A few months ago Chef John Lawrence took on the challenge of beekeeping.
Peppers is thrilled to announce that their two hives have survived their "newbee" beginning to official beekeeping! Now that the cooler weather is here the hives are partially wrapped to protect them from harsh winter winds from the north.
Success!
Despite barely knowing what they were doing, the Peppers hives produced over 28 pounds of the most wonderful and dark honey any of them had ever put to their lips. The honey had a very low moisture count of under 11% which is excellent. No doubt Chef Paul Wilson and Linda LaBarge will come up with a creative catering use for this liquid gold!
Another great surprise was a visit from The Massachusetts Bee Inspector, Ken Warchol, who gave Chef John a “thumbs up” for the health of the hive and their production. Ken was a wealth of information and helpful tips, very informed and passionate when the talk is about bees.
Did you know…
- Bees fly at about 20 miles per hour
- Bees have been around for 30 million years
- Bees have 5 eyes
- The average bee makes 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in a lifetime
- Bees can be used to detect land mines with tiny radio devices attached (who thinks of these things?)
- A queen bee lays up to 1500 eggs a day
- 30% of all plant pollination is done by bees