Pecan Pie Tasting, Maple VS Honey

Zach's dad's favorite pie is Pecan. His birthday party was this past weekend so I decided to make him a pie to celebrate.

I've been intrigued by the Honey Pecan Pie recipe from the Miss Kay's Duck Commander Cookbook. I was particularly interested because I love to use ingredients from the farm whenever I can. This year we got a bumper crop of honey from our hives, so I thought this pie would be perfect!

Get the recipe over at Mommy's Kitchen

I was browsing around other blogs and noticed that honey could be swapped for maple syrup in this recipe.

We have a bunch of that too!

So I made two pies.

One with honey

and one with maple syrup.

They were both DELICIOUS!!!

The maple had a deeper flavor and not quite as sweet as the honey. The honey has a brighter taste, and you couldn't mistake the honey flavor.

If I had to pick one, I think it would be the maple. I love anything maple flavored. Also, Pecan Pie is very sweet to me anyway, so I enjoyed the downplay of sweet flavor from the syrup addition. But both got votes from our family that tasted the pies.

To make the maple version, substitute 1/2 cup maple syrup for 1/2 cup honey, cook as directed. 

The Bees are Capping Honey

We're nearing the end of the honeysuckle bloom. The bushes are loosing their fragrance and the pale yellow flowers are starting to wilt and fall to the ground. The blossom of these bushes really kicked the bees into full honey production. When we first brought them home, I noticed an increase in bees on the few flowers that early spring boasts: the dandelions, wild strawberries and wild violets.

But the bees were still draining the mason jar of simple syrup that we provided for them each day. We feed them to supplement their food supply until they can produce enough honey to support themselves.

Once the honeysuckle went into bloom, the bushes were loaded with buzzing pollinators, and the syrup jar remained full. Zach and I decided it was time to open the hive and see how things were going.

We were pleasantly surprised to see that almost 5 frames were full of honey and capped.

This is significant for a few reasons. The first being that the bees are foraging enough to feed themselves, which means we have a strong hive.

It also means that they are producing fast! Bees don't produce honey immediately. They collect nectar and deposit it into the comb cavities and let it dehydrate to a 17% sugar solution.

At this time, the solution is concentrated enough to not go rancid, and becomes honey. I find it interesting because maple sap becomes maple syrup at the exact same ratio.

The bees then cap the cell with wax and it acts as a mini mason jar of honey ready for them when they need to tap into their supplies, mainly rainy spells and of course, winter.

At this point, none of this honey will be for our consumption. We are letting the bees create their storage. Once they have two large supers filed for themselves, we can take anything that they produce on top of that.

Some wayward comb building

We must check the bees often to see how they are progressing across the frames. We want to make sure that they're not out growing the first box that they have now, but we don't want to put too many boxes and frames on at once because this stresses the bees to keep a constant temperature in the hive.

The dark cells on this frame are full of pollen

Until the new bees start "hatching" the original 10,000 bees we brought home are responsible for the hive, We can't expand them too soon.
 

The Canning Bee: Why Honey Doesn't Spoil KBB Post

Learn about the infinite shelf life of honey, hoe to refresh crystallized honey and much more in my latest Keeping Backyard Bees post The Canning Bee: Why Honey Doesn't Spoil 

Grit's Guide to Backyard Bees and Honey

For any of you interested in adding bees to your yard this spring, now is a great time to start thinking and planning. I bought our first hive for Zach a few Christmas' ago from Dadant, and the folks there told me I was smart to contact them in December. As spring approaches, waiting lists start forming, especially when pre-ordering the bees themselves.

To get you in the "Honey Bee" mood check out the Grit Barnyard Series Guide to Backyard Bees and Honey. It's filled with wonderful information about building hives, honey extractors and so much more. Zach and I already plan on using quite a few of these helpful suggestions come spring time.

If you already have a hive, then check out The Community Buzz section where I give some helpful suggestions for overwintering bees, page 85.  (PS the photo in the upper right corner of the page is Zach using the smoker.)

To find Iron Oak Farm's work in other places besides the blog visit our Publications Page

From Which Plant Did Your Honey Come? KBB Post

Learn how pollen and nectar collected from different plants can affect honey flavor and usefulness. From Which Plant Did Your Honey Come?

Snowed In with Food and Blacksmiths!

