Sacred Hearts Garden Festival

The Sacred Hearts Garden Festival was this weekend Friday, April 27 - Sunday, April 29th. Sasserfrass Hill bee Farm was invited to be a vendor. Mama worked with me on Friday and Betty Murry came up from Statesboro and helped me on Saturday and Sunday. We had a beautiful but HOT weekend.
I talked to lots of people about the bees and we sold honey, lotion bars and lip balm.

I was so happy to be vendor at the biggest Garden Festival in Augusta.
It was a blast.!!

Spring is very early on Sasserfrass Hill

We have had the warmest winter on record. Lots of warm days 80 degrees in February is scary. It makes me wonder what August will bring.???!! The bees are bringing in the pollen and nectar. My dogwoods, azaleas, Narcissus and Snowflakes are blooming and the tulips will be open in a few days. I bought $40 of bulbs last week and must get them in the ground. I have Dahlias, Gladiolus, and Jonquils to plant.

It has been very windy for the last few days, 15 to 25 mph winds are much to strong to open the hives. Other beekeepers have already pulled queen cells. I must check my hives but I have too wait until the weather is warm and not too windy.

I lost the pink and blue hives this winter. They both swarmed late in the season and were not able to build up their numbers before the cold set in. I put the empty hives into the freezer to kill and pest eggs that may be hiding inside. I hope to split a couple of my strong hives this spring. I will have a better idea after I get inside to check.

Rick and I went to the Georgia and South Carolina State Beekeepers meetings. We met lots of other beekeepers, bought supplies and listened to interesting speakers. Ted Dennard from Savannah Bee was my favorite. His business is making six figures every year. I hope to bee making money soon.??!!

I am off to the "Grow your Own" Fair at the Jewish Community Center. They will be selling chemical-free seedlings and experts to answer questions. I am sure to learn a lot.

I hope to buy plants the bees will like so they and we can have a delicious spring.

Talk to you soon.

Bee Well,

Deborah

Mild winter on Sasserfrass Hill

We all have been enjoying the mild temperatures this winter. We have only had about 40 chill hours. Which may not be good for the trees and bulbs that need cold to get them ready for spring. We also have lots of bad bugs that have not been killer by the cold.

The bees love the warm weather but they must thinking it should be cold now.?? The position of the sun is telling them we should be in a cluster, keeping the queen in the center and keeping warm by eating honey and vibrating their wings, which creates heat and keeps the cluster about 92 degrees.

I hope they will be okay with the warm weather and not freeze when the Mercury drops.

Bulbs have bloomed, trees are budding out, even azaleas are blooming, I just hope they don't all get killed when we do get the cold.

Talk to you all soon.

Bee Sweet,

Deborah

May your New Year Bee Healthy and Happy!!

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Thanks for Bee-lieving in Sasserfrass Hill, Thanks for Bee-lieving in me....

2011 was full of wonder and many incredible opportunities. I met interesting people and produced photographs of my sweet girls and told of their need, for us to get off the chemicals.

I learned so much in 2011. Thanks to every club, group and school that listened to our presentation, bought our honey and loved our lotion bars. We appreciate and Thank You.

December 2011 had very mild temperatures, our first freezing nights didn't come until January 2, 2012. The Farmer Almanic is calling for a mild and dry winter in Georgia. If you would like to help the bees, plant native drought tolerant plants the bees love such as echinacea, asters,and yarrow's.

Thanks to my sweet bees for all your hard work. I adore and appreciate the fruits of your labor. Thanks for sharing your bounty.

Thank you God for my Mother, Marcella. She had a stroke in July, she was in the hospital four days. She did not get the medication within three hours...that slowed her recovery. She is doing remarkably well. She is my number one fan. She washes my jars, labels, cleans wax and anything she can do to help. Thank you mama. I love you.

2012 will be a fantastic year for Sasserfrass Hill Bee Farm. We expect even more blessings and opportunities.

The "Girls" and I plan to start our documentary, Our goal is to get the pesticide "Neonicatiod" off the market. Get it banned from our country NOW. It is poisoning every one's food supply.!!!

We hope every one's New Year is full of love, healthy and happiness!!

Bee Well,

Ms Deb

Author Patricia Lanza visits Sasserfrass Hill Bee Farm

Greetings Everyone,

We have had such a warm fall. I still have zinnias blooming and my Cherokee Rose is full of beautiful pink flowers. My sweet bees are so happy the weather is still warm and they are bringing in pollens for protein and the camellias are blooming providing nectar and all is right with their world.

