Mango Wine and Mango Ginger Melomel

Besides being busy and totally consumed with soap making I have also finished bottling the mango wine that has been fermenting over the last year. The wine turned out beautiful, very floral to the taste with mango undertones. We back sweetened the wine before we bottled it, the final specific gravity was 1.002 (very dry), 1.008 (medium) and 1.012 sweet. I prefer the sweeter version and find it very refreshing. I have enjoyed several bottles and have given several to family and friends.



My husband and I also bottled the Ancient Orange Mead which also turned out very good. I love my labels.



Last Sunday we made a Melomel which is Mead made with fruit. We decided on Mango Ginger. I have frozen mangos from my yard. I used approximately 12 lbs of mango and 15 lbs of honey from my hives and fresh ginger. Right now we are having a little bit of difficulty with the fermentation and questioning the original specific gravity. I added a little more honey today. Hopefully it will turn out ok.



When making wine or mead patience is a definitely a virtue, this fermentation process takes time sometimes up to a year.

Busy as a Bee!

It has been a really long time since I updated my blog. In February my responsibility for work increased with the launch of Apixaban. There has been very little extra time for writing my blog. Since mostly only myself and family read my entries I figured it really didn't matter that much. I have been really busy lately using the by-products from my yard and my bees so I thought I would give a little update as to what is happening around the yard. I feel like a busy little bee and I have accomplished many projects over the last few weeks. I think it is time I sit down and blog about them.

First of all, the yard is a mess again, very over grown! My new yard guys aren't afraid of the bees but they don't do any maintenance. I really haven't worked in the yard at all. It is just too hot and rainy. Mostly I haven't because the bees have been really irritable because of the heat and rain. This is also the time of year where my hives expand exponentially. I now have 5 hives. I made a split early in the season and all hives are doing very well. The bees are extremely aggressive. I was working the hive one Sunday and when I lifted the bar I immediately had bees sticking to my veil. I have to take breaks from them to let them settle down. They have actually followed me up to the back door. I wish I lived in another part of the country where it was cooler and the bees did not have Africanized genetics, but then there would be other issues like drought, and cold. I think if I wasn't allergic to the bees I wouldn't care but I always need to be cautious. My epi pen and phone are always by my side. I think that this fear is actually preventing me from working in my yard and procrastinating working in my hives. One weekend recently I got stung about 10 times while working the hives. The hives are quite large and the bees are extremely irritable. My mentor wonders if the bees are sensing that I am stressed when I work the hives and that they are picking up on my emotions! I have been trying to bee more Zen like while working the hives and bee at one with my bees. Last weekend I only got stung one time through the glove.

Last year I made my first attempt at making lip balm using my beeswax and honey. I decided to try to perfect my recipe. I also thought that maybe I could make soap with my honey and beeswax. I have so much honey comb in bags in the freezer I have no more room to put anything else. I really need to render the wax and use it in something. That something could be soap and other products. What got me started on this kick was someone was asking for a recommendation for handmade goat’s milk soap. I recommended Megan Paska from Brooklyn Homesteader. I first became aware of Megan Paska when I watched a beautifully made video of her beekeeping. It totally inspired me and I have been following her blog ever since. Megan had a blog about her handmade goat’s milk soap. She was kind enough to share it with me. I have totally been bitten by the idea of making soap and other product that would utilize my honey and beeswax.



I have been totally consumed with the idea of making soap. It allows me to use many of the by products from my yard and hive and be creative at the same time. I have made a few batches of soap since then. My first was a recipe I found on www.thenerdyfarmwife.com. It was a honey and oatmeal soap and was made with olive oil, coconut oil, honey and oatmeal. I did fragrance the soap with lavender and tea tree essential oils. All of the ingredients were organic and natural. I think for my first attempt at soap making it turned out pretty good.



Making soap is both an art and a science. The science, Saponification is when you take a fatty acid (oil) and base (lye) mix them together (saponification) and make a salt (soap). The art is the ability to use my creativity in putting together recipes and then designing ways to make the bars a work of art. I am not really that experienced yet to be too creative but that will come over time. I have been reading several books, watching YouTube videos, and actually went to Jacksonville, Florida to take a Soap Making 101 Boot Camp at the Green Lotus Studios. http://www.greenlotusstudios.com/index.html. It was a great weekend as I spent it with a friend that many years ago made soap. She was also excited to make soap again as it had been many years. We had a great time and made two different bars of soap. Besides enjoying the soap making we totally enjoyed each other’s company.

The second batch of soap I made was a Calendula Soap. My husband suffers from psoriasis. I wanted to make a soap that might help his skin. I infused Calendula petals in olive oil in the sun. I also used a calendula tea that I infused in the sun. Instead of using water to mix my lye I used the calendula tea. I incorporated both the oil and tea in my soap. This is a great example of using flowers from my garden and incorporating them in my soap. The soap turned out so pretty. I colored it naturally with Red Palm Oil.