What do you do when you're snowed in for the weekend with two blacksmiths? .....eat of course! 

On Saturday Zach and I, and our two friends, Nate and Stacey went to a blacksmith demonstration in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The forecast predicted lots and lots of snow, but they're usually wrong so we decided to chance it.

The blacksmith meeting was really cool!

The host, Scott Lankton of Lankton Metal Design demonstrated a railing technique, and how to forge with silica bronze.

His shop was amazing, (as most blacksmith shops are) full of nooks and crannies, project ideas, tools, metal stuff, several forges and 3 Nazel power hammers.

Zach got to try out the 2 B Nazel

The snow never let up all the while we were at the meeting, and by the time we were ready to leave, we had about 8 inches.

We tossed around the idea of stopping at a restaurant for a bite to eat, but we were afraid to be out in the storm any longer than we had to. So we decided to make a quick stop at the grocery store and have diner at home.

Now, when Stacey and I are presented with the opportunity to make dinner together, we take it seriously. We both love to be in the kitchen, and she is an excellent cook! Check out her blog at Investing in a Delicious Tomorrow.

One recipe that her and Nate enjoy is spaetzle, but it's a tedious recipe without a spaetzle press. Stacey and I thought between the two of us, we could knock it out.

Spaetzle is a long, thin German dumpling, traditionally served in a gravy with breaded pork cutlet. The spaetzle dough is very sticky and is formed in a press and squeezed immediately into boiling broth. Neither of us have a press so we had to make the spaetzle by hand.

Stacey's recipe was delicious!!! We also made breaded porkchops and green bean casserole.

While dinner was cooking Nate, Zach and Oliver shoveled and salted the drive, cut paths to the barn and coop, took care of the animals and made a fire in the wood burning furnace. By the time they came in, dinner was almost done. 

Nate and Stacey decided that it was too dangerous to venture out so they stayed the night.

That night, I needed to make two pecan pies for Zach's dad's birthday party the next day. So Stacey helped. I wanted to try the Miss Kay's Recipe for Honey Pecan Pie. We decided to make one with honey and one with maple syrup. Both were delicious, and recipes are coming soon!

The next morning we woke to a winter wonderland. Zach's grandpa read that our area received 16 inches of snow.

I feel like our yard had more like 12-14, but still, it was a lot.

That morning we made biscuits and gravy.

Stacey makes the most amazing biscuits I've ever had.

Just look at those babies! They're beautiful...flaky and buttery!!!

 Served with Iron Oak Farm honey.

We made the sausage gravy with our own homemade sausage, recipe here.  
And fried potatoes.

While the weather took us by surprise, it made for a fun and delicious weekend!       

The Last Honey Harvest of the Season

Learn what to expect as far as harvest amounts with your first hive in my latest Keeping Backyard Bees post The Last Honey Harvest of the Season

Keeping Backyard Bees and Extracting Honey Without an Extractor

I'm proud to announce that I will be a Columnist for Keeping Backyard Bees! A fairly new Website by the editors of Grit, Mother Earth News and Community Chickens. Check them out for all things bee-keeping related!

I have a new post up, Extracting Honey Without an Extractor! Check it out!

Flavored Honey Goat Butter KBB Post

Learn this simple recipe that serves as a base for lots of delicious flavor combinations!

Flavored Honey Goat Butter KBB Post

Case of the Missing Queen

We opened our beehive yesterday. It was a nice warm day, over 80 degrees, so we took advantage of the weather and did a thorough inspection. The bees have been very active. We see them coming and going from the hive. I see them on early flowers around the yard and when we put an ear to the hive, it's humming with activity.

We were so glad that our bees made it through the winter.

With this much activity we expected that they might be getting ready to swarm this year. This will be their third year in that hive. Last year was our first honey harvest, as we left them be the first year. 

Zach got the smoker ready and gave a few puffs in the entrance,

lifted the roof and gave a few more puffs.

We always get an ant colony under the roof. 

We removed the top box, which didn't have much going on, which we expected because we added it late in the year last year.

The second had honey stored in the outer frames and not a whole lot going on in the middle.

There were a lot of dead bees on top of the excluder layer. We are thinking this is the result of the winter die-off, but the bees probably couldn't remove the casualties through the screen.

