey, lemon juice, yogurt, salt and pepper. Stir gently, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

Step 2   Combine the cumin, garlic, oil and orange rind in a glass or ceramic bowl. Add the chicken and season with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Thread 4 pieces of chicken onto each skewer.

Step 3   Preheat grill on medium-high. Line a baking tray with foil. Place the skewers on prepared tray. Cook under grill for 3-4 minutes each side or until the chicken is cooked through.

Step 4   Combine the orange segments, lentils, parsley, chives, onion and cucumber in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Divide among serving plates and top with skewers. add a dollop of Honey Lemon Sauce

Happy Eating !

Genesis 1:29  And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.

Labor Day – Peanut Butter Honey Fluff

Land of Milk and Honey

Cooking with Honey by Laurie Dotson

Today is Labor Day and I get a day off of work…or do I?  I guess, I will not have school work but I do have farm chores, house work and final preparation for the Lithopolis HoneyFest. Sept 6-7th.   We are also extracting honey today.

Active heathy, hive box

It’s always fun to see how much we will get.  The bummer is, we had one of our hives swarm.  A swarm is when a cluster of bees leave the hive to find another place to house their queen and start a new hive.  Why does this happen, you ask?  Either because of sickness, pest problems, a weak queen, or over population.  But before, I could get out to the hive and save the deserted honey. It was robbed of all its honey by other bees.  I’m hoping the robbers were from our other hives within our apiary.  Our goal this year, is to get our bees through the winter. We have not been luck with winterizing our bees in the past.

How a Hive is set up in the spring and summer. You would add more hive boxes to the top as the bees multiple and honey production getting greater.

~Later this morning~ So, we just got back in from pulling frames for extraction.  Sad, Sad, News!  There was not enough honey to take. The Queen is laying broad and the hive is active. We felt that the bees needed all the honey they had and what they will be producing to help them through the winter.  We did hear that our Michigan Partners did very well. 30 gallons!  We look forward to eating that when we can.   Not the best of news!  Not a good year for bees either.   Oh Well!

Here’s some good news!  I have an ole friend, who sent me this recipe.  It is perfect for snacking during extracting. (haha, that rhymed – If you know me well enough. I’d never make a good rapper, because I can’t rhyme.  I end up making up word with the same endings sound) anywhooo!  many boo! hehe_ Deb, my twin sister, does the same thing!  On to the Recipe…

Anna Parks thought of me when she saw this recipe. I’ll share it with you

Thank you, Anna

 http://www.iheartnaptime.net/peanut-butter-honey-dip/

Peanut Butter Honey Fluff

Ingredients

• 1 cup all natural peanut butter
• 1 (8 oz) container lite cool whip
• 2 ½ – 3 tbsp honey

INSTRUCTIONS

In a bowl, whip peanut butter and cool whip together until fluffy. Beat in 2 tablespoons of honey (or more for a stronger honey flavor). Beat for another 2 minutes until fluffy. Spoon into a serving bowl and drizzle honey over the top. Serve with fruit or graham crackers.

Happy Eating !

Luke 12:32

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is well pleased to give you the kingdom.

Fried Honey Banana Recipe with Cinnamon

Land of Milk and Honey

Cooking with Honey by Laurie Dotson

Oh Boy, Do I have a sweet-tooth tonight!  I made brownies last night with cinnamon applesauce and coffee. They surprisingly turned out yummy!  But tonight, I need to use up some bananas.  You know why? Overly ripe bananas are way to sweet to eat, but really good in smoothies and I have 20 “just right” bananas. I’ll never get threw them before they are black.  So mark my words, Never shop at Costco when your hungry.  Now I have bananas coming out my @$$ and sweet tooth to boot. So what’s a girl to do?  Googled Banana recipes and start cookin’.  haha!  Here’s a combination of a couple of recipes.  We loved this. I hope you do too:)

Fried Honey Banana Recipe with Cinnamon

INGREDIENTS

• Dash of Coconut Oil
• 1/4 Tea­spoon Cin­na­mon
• 1 Medium Banana
• 1 Table­spoon Honey

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cut the banana into about 1/8 inch thick pieces and place in small frying pan with a dash of coconut oil; begin to brown on medium heat.

2. Mix together your honey, cinnamon and 1/2 table­spoon water in a bowl and set aside.

3. Flip your banana slices over after 2-5 minutes (mine seemed to take awhile to brown, so check often). Flip full over when the start to brown nicely.

4. Turn the stove onto low and spoon your honey, water and cinnamon mixture onto the banana slices until it bubbles a bit- reduces.

