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Good news!

It's November once again which usually signals the closing of the Bus Cafe.. but not this year! Due to popular demand, the cafe will re-open it's doors on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays throughout November and up until Christmas. The girls will be serving the usual delicious soups, sandwiches, cakes and scones which will be available: 10am to 4pm on Fridays and Saturdays and 11am to 4pm on Sundays.

We'll see you this weekend!

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April Bee News

Many of our customers are very interested in how our bees are getting on, and what else is happening on the Honey Farm, so here is a wee update from Willie Robson. "The bees aren't so good this week because of variable weather but we are still a month ahead of last year. Winter losses are less than 5%, mainly due to queenlessness. Winter losses last year were about 30%. About half of our colonies are in the oil seed rape fields with the remainder to go this week.

Other work includes 400 new hive bodies to replace those that were built 40 years ago. More about these anon." We will be updating this section of the blog regularly, so do pop back for more bee news!

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Happy Beekeeping!

It looks like beekeeping has found a new fan in the form of former Happy Mondays dancer/maraca shaker Bez! Check out the article here; http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/aug/27/happy-mondays-dancer-bez-mark-berry-beekeeping

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Creaming Heather Flower Mix Honey

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Bottling Lavender Hand Balm

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Here is a clip of our tasty creamed Heather Honey being Bottled

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March Begins!

March is here, which brings with it our beautiful British Springtime! Blooming Flowers, Leaping lambs and Busy Bee's! Best of all however, March brings... Pancake Day! Here is a lovely Honey and Oat pancake recipe to make good use of any spare Chain Bridge Honey you may have lurking in the cupboards;

Honey and Oat Pancakes

Yield: makes 6 pancakes

Dry:

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

Wet:

1 cup whole milk

3 tbsp honey

1 large egg

Mix-in:

1/4 cup rolled oats

Butter / vegetable oil for skillet

In a medium bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

In a measuring cup or small bowl, measure out the milk. Add the honey and egg and beat for 1 minute, or until the honey has completely dissolved into the milk.

All at once, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. The batter should have some small to medium lumps. Gently fold in the rolled oats.

Preheat your skillet over a medium heat and brush with 1 1/2 tsp of butter or 1 tsp of vegetable oil. Using a 1/4-cup measure scoop the batter onto the warm skillet. Cook for 2-3 minutes until small bubbles form on the surface of the pancake, and then flip. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook on the opposite sides for about 1 minute, or until golden brown.

Transfer the cooked pancakes to a baking sheet and place in a preheated 200 F oven to keep warm. Repeat the process with the remaining batter, adding more butter or vegetable oil to the skillet when needed. Serve immediately.

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Meant to bee

So, Valentines Day is upon us once again. If you're like me and haven't bought anything because you a) forgot it was tomorrow, or b) thought you had looaads of time to buy something, then why not pop in to our honey shop or have a peek at our website and pick up a last minute gift? We have hand creams, foot balms, lip balms, moisturisers, body butters, candles, soaps, and for the men, well we've even got moustache wax.

Our shop is open from 10am til' 5pm today and tomorrow but if you can't make it over then our website www.chainbridgehoney.co.uk is always on hand. Better late than never as they say.. Happy Valentines Day!

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Honey Farm Supply Chain

We get lots of emails here at the Honey Farm and recently we were asked by Economic student Georgie Parry about our supply chain. Heather Thompson (nee Robson) answered quite informativly as below! 

"We source local timber, dry it here and construct hives from it, although we have also bought in some polystyrene hives from Denmark. We stock our hives with our own bees - we don't buy any bees in, we just breed from our own stock.

All the honey is extracted here, it is either separated from the wax to go into jars or tubs or is cut by hand to be sold as honeycomb. All the jarring, labelling etc is done here.

We wholesale the honey to retailers in the north of England and Scotland (300+ shops), we deliver 95% ourselves, the rest going by carrier to further afield destinations (South of England). We also retail our products here at the honey farm or via mail order, on-line or over the telephone. We attend one Farmers' market a month and a few shows during the year. 

We do not sell the honey to wholesalers, as there is not really a margin for them. We do sell direct to one supermarket though. We also export some of our products to Japan, Sweden and the US.

Our excess beeswax goes into candles, skincare products and polish made by hand at the honey farm.