Frame by frame, box by box we couldn't find the queen.

Not only could we not find her, but there was little evidence of eggs being laid or brood being reared. Which was very disappointing.

So we're pretty sure she didn't make it through the winter and we now have a queenless hive.

If we had another active hive, we could take a brood frame from the other hive and introduce it to the existing hive and hopefully they would raise a queen.

But this is our only hive, so we are in search of a queen. If you know anyone in the Flint-Ann Arbor area that could sell a queen or two we'd be interested.

Here was some wayward comb building that we removed. 

We broke it open and it looked like old brood comb. The larva casing was dry and felt like paper or stiff cellophane. It's always interesting opening the hive.

We also found the remains of a mouse nest in the entrance floor of the hive. He must have holed up all winter and the bees must have kicked him out this spring.

Criss Cross Embroidered Apron

You've all heard me talk about Stacey, my pioneer partner in crime. I posted a few weeks ago about how we made work skirts together. The night we made our skirts, she changed to come and model her new masterpiece for Zach and her husband. I decided she needed an apron to finish the look, so I grabbed my white criss-cross apron from the kitchen hook, and promptly tied it over her shoulders and across her back. She looked beautiful! So feminine and pretty!

I decided Stacey must have an apron like this to wear with her skirts.

I planned on making one for her in the future.

Then the unthinkable happened!

She came over the other day and we were wading around in our pond playing fetch with Oliver. We took our shoes off and sat them on the lawn mower deck to keep them dry. (I had brought the lawn mower out to the pond to mow the paths so it would be easier to walk on.)

We decided that Oliver needed a better fetch toy, so I agreed to go get his ducky up at the house. I hopped on the mower (shoes still on the deck) and took off to get the toy.

"Well, I might as well mow the path going out from the pond while I'm at it"...I thought...stupidly.

Everything was going fine until I hit a big bump at the end of the path. Stacey's shoe bounced off the deck and I ran over it with the mower...blades going strong.

It pulverized her shoe. Cut the rubber, sliced through the fabric upper...it was terrible!

I felt horrible!

Stacey was incredibly gracious and told me not to worry about it. She refused several attempts to let me pay her for her shoe.

But I felt so guilty!

So that week I went into apron production full force. It would be my peace offering.

I took the measurements from my old apron and adjusted it a bit. Stacey's thinner and taller than I am, so I made the skirt a bit longer and added one deep pocket instead of two shallow ones.

Here's the measurements for the pattern:

Waist:              (2) 19" x 2 1/2"
Side Loops:     (2) 3" x 1"
Bib:                       8 1/2" x 9 1/2"
Skirt:                     23" x  24"
Ties:                      3 1/2" x 53"
Pocket:                 7 1/2" x 9 1/2"

I started with the bib. I put a 1/4" twice folded hem around all sides. Then I sewed a length of eyelet across the top edge.

The the ties: Each side gets folded and ironed 1/4" all the way down. Then folded in half and ironed. The end of the tie get folded on a triangle like the corner of a package, then folded in half. Pin to the sides of the bib, placing the bib in the fold. Sew the ties to the bib with a 1/8" seam allowance and continue down the length of the ties.  
 
Then I hemmed the two waist bands. !/4" twice folded. These bands sandwich everything together in the end.

Then the skirt is hemmed all around. I did a 1/2" hem to give it some body. Eyelet trim attached to the bottom.

Then the pleats of the skirt must be worked so that they line up with the waist band.

The loops are done in the same way as the ties. Fold and iron 1/4" on each side, then fold in half. Sew the fold closed.

Now I put it all together.

The waist band sandwiches all the pieces together. Place each piece between the waist bands. Waist bands should be wrong sides together.

Center the bib, skirt and fold the loops in half (creating the loop) and place between the waist bands on each side. Pin well, and sew waist bands together 1/8" seam allowance.

Hem the pocket, all sides 1/4" twice folded. Sew eyelet trim on the top. Then I folded the bottom corners of the pocket at a triangle. Sew pocket to skirt with 1/8" seam allowance all sides but top.

Embroider the bib if desired. I did a flower and Honey Bee pattern because Stacey is getting honey bees soon! 

The apron is worn with the ties over the shoulders, then criss-crossed at the back. The ties go through the loops on each side of the waist then brought to the back and tied in a bow.