I am hoping it helps my husband’s skin and improves his psoriasis. I also made a goat’s milk and honey soap. It turned out so beautiful. The trick with working with goat’s milk is soaping at very cool temperature. I froze the goat’s milk so that when I mixed it with the lye it would not burn. I kept the temperature below 85 degrees. That required putting the goat’s milk and lye in an ice bath. Normally when you soap with lye temperatures can reach 200 degrees. I put honey is some of the soap mixture and kept some plain. Honey is also a sugar and will accelerate trace and darken the soap. You can see the difference in the color from the top of the soap to the bottom. The soap is now much darker on the bottom that contains the honey and fragrance oil.



Lastly I made Peppermint Chocolate Lip Balm. I infused the Sunflower Oil with peppermint from my garden. I bought a bar of Theo chocolate which is fair trade, certified organic and non GMO. I used beeswax and honey from my hives, castor oil, mango butter, and peppermint essential oil. The lip balm turned out very nice.



I would really like to become an expert at making soap, and other products i.e. body butters, bath salts etc. I love to cook and this is kind of like creating a recipe but for a different purpose. I love the idea of using products from my yard and using them in creative ways. I am going to continue to study and learn the art of making soap. Maybe someday I will open a small business selling my soap and other products I receive from my yard.

Some Very Interesting Articles on Bees

There have been several interesting Scientific Articles around bees lately that have made the news. The first was published in National Geographic Magazine on February 21, 2013, and the second in Ars Technica, on March 7th.

National Geographic Article: Bees Can Sense The Electric Fields of Flowers

Article: Plants make bees remember them using a caffeine boost

The article is very interesting it seems that there may be electrical fields around flowers that actually attract the bee to the flower. This may be more of an attractant that the actual color or shape of the flower. Flowers may be more than just a source of color and scent to bees. I can tell you from my own experience that the bees in my yard are definitely more attracted to purple flowers. The electrical field may actually be telling bees when a flower was last visited. Most flowers have a negative charge and a bee is able to change that charge. Sparks don’t fly but pollen does. The electrical field may actually be telling the bee when the flower was visited last. The better the electrical field around the flower the more the bee will visit that flower and enhance pollination. Many animals can sense electrical field such as sharks, but this is the first time that scientists have discovered sense in an insect.

The second article has to do with Caffeine and bees. It seems that some plants such as Coffea and Citrus produce nectar that contains caffeine. We all know what effect caffeine has on neurons. Seems that bees have similar neuron type cells and caffeine actually improves long term memory in bees and they will revisit those flowers that contain the caffeine nectar.

New Year Gardening Rules to Live By

Well it is almost the end of January! It always amazes me how quickly time flies. I saw this picture posted on FaceBook at the beginning of the New Year and really liked it. I wanted to post it several weeks ago and now look it is January 21, 2013 already. Good thing I didn’t make “not to procrastinate” as one of my New Year’s Resolutions. I typically do not make New Year’s Resolutions because I think you set yourself up for failure. I did however make a few personal resolutions this year and so far I haven’t been very good at keeping them. I guess that is human nature.

Let’s hope I can be more successful at keeping these gardening resolutions. Actually, what caught my eye when I saw this post on Facebook is that I feel that I accomplished several of these in my gardening adventures last year. Maybe you can think about adapting some of these to your garden routine this year.

Start a Compost Bin: Starting a compost bin is so easy all you need is yard debris, and food scraps. Anyone can do this. I wrote a blog about this on October 14th. My bin is doing well and I compost all of my food scraps and yard debris. I tried putting in some Red Wiggler Worms but they disappeared. I just cannot seem to be able to vermicompost for any length of time here in Miami. But at least I am composting my food scraps and feel very good about lessening my carbon load on this earth. Everyone can do their part to help the environment and composting is just one way to do that. I am going to give one more last ditch effort to vermicomposting using a new method. http://www.orderworms.com/main.sc. I will keep you posted in the next few weeks using this technique.

Install a Rain Garden: Not really sure about this one but living in Miami in a tropical environment I think qualifies as a Rain Garden. Especially since last year we almost broke a record for the most rain in one year since 1959. I think we needed about 2 more inches of rain. There was so much rain last year. I was hoping that our weather patterns would change a little this winter but so far in 2013 we have just set a record for the most consecutive days in January about 80 degrees. Our winter was very warm last year as was most of the country.

Plant More Natives: I think that everyone knows how I feel about this resolution. Most of the plants in my yard are Florida Natives. Remember that native plants adapt to your ecosystem more quickly, are more pest tolerate, require less water, and attract pollinators and animals to your yard. I literally just went out to my garden to take a few pictures of some native plants and was able to enjoy the benefits, such as all the pollinators that are attracted to these plants. Here are a few pictures that I just took.

