7 Dec

Holiday Gifts for the Gardener, Backyard Farmer, and Nature-lover!

Posted by heartofhills in Bats, Bee Keeping, Honey Bees, Mason Bees, Pollinators, The Garden, Warre Bee Hives. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , .

With the holidays approaching, everyone is looking for the perfect presents for their loved ones. For the gardeners or backyard farmers in your life, it is the perfect time to check out what Heart of the Hills has to offer. Whether they are interested in attracting new creatures to their garden, backyard, or farm, or take care of those animals already in residence, many of our products would make excellent gifts for the nature-lovers in your life. All of our products are hand-crafted with amazing care!

Our Mason Bee Houses provide important nesting space for these docile, prolific pollinators. This house and these bees would a great addition to any garden or farm! The Mason Bees will start nesting in March, so now is an excellent time to get a Mason Bee House for the gardener in your life!

Mason Bee House

Our Bat Houses provide vital shelter for these important creatures that not only manage the pests in the garden, but also play an important role pollinating crops and gardens.

Bat House Made by Heart of the Hills

And our Warre Bee Hives are an excellent gift for anyone looking to start beekeeping or even someone who has already taken up the practice. Warre Bee Hives provide a healthier environment for bee colonies, allowing the bees to build combs with greater ease while allowing beekeepers to better manage and maintain the health of their hives.

Warre Bee Hive

Check out these great gift items, as well as our other amazing products, on our website. You can also email us at HeartofHills@yahoo.com to place your order!

26 Oct

Recipe: Honey Gingerbread Cookies

Posted by heartofhills in Honey, Recipe. Tagged: , , .

3 cups flour, sifted

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp powdered ginger

1/2 tsp powdered cloves

1/2 tsp powdered nutmeg

1/2 pound butter

1/2 cup honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg together.

Cut butter into small pieces. Work butter into dry ingredients with pastry cutter or with fingers. When blended throughly, add honey and stir until completely blended.

Refrigerate dough for a minimum of 1 hour.

Roll dough out to 1/8 inch thickness on a floured board. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters of your choice. Bake for 12-15 minutes on a cookie sheet.

Let cool for one minute on cookie sheet, then cool completely on cookie racks.

Adapted from The Pooh Cook Book (Inspired by Winnie-the-Pooh) by Virginia H. Ellison, E.P. Dutton & Co. Inc, 1969. Click here to find this book on Amazon.com.

7 Oct

Varietals of Honey

Posted by heartofhills in Honey, Honey Bees. Tagged: , , .

Honey can come in a variety of flavors. The flowers and nectar available to a bee colony can affect the flavor of the resulting honey. Honey created in different parts of the country can have drastically different tastes, and certain areas of the world are known for specific varietals of honey.

Nectar collected from several sources – or a number of different flowers – the resulting honey is referred to as “wildflower” or “mixed flower” honey. But when honey is made from nectar that is 80% of the same type of flower or plant, it can be labeled as a specific variety of honey.

Though each variety of honey is made of the same elements – sucrose and water – the different flavors are due to a variety of organic acids that give each type of honey its distinct taste.

Here is a sampling of honey varieties that you may not have heard of:

  • Acacia: Hungary, Italy, France. Light in color with a delicate flavor. Good for baking.
  • Avocado: California, Florida, Chile. Dark amber color with rich, floral flavor. Nice table honey, good for pancakes.
  • Cranberry: Wisconsin, Oregon, Quebec. Medium amber color with hints of an intense, tart berry taste. Excellent with yogurt.
  • Fireweed: Washington, Alaska, Oregon. Light gold color with mild, spicy flavor. Excellent for making honey butter or as a table honey.
  • Lehua: Hawaii. Off white color with a distinct, complex flavor Overtones of butterscotch and lilies. Excellent with green tea.
  • Rosemary: Spain, Italy, France. Light amber color with fresh herbal, slightly smoky flavor. Nice in glazes for chicken and drizzled over focaccia bread.
  • Sunflower: Georgia, Italy, Spain. Pale yellow to light amber color with nutty, apricot flavor. Drizzle over yogurt or serve with fresh fruit.
  • Tupelo: Florida, Georgia. White to light amber color with floral flavor and rich, buttery texture. Nice in glazes for pork.

To learn more about honey varietals, check out these books: Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper by C. Marina Marchese (Black Dog & Leventhal, 2009) or Honey: A Connoisseur’s Guide with Recipes by Gene Opton (Ten Speed Press, 2000).

4 Oct

New Products: Add-ons for Warre Bee Hives

Posted by heartofhills in Bee Keeping, Honey Bees, Warre Bee Hives. Tagged: , , .

Heart of the Hills has some new products to upgrade your Warre Bee Hive. First, we have developed Supers (boxes) with Observation Windows. The Observation Windows give beekeepers the chance to keep an eye on their bee hive, quite literally. The inlaid, plexiglass window runs along one side of the Super, and is covered by a door with a large handle, that easily pops in and out as beekeepers need to check on the progress of their bees. A great addition when you want to see how much honey your bees have produced, or whether you need to add a new box for your bees to expand their hive. Observation Windows are also great for beekeepers who want to share the beekeeping experience with their children – an excellent way for kids to check out the inner workings of a bee hive.

Our second new product is a custom-made Varroa Screen Floor. This mesh floor traps Varroa mites (a bee parasite) as they fall off the bees when they enter the hive. The mesh keeps the mites from climbing into the hive, infecting the entire colony. A great addition to any Warre Bee Hive, to help keep your bees healthy!

For more information about these great products, check out our website, www.farmgardenandbeyond.com.

