I began jarring some of this year’s honey harvest today, partially in anticipation of the upcoming holidays, and partially to make good on a barter deal I’ve made with a local restaurant, Sutra
. They specialize in local, organic ingredients. What with my hives being less than a mile from Sutra, you can’t get much more local than Hive Mind Honey. When I explained that bees travel a mile or more to collect food, so any of their customers that live in the neighborhood will likely have nectar and pollen from their own gardens in the honey, their delight lit the room.
Sutra’s menu changes daily, offering a prix fixe format with several options for each course, so they can perfectly accomodate (and, I hope, feature) a small batch of locally produced golden yumminess.
Right across the street from Sutra is Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream, also specializing in organic, locally-sourced ingredients for their amazing and unique flavors (e.g., Balsamic Strawberry, Honey Lavender). Molly said she was willing to barter, but asked how much 10 gallons would be.
I guess when producing lots of ice cream, you need lots of ingredients, but 10 gallons is 2/3 of my yearly harvest, and, if I were to trade for it, it would be somewhere around $300 – $500 worth of ice cream, which would be a burden on my belly, to say the least. So I’m still noodling on that one.
It was interesting to see the contrast between this year’s honey and last year’s. They both have a strong, spicy taste to them, but check out the difference in color (that’s 2008 on the left and 2007 on the right). Same place, different weather, different flowers, I reckon.