5. Sprinkle on additional cinnamon and eat with ice cream, if desired and enjoy!

Ben­e­fits of Cinnamon, Honey and Banana

Ben­e­fits of Cinnamon

• Effec­tive against ulcer-causing H. pylori bacteria

• It reduces pain linked to arthritis

• Reg­u­lates blood sugar

• Reduces LDL cho­les­terol levels

• May reduce the pro­lif­er­a­tion of can­cer cells

• Nat­ural food preservative

• Effec­tive for men­strual pain and  infertility

• Has an anti-clotting effect on the blood

Ben­e­fits of Honey

• Treat­ment of Ulcers

• Recu­per­a­tion from anemia

• Treat­ment of hangovers

• Helps with Jaundice

• Used as an antiseptic

• Helps heal mouth disease

• Heal­ing of wounds

Ben­e­fits of Banana

• Nat­u­rally fat and cho­les­terol free.

• High potas­sium content

• Good amount of vit­a­min C

• Excel­lent source of vit­a­min B-6

• Good source of manganese

• Easy to digest

• Ben­e­fits of Coconut Oil

• (so many but these are my top 2 reasons)

• Heal and relieve intesti­nal problems

• Helps ease inflammation

Happy Eating !

Genesis 1:22

God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.”

Honey Pretzels with a Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

Land of Milk and Honey

Cooking with Honey by Laurie Dotson

Shopping, planting, baking!  This is a great week. It’s my first week off, of work, for the summer. I’ve got my to-do list and all my projects planned and listed.  So, where do I begin?   Yesterday, Jeannie and I went out herb and flower shopping. We headed out fairly early and decided to avoid the never-ending construction, that is all over Columbus. And because of our smart thinking, we happened upon a wholesale nursery having a 50% off sale.   The day was dream like!  We got out to find flats upon flats of perennials and annuals that needed to be adopted into our gardens.   We pack in all of our wonderful finds, and head back to my house where we unload the SUV.  Now, we are off to Oakland Nursery where we can find just about anything we want and need.  I’m in need of healing herbs to fill my new herb garden.  These herbs will be infused into our soothing oils and healing oils for our companies, Hive and Honey BEEpothecary, and then into our salves and lotions.   After a couple of hours of roaming , collecting  smelling, and eating. We leave with a packed SUV again and almost everything we wanted, in plant form or organic seed packets.  Life is Good! A Friend like Jeannie in your life, is Better.  Thanks Jeannie for a great day.

Today, is raining.  The house is cool and damp.  So I thought, I would make pretzels to bake and take, to a friend who is in need of a “pick me up”!   I love this recipe because it’s a mix, roll, boil and bake.  No kneading or rising 🙂  Try it out! They will make you and everyone who eats them, smile.

Honey Pretzels with a Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

Honey Pretzels

Ingredients

For the pretzel dough:

• 3 Tablespoons melted butter
• 1 Tablespoon Honey
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 teaspoons of yeast
• 4 1/2 cups unbleached white whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups water

For the bath:

• 10 cups of water
• 2/3 cup of baking soda

For the tops:

• 1 Egg yolk
• 1 Tablespoon water
• Coarse sea salt or pretzel salt

Instructions

1. Put all the pretzel dough ingredients into a bread machine or mixer and set it on the dough setting.
2. When the dough is near done, pour the 10 cups of water and baking soda into a large pan, cover and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve the baking soda into the water and keep covered but still boiling. You might need to reduce the heat a bit to keep the pan from boiling over while you prepare the pretzels.- I had a boil-over moment, so add the soda in slowly.
3. Preheat the oven to 425 F. and prepare two baking sheets by spraying them with cooking spray or lining with a non-stick silicon baking mat. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolk and water and set beside the prepared pans with a brush close by for basting the pretzels.
4. When the dough is done, plop it onto a floured surface and cut into 12 equal pieces.
5. Shape each piece of the dough into a long snake about 1 1/2 feet long, then form each snake into a pretzel shape.
6. Carefully set each pretzel into the boiling bath water, cover and let them bathe for 30 seconds. I did three pretzels at a time.
7. Remove each pretzel carefully from the bath with a slotted spoon or spatula and set onto the prepared baking sheet. Brush with the egg wash, then sprinkle with coarse salt.
8. Bake at 425 for about 10 – 14 minutes or until they are a beautiful golden brown in color.
9. Remove from the oven and let cool a bit before eating.

Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

Honey and Mustard Dipping Sauce

• 1/2 cup Dijon mustard- homemade or storebought
• 1/2 cup honey- use local – i used mine.
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoons lemon juice
• Salt and pepper

Mix all the ingredients in a small bowl and season with salt and pepper. The sauce can be held in the refrigerator for 1 week.

Happy Eating !

English Standard Version 
He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”