Build an Edible Garden: I am really pleased with my edible Bio-sustainable Square Foot vegetable garden. This was something I have wanted to accomplish for some time and I am really pleased with the results. More importantly, I have really enjoyed the vegetables and herbs that I have harvested so far from the garden. I look forward to reaping the rewards from my garden as many of the plants have not yet reached maturity.

Use Natural Pest Solutions: Well this is never an issue for me as I try never to use any pesticides in my yard. I will use a natural solution made from dish detergent and vegetable oil. Sometimes I may use Neem Oil but that is about it. Using Native plants that are more pest resistant is a great idea also.

Be More Water-wise: Well considering that we in Miami almost broke a record for the most rainfall since 1959, I really did not have the need to water. Planting natives to your area will also help because native plants do not require as much water. Also if you recall, I installed a drip irrigation system. That system saves a tremendous amount of water and I have it set for every 2 days for approximately 30 minutes. My garden is thriving very nicely.



I hope these gardening Resolutions help and give you some ideas on how you can improve your garden in 2013!

Happy New Year!

Well it has been some time since I last entered a blog. I apologize to my followers (which are mostly my family). Hopefully someday that will change, and I will actually have a true following. Life seems to have been taking up most of my time since Thanksgiving. It started with one of my sugar gliders being injured the night before Thanksgiving. For those of you that don’t know I also breed sugar gliders. They are marsupials, and I have been breeding them for several years. Prior to breeding them I had several as pets. I actually got my first sugar glider around 2000 for my youngest child Drew, who saw their picture in a reptile store. Being an animal lover I thought it would be a great pet, and soon found out that my then 5 year old son was way too young for a sugar glider. I fell in love with them and years later started breeding. Breeding can be difficult at times especially when the female sustains a mating wound, which is what happened to Tulip on Thanksgiving. She was ready to have a joey any day which really complicated the situation. The mating wound was in a very bad location. The wound was on her chest close to the patagium, which is the thin area of skin which extends from the fifth finger to the first toe. This membrane of skin allows the sugar glider to glide in their natural habitat. With the joey being so close to being born this was a terrible situation. Sugar gliders have a tendency to self mutilate. I took her to the vet and they performed surgery to clean up the wound. We debated putting her in an e collar to protect the wound. This meant she was not able to care for the joey. So for the next month or so I have been caring for not only the mother, but also the joey. This meant hand feeding every 2-4 hours around the clock. It has been a very long month and I have to say that I am exhausted. The good news is that the mom’s wound has healed very nicely and the joey is up to 26-28 Gms. There were several times that I was concerned for both of them surviving. I am including a picture of the mom and her wound and the joey. The wound is graphic and not for the squeamish.



To complicate the situation my mom had to have surgery, and since I am a nurse, I always take care of my mom whenever she has had to have surgery, which has been many times over the years. She has survived 3 primary cancers which is unbelievable. We joke that she has more lives than a cat. Her surgery went without complication and her recovery was quick. She turned 85 years old on December 23rd. Happy Birthday Mom!

Between those two situations and three of my four children home for the holidays I have had very little time to garden. The holidays for me are filled with tradition. My ancestry is both Italian, and Irish. Most of my traditions are based on my mom’s Italian heritage. That means lots of cooking during the holidays. I usually make a big pot of spaghetti sauce on Christmas Eve. The tradition is for “Seven Fishes” which is spaghetti sauce made with 7 different types of fish, but I have changed it to a nice delicious pot of spaghetti sauce. The children have grown to love and expect many of my traditions. Here are several pictures of my family and some of the food associated with our holiday.

I also decided to knit many of my Christmas presents this year. I made several hats, Afghans, baby blankets etc., which really took most of my time. With all four of my children living in the Northeast I thought it was time to put my knitting skills to the test and knit them some things to keep them warm in the very cold weather.

Thank goodness that the garden and bees are doing well. A couple of weeks ago I went into the bee hives and again consolidated the combs for winter which gave me about 8 jars of honey to harvest. The hives were pretty free of pests which was one of my main concern the last few times I went into the hives. Most of the hives looked stronger; there were no ants and a few small hive beetles present. I took away any extra comb so the bees did not need to protect unnecessary space. My fifth hive which is my brood box and my best laying queen I found with several uncapped queen cells. The old queen was still present which had me confused but I left the queen cells and hopefully the next time I enter the hive there will be a new queen. As a new beekeeper I have not experienced this situation yet. There is always something to learn as a beekeeper.

My square foot garden is growing but not as quickly as I would like. I staked some of the tomato plants for support. I have several flowers and small tomatoes on a few of the plants. The heirloom Cherry tomatoes have been slow to grow but are finally starting to make some progress. It was really nice during the holidays to be able to use several of my herbs and arugula in many of the meals that I made for my family



The next project for the garden will be building the trellis for the garden to grow vertically. The cucumbers, zucchini and cantaloupe will need support to grow. Since there is no room for the garden to grow horizontally a vertical trellis will be necessary.