Marina Marchese, owner of The Red Bee Apiary in Weston, Connecticut and Red Bee products is best known as the Accidental Beekeeper. Several years ago she wrote the book Honeybee - Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper where she documents her personal journey of quitting the high pressure of the rat-race to pursue her new-found passion. 

I first met Marina a few years ago when the small, private school that my children attended at the time began buying local honey for the students. Until then I had never had fresh, local honey and I was immediately taken at how different - how much better - it tasted. (Like home or farm-grown veggies fresh off the stand, local honey has that distinctively fresh taste.) Early that summer I arranged for a small group of mothers and children to meet with Marina and learn a little bit about bees and honey. She gave us all a mini tasting and the children rolled beautiful beeswax candles. Since then I've been watching, through social media mostly, Marina's business and her presence in the community grow. So when I was offered the chance, again, to go to her "bee farm" to see the new barn and partake in a tasting specifically for bloggers I jumped at the chance. 

Above, the new barn still awaits a few final touches, but is open and functional. On the main level is a small artisanal shop featuring all the wonderful Red Bee products and upstairs in the loft is a long community table that awaits curious honey tasters... More on that in a while. Wander into the Apiary and you'll be greeted by a dozen or so free roaming chickens clucking away, a small fenced-in garden where Marina grows her own vegetables and herbs, and of course the hives themselves command your attention. 

In front of the hives a large statue of Buddha sits thoughtfully, contemplatively, peacefully creating an immediate sense of calm. 

We learned a little bit about bees

Honeybee facts

• They are not native to our country. 
• Although bees have been in existence for more than 30,000,000 years the first bees are thought to have come to the colonies from the Mayflower. Might they then actually be WASPS? ;)
   
• There are many types of honeybees and the most popular ones are
  • German Black Honeybees, most likely the first to arrive on US soil but thought to be too aggressive and slow to build colonies in the spring.
  • Italian Honeybees (Red Bee Honeybees are Italian) are very popular in the States because they are very good honey makers and resistant to many diseases. They are now the most popular type of bee in the States. They are golden to reddish brown and tend to rob other hives while eating their own stored honey quickly.
  • Carniolan Honeybees come from the Alps and the Danube Valley and are the second most popular type of bee in the US. This breed is known to swarm and is slow to build up their combs. They are the gentlest of all the honeybees and efficient in stocking up for the winter season.
  • Caucasian Honeybees are from the Black and Caspian seas. They are gentle but tend to swarm as well .
  • Russian Honeybees originated in south Russia and is a gentle breed known for being good nectar gatherers.
     
• A honeybee has 5 eyes and a combined total of 7,000 hexagonal facets that determine movement, color and light.
• 2 large compound eyes are sensitive to movement and color while three smaller ones are sensitive to light.
• The mandible (jaw) is responsible for chewing and kneeding beeswax into honeycomb
• The proboscis is used to suck up honey and water.
• There are two sets of wings and sex legs.
• Honeybees flap 180 times per second
• Honeybees fly about 15 miles per hour
• Their wings clip back when they fly
• The back legs are hairy and these carry pollen

More Honeybee Facts

Perhaps even more important than farms and farmers are the honeybees. For without pollination, a plant cannot grow. It is the first necessary step in the fertilization process of all plants. Honeybees are responsible for pollinating more than 100 types of agricultural crops in the US including fruits, vegetables, seeds, legumes and 16 types of flower species. 

Honeybees make at least 12 foraging trips a day, visiting several thousand flowers, tempted by the bright color of the flowers and the aroma of the nectars they are rewarded with pollen. Honeybees are the most efficient pollenators as their hairy bodies attract and distribute it while foraging. The male pollen unites with the female egg inside the plants ovary. (Did you know plants had ovaries? I didn't!) Once the fertilization takes place the flower expires and drops her petals from the stem and a fruit and seed are produced. The seeds then spread and new flowers grow. 

Flowers produce nectar which the bees carry back to their hives to produce honey. Honeybees eat pollen for its protein, vitamins and fat and honey for its carbohydrates. (Red Bee actually sells be pollen specifically for its nutritional benefits.) The sweeter, more perfect fruits are those that have been pollenated.

For those who embrace sustainability, you should also embrace the honeybee. Buy local honey and eat local produce! Bee pollenation is essential to all farmers from nut growers, to cattle farmers (bees are needed to pollenate the clover that grass-fed beef live off of) which affects meat and dairy supplies as well. 

It was particularly humid day and the bees were particularly agitated and as much as I wanted to get up close and personal with my camera, I have a respect for (and fear of) the almighty stinger!  But fellow writer and blogger Andrew Dominick saw that I had the same camera as he did and offered me his zoom... So I got closer, but still not as close as I would like!

Red Bee is available in a myriad of varieties, all of which are available for purchase in her shop or online. (More on that later) But first on to our private honey tasting.  

Once we got upstairs, we were directed to a long table on which was a plate for each person with assorted fruit, cheeses and honey selections. We were given a short lesson about the different varietals, their shades and tastes. We were given samples of the following:

Linden Honey is a light tasting honey was paired with goat cheese and lemon zest. This would be lovely a thinly sliced piece of toasted baguette. 
Red Current Honey is darker, somewhat heavier and held up well when paired with blue cheese and dates
Crystallized Clover Honey spread wonderfully and was paired with apples ad tahini. All honey is supposed to crystalize. Crystallization is a natural occurrence,  and a sign of good quality. If a honey doesn't do so it has been over-processed.  
Blueberry Amber Honey was my favorite of the group and paired with blueberries and brie, a combination which in itself was purely delightful. The amber honey had a slightly robust and earthy taste to it. 
Buckwheat Honey had the strongest flavor of them all with a deep, malt-like flavor to it. 

Before pairing the honeys with the selected cheese and fruit, I did taste them on their own and was surprised to find that I did indeed note the subtle variations. 

As we all know there are many health benefits of honey and it has been touted for use as a cold remedy, cough suppressant, relief of sinus pressure and allergies, as an ointment to keep wounds and burns free from infections, for antibacterial use, for treatment of first and second degree wounds, as a digestive aid, a cleanser and a quick source of energy. Next time you think about that afternoon cup of coffee or "energy" bar, have a spoonful of honey instead!

After our tasting we were invited to put on a beekeeper's suit and head out to the hives. And since I'm always up for an adventure and really wanted a close-up shot, I gladly accepted her invitation!

Protected by the mask and the suit I was not at all nervous about the bees, even though they were slightly agitated.

What amazed me was how loud they were as they swarmed around me! The sound bothered me more than the thought of getting stung!

Does this bee suit make me look fat? (Next time I might not wear flip flops! But I walked away without as much as a single sting!)

For more on Red Bee Honey as well as her entire line of products do visit her website.
She can also be found on Instagram: @Redbee
On Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
The Bee Facts were taken from her book, Honeybee, Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper.