Free Beekeeping eBooks for your Kindle or other Device

Amazon has several free beekeeping  ebooks for you kindle or other device right now. If you don’t have a kindle you can download one for free for your pc from Amazon. They offer one for your mac , plus they also have apps for your smartphones, tables, and cloud reader
Mysteries of Bee-Keeping Explained by Moses Quinby
The Beekeeper’s Digest: Recipes and Formulas by Deborah Dolen
Bee Hunting by John Ready Lockard
The Life of the Bee by Maurice Maeterlinck
These ebooks usually have a limited time where they are offered for free, so you should hurry to get the ones you want!
                (photo from Suburban Stone Age)
Herbal and Honey Hugs to all who visit Comfrey Cottages xx

Free ebook – Early History of Bees and Honey

This book, by Mr. William Carr, was written in 1880, is a treasure trove of ancient authors and their writings and thoughts on bees and honey.

                       image from WikiMedia Commons

Enjoy!

Herbal and Honey Hugs to all who visit Comfrey Cottages xx 

 

Travels in Blood and Honey

I just finished reading the book Travels in Blood and Honey – becoming a beekeeper in Kosovo by Elizabeth Gowing.

I have followed her blog, One Hundred Days of Honey, for awhile. On it she shares lots of recipes which include honey or reviews of honey. ( I should snap on this idea and offer to review peoples honey if they would like to send a sample;-) ) Anyway, after reading this book, next time I am reading and commenting on her blog, Elizabeth will be a very real person to me. She shared so very deeply in her book and I have a new found deep respect and admiration for her!

I have wanted to read the book and just recently found it at the bookstore. I was mesmerized right away.Not only is it a wonderful story of a beginning beekeeper,  this is special, she starts keeping them in Kosovo, where she takes language lessons to be able to communicate with the locals. And not just one language mind you, but two, Albanian and Serbian! Her husband gave her a hive as a birthday present. The hive was on the land of a beekeeper who lived in the country outside of Pristina, where they lived. Elizabeth paints such magical description of her interactions with the beekeeper Adem and his family. Throughout the book is her stories of meeting both Albanian and Serbian beekeepers, interlaced with many other stories of her daily encounters and volunteerism in this unique land.  I would like to meet Elizabeth! I would venture to guess that most people would not strive to understand and immerse themselves so thoroughly in a culture where they knew they were not going to be living for long. She does just the opposite! Besides taking language lessons and learning beekeeping, she strives to really understand and connect with the people she meets and to learn the history and culture of the area. She starts many cultural and community ventures including, but not limited to, setting up venues where locals may come and sell their homemade goods, such as honey and needlework. This lady thoroughly immersed herself in this new temporary homes culture and her stories will make you have a real flavor of the area!

From this book I learned so much about Kosovo and its history and its future. It has a rich, diverse, sometimes tragic, violent history, but also a beautiful, hopeful future. The picture Elizabeth describes is of a generous, hospitable peoples, with a delicious food culture! Intermixed throughout are lots of recipes and cooking techniques that make one long to try and create them at home! This book should appeal to history buffs, foodies, armside travelers, beekeepers, and anyone else who just enjoys a wonderful non-fiction read:) I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed it! And Elizabeth herself… I just have so much respect for her courage, honesty, integrity and ingenuity, besides her writing style is quite engaging!

Herbal and Honey hugs to all who visit Comfrey Cottages xx

Books about Bees, Earl update

I would like to recommend these two books.

Robbing the Bees, by Holley Bishop is just a must read! Holley writes engagingly about the history and lore of beekeeping, along with her own personal experiences and  delicious recipes, this is just a honey of a read:)
Following the Bloom, by Douglas Whynott. Necessary read to fully understand the subject of migratory beekeeping. The book is an excellent, interesting read.
( I have to admit I do not condone modern mono crop farming and the necessity of migratory beekeeping, (at least not done the way it is now).  Big subject for me to even touch on modern farming methods….could get on my soapbox, but if you are reading this, I am preaching the choir anyway, so just read the book. You will be better informed on the subjects….)
Right, so off to the apothecary

My little kitchen/apothecary corner for things that need shook daily:) Decanting a yarrow/calendula spray.

My children Michelle and Tommy and their families, gave me a gift of money intended for herbal things for my holiday present. I was able to order, several extract tinctures I have been wanting to try and some more tools for the apothecary. I had luckily found one little metal funnel at a flea market earlier this year, and so ordered one to give to Eric. The little dispensary cup with pouring lip is just what I needed! I used it several times today while mixing up different herbal remedy recipes:) 
Look how handy the dispensary cup and metal funnel are for filling bottles


So, I spent a part of the day mixing and bottling this and that for the herbal first aid kit I am working on . Notice the jar of vinegar in the above photo. Do you remember when I shared with you about making our own apple cider vinegar? Well, that is some from our first batch, Eric took the  second batch with a Mother, to start the process at his house also. I just realized, it is time for me to strain off the one that is working in the crock now and then start my fourth batch of apple cider vinegar! Yea! For me, it is a lot about sustainability. I love it when I am able to use ingredients that I don’t have to buy. Not only for my pocket books sake, but because of saving those carbon footprints:)
 
 I am a candy cane nut, especially when they are corn syrup free, with no artificial colors or flavors. Good for the tummy and nice to have wee ones suck on when distressed and needing treatment from the first aid kit. Take their minds off things, you know;-)
Another look at the dispensary cup




Did you notice the cool 3 spout cup Eric gave me? I have probably already shown you this! lol I just love it so:)

Good news, Earl is acting his old self now:) Who knows what was wrong the other day?! Just grateful he seems fine now. Thank you for all your wishes and prayers for his recovery, they helped!! xx
Thank you for visiting Comfrey Cottages xx

Falling in Love with Bees

A few friends have expressed an interest in bees lately, so I am inspired to show you a bit about how I started keeping bees. I guess it all started with this little darling honey pot my mother gave me about 12 years ago…

Not long after that she gave me this cute little honey bear wind chime..

Yes, that is a little indoor “clothesline” type of affair, under the chime. I use it to hang straining cloths, tea balls and other things to dry and be handy to grab:) The chime and the line both hang over my kitchen sink.

These two gifts made me start noticing bees more. The more you notice bees, the more you see and I started collecting a few more bee decorated things and then… my brother Eric gave me these two books

 

Sue Hubbell’s Book of Bees, is an excellent book to learn more about bees, and keeping them.  Her book A Country Year, chronicles a year in her life and talks extensively about what  it entails keeping bees, throughout the year.  Her style of writing  is homey and warm and makes you want to know her and start keeping bees! lol

I will be adding more post about beekeeping. I just wanted to get you started with a couple of excellent reads on the subject. You know if you are already interested, bee fever has already struck and it is just a matter of time until, you too will just take the plunge:) I suggest you try to find a local beekeeping organization and go to a meeting. Eric and I started going to meetings and meeting local beekeepers before we got our first hives. Great way to learn more and have a network. Most of the folks that are in our beekeeping group, ended up joining the herb group we formed. I will tell you more about our beekeeping group soon:)

Big herbal and honey hugs to all who visit Comfrey Cottages