We predominantly sell our own honey, although occasionally buy in some heather honey from a beekeeper in Fife and some flower honey from a beekeeper in Yorkshire, but these are not significant amounts. However our own honey ran out completely last spring and we had to buy in heather honey and clear honey from Denmark and flower honey from Essex. The honey we sell this year will be all our own since we've had such a good season.

Other inputs are invert sugar, needed to keep the bees going in the winter and also treatments for Varroa. The bees are treated twice a year.

We have 20 staff, including 5 full time family members, 5 full time others and 10 part-time or seasonal. 

Hope this is enough info!

Thanks,

Heather"

So there you have it - from our hives to your home!

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5 ways to use honey, this winter..

Honey is fantastic all year round, but here are 5 more ways to use it, this winter. 1. As we all know, having a cold is nothing but a nuisance, so why not put a teaspoon of heather honey and a good squeeze of lemon juice in a cup of boiling water. The simple combination helps soothe your sore throat but also tastes rather good! My Granny says it works, so it must be true.

2. Put it in your coffee! As some of you who have visited our vintage café bus will know, the girls in the bus offer a honey latte. If you normally have sugar in your coffee- honey offers a nice alternative and it's also healthier. So, put a teaspoon of your favourite honey (we use heather and flower mix) into a shot of espresso and mix well. Top up with hot milk and give it a good stir. Lastly, we sprinkle some ground nutmeg on the top but cinnamon also works well! Alternatively, why not try both? If you don't have access to an espresso machine, we find that using a few teaspoons (depending on how strong you like it) of good quality instant coffee, does the trick. 3. Honey and ginger = good friends. The girls in the cafe bus are known round these parts for their delicious soups, so here is one of our favourites:

Roasted Carrot and Honey Soup Ingredients (Makes a large pan full)

2 bags of carrots peeled and chopped 1 large onion, chopped 1 large red pepper, de-seeded and chopped 1 medium potato, chopped 3" piece of root ginger peeled and grated honey veg stock salt and pepper cream (optional)

Method

Place the carrots and peppers in a large roasting tray and drizzle with about 4tbsp of honey (you may need to warm the honey quickly in the microwave to make it a bit runnier). Season with salt and pepper and a little olive oil, and put in the oven at about 180 degrees for 30-40 minutes or unitl browned but not cooked all the way through. Make sure you give them a mix around every now and again so as to get even roasting!

When the carrots are ready, cook the onion in some butter until softened and add the grated ginger. Cook for an extra minute and then add the carrots, peppers and potato. Add enough boiling water to cover the vegetables and add stock powder or stock cubes. We use vegetable bouillon powder as its suitable for vegtarians. Bring to the boil and then simmer until the carrots and potato are soft.

Use a stick blender and blend until smooth. you might want to add extra honey,ginger and boiling water at the end, depending on taste and consistency. We sometimes put a dash of single cream in right at the end, to give it extra flavour!

4. Use it to treat minor cuts and burns..If you're like me and have spent all Chritsmas and New Year in the kitchen cooking, then honey could be your saviour! There is nothing worse than burning yourself on the oven whilst cooking for the crowds, or cutting youself with the new knives you got for Christmas. So, slather a layer of honey onto your cut or burn (use something clean to apply it with!). Not only is honey a natural antiseptic, but it also prevents infection.

5. Honey for your hair you say? In these cold miserable months, our hair will most likely take a battering from our lovely British weather. I've found that by applying honey and olive oil to damp hair not only smells good, but makes your hair lovely and shiny and makes it look and feel alot healthier. All you have to do is: warm some olive oil in the microwave and mix in some honey. The quantities depend on the lenght of you hair. Give it a good stir until combined and then rub it into the roots and lengths of your hair. Yes, it is messy. Leave for as long as you like (even overnight), I would suggest a minimum of 30 minutes. When you're done, wash well with shampoo and coniditioner!

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Our friend Aileen Orr was asked to do a presentation at the Wax Chandlers Hall in the City of London last month. A fascinating place for beekeepers!

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Honey's medicinal properties are as exciting as its breadth of flavour..! Check out this excellent article from the Guardian. Thanks to Rosie from Craster for the tip-off!

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PR specialist Amy Swain creating a new blog for us! (at Chain Bridge Honey Farm)

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Our honeycombs on display in House of Bruar!!