Last week Sasserfrass Hill had a very special visitor. Patricia Lanza, Author of Lasagna Gardening which is a book on a new layering system for Bountiful Gardens: No Digging, No Tilling, No Weeding, No Kidding! She was wonderful and I enjoyed her so much. She shared information on things I should do to take another step on my journey. She made me feel I was ready to move to bigger venues to reach more people with my message to help save the bees.

She encouraged me to publish some of my photographs in magazines. She reinforced my resolve to continue my quest and I needed her encouragement.

Thank you Pat. I am so happy I met you and I hope to see you again soon.

I checked several hives on Friday, the bees were doing great and are going into the winter with lots of honey. I hope I will come out of the winter with strong hives and healthy bees.

I am getting my Christmas decoration out of the attic this week and will start decorating Sasserfrass Hill for another wonderful holiday.

Eat more local honey.

Bee Well,

Ms Deb

Augusta Magazine came for a photo shoot

Greetings from Sasserfrass Hill,

We have been blessed with some beautiful fall days this week. It was 74 degrees today. I fed the bees Honey -B-Healthy with some antibiotics and it was a feeding frenzy. I want my bees to go into the winter strong and healthy.

I worked in my yards all day Monday and Tuesday morning, raking, bagging and blowing tons of leaves into the garden. I mulched them with my tractor mower in hopes it will help add organic matter to my hard clay soil. I watered flowers, dead headed plants, and used the blower on the drive way, carport, patio and the bee shed porch. I made flower arrangements and got dressed and ready for Laurie and Chris of Augusta Magazine, to come in the afternoon and take some photos of me in the bee yard. I am not very photogenic, and I hope the photo they choose will not make me look like a deer in head lights.

I will be in the January - February issue on the very last page of the magazine, called the "Last Word". It has a photo and they ask you five questions. I thought they would be questions about the bees, but there were only a couple of bees questions. I asked Laurie if the magazine could do an article on the bees in the spring. Laurie said she would love too and she would see what she could do.

We are making lotion bars this afternoon. We have several orders we need to deliver by the end of the week. Amaretto and Lemongrass are the flavors of the week.

Mama has been busy putting labels on the lotion bar tins, labeling honey and cleaning wax. She is a busy bee and we appreciate all she does on Sasserfrass Hill.

Eat more local raw honey everyone. It will help build up your immune system and keep you healthy this winter.

Bee Well,

Deborah

P.S. I don't know why the spacing is so crazzzy... It looks fine when I type it but when it goes to publish it put about five spaces between each paragraph....????

Fall is in the Air on Sasserfrass Hill

Hello Everyone,

We are as busy as bees on Sasserfrass Hill this fall. We are enjoying the cooler temperatures and so are the bees. This summer heat was brutal and many plants dried up before giving a drop of nectar to the bees. We hoping for an abundance of hardy fall plants.

We have several Garden Clubs coming to see the bees and we have really been working hard to make the yards worthy of the attention. It is a little intimidating to have master gardeners come and see my yard since I am not a master gardener or have I had a lot of time to get beds and plants put into place.

I am also speaking to several garden clubs this month. I spoke to the West Lake Garden Club on Tuesday and after the meeting a Girl Scout leader ask me to come speak to her girls about the importance of my tiny pollinators.

I am going to Lake Forest Elementary, they have a Garden Club for kids and I am very excited to talk to these little gardeners on Tuesday. I am speaking to the Lunchbox Series in Aiken on the 17 th and will have lots of photos and honey to sell.

I am also participating in the Quest Fall Holiday Festival the first weekend in November. So as you can see we are really as busy as bees. When I have a spare moment I am making lotion bars and lip balm to get enough to carry me through October.

I have several special orders of lotion bars and even sent an order off to Miami. Florida last week. My Niece Rhonda is in Guam and ordered honey, lotion bars and lip balm for her friends as gifts. Her friend Sadie enjoyed them enough to order more.

We put a mite treatment in the hives a couple of weeks ago and I need to check them one more time before it gets too cold. This year is flying by a light speed... I am trying to keep up.

Mama came over and helped me with a garden club and home school group last week. She is so nice and friendly, I think people buy more because she is so sweet.

I put a "Buy Local Honey!" sign on my car and have sold lots of honey from people inquiring about the sign.

Another one of my photographs was accepted by Bee Culture Magazine as a cover shot. I am very excited and hope to see my "girl" on the cover very soon.

God has bless us and we feel the need to give back and try to be a part in saving our tiny pollinators.

Thanks to everyone that has supported us and had faith in us. We are having a wonderful and thrilling time at Sasserfrass Hill Bee Farm.

Come see us and Eat more Honey.

Ms Deb