13 Sep

Featured Recipe: Honey Berry Smoothie

Posted by heartofhills in Honey. Tagged: , , , , , .

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup banana, sliced

1/4 cup frozen mixed berries (your choice of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, or blueberries)

1/2 cup plain yogurt

2 tablespoons honey (or to taste)

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Yields 1-2 servings.

Adapted from recipe found in Honey: A Connoisseur’s Guide with Recipes by Gene Option (Ten Speed Press; 2000). To find more great honey recipes and read more about honey, check out this book on Amazon.com. And find more great honey smoothie recipes by checking out Smoothie Web.

2 Sep

Upcoming Workshops: Beekeeping and Composting

Posted by heartofhills in Bee Keeping, The Garden, Warre Bee Hives. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

Friendly Haven Rise Farm is having some more workshops this September. Jackie will be teaching her beekeeping class, “Bees: the Other Way,” and there will also be classes on “Building a Compost Tea Maker” and on “Biodynamic Compost.”

Bees the Other Way – September 18th, 10 am to 4 pm, $50.00

“Learn to be a friend to bees. Beekeepers, novices and backyard bee aficionados all welcome.” Click here to read more about this class.

Build a Compost Tea Maker - September 19th, 10:30 am to 12:30 pm, $35.00

“Make a compost tea maker and improve your garden’s health.” Click here to read more about this class.

Biodynamic Compost: How the Magic Works - September 19, 1-4 pm, $25.00

“Build a legendary biodynamic compost pile, create vortexes in field sprays and apply to gardens. Bring an open heart for this approach to spiritual work in gardens and farms.” Click here to read more about this class.

To sign up for any of these classes, contact Friendly Haven Rise Farm at friendlyhaven@gmail.com or call (360) 687-8384.

30 Aug

Check Out Our Products at Pistils Nursery

Posted by heartofhills in Backyard Farming, Bats, Bee Keeping, Honey Bees, The Garden, Urban Farming, Warre Bee Hives. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

If you are interested in checking out some of our products in person, before you purchase, drop by Pistils Nursery in Portland. Found on 3811 North Mississippi Avenue, Pistils Nursery is an excellent source for all of your gardening and backyard farming needs. Not only do they provide plants and garden supplies, but according to their mission statement they “encourage and support chicken keeping, worm composting, growing your own food, and raising honey and mason bees,” and they do this through their extensive stock of supplies, knowledgable staff and excellent workshops.

For all of these reasons and more, Pistils Nursery is a great place for our products. You can not only check out our Warre Bee Hives, but also our Bat Houses and Mason Bee Houses.

For more information about Pistils Nursery, go to their website at www.pistilsnursery.com. And be sure to check out their upcoming workshops, including such topics as urban chicken keeping, bee keeping, garden design, terrariums, worm composting and vegetable gardening.

21 Aug

Attracting Butterflies to Your Garden

Posted by heartofhills in Butterflies, Conservation. Tagged: , , , .

August is Butterfly month! Butterflies, as with all other pollinators, are important to the health of any garden and farm. By planting specific plants in your garden or on your farm, not only will you be helping the butterflies, but you will also be able to enjoy these beautiful jewel-like creatures as they flit and fly.

To encourage your local butterfly species, you can plant plants for both caterpillars and adult butterflies. Caterpillars need “host plants” that they can attach their chrysalis to, so they can develop into butterflies. According to the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, “Depending upon the species, this haven could be a bush, tall grass, or piles of leaves or sticks. If you leave these features in your yard, you will encourage butterflies to stay around and drink the nectar you provide.” These host plants include: Bleeding heart (Dicentra), Lupines (Lupinus), Milkweed (Asclepias) and even Aspen/Poplar (Populus) trees.

Adult butterflies need nectar-producing plants as a food supply. Some plants that will both attract and feed butterflies are: Aster (Aster), Milkweed (Asclepias), Bee balm (Monarda), Purple coneflower (Echinacea), and Sunflowers (Helianthus).
For more plants that will attract and support butterfly species, check out the Xerces Society’s Butterfly Gardening Fact Sheet.

16 Aug

Featured Recipe: Honey Butter

Posted by heartofhills in Honey, Recipe. Tagged: , , , .

Honey is a great ingredient to use in cooking as a sweetener and sometimes as a replacement for sugar. With all the great recipes out there that use honey, we’ve decided to feature a honey recipe each month on our blog.

For our first recipe, we’re keeping it simple…

Honey Butter

1/2 cup butter

1/4 to 1/2 cup honey (to taste)

Blend ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Refrigerate until firm.


Honey Butter tastes great on muffins, scones, pancakes, and banana nut bread. To make your Honey Butter extra special, check out these Food Network recipes:

Cinnamon Honey Butter

Orange Honey Butter (and Blue Corn Pancakes)

Blueberry Honey Butter (and Grilled Corn Muffins)

15 Jul

Making a Place for Bats in Your Backyard Garden

Posted by heartofhills in Bats, Conservation, Pollinators, The Garden. Tagged: , , , .

Bat at Feeder, photo by Ken Bosma, Flickr.com

As I wrote about in Monday’s posting, bats a vital to natural ecosystem, but are also to the agricultural industry and even gardens and backyard farms. Some species of bats are key pollinators in tropical and desert areas (including in the United States), as they drink nectar helping to disperse pollen and eat fruit which helps to disburse seeds. Other bats species are insectivores who dine on many night-time insects, including many pests that eats important crops and other pesky insects.

You can help encourage bats in your area by providing them with a place to roost. Bats are good at finding food and water on their own, though nectar-drinking bats may take  a sip from your hummingbird feeder from time to time.

Bat House Made by Heart of the Hills

It is often difficult for bats to find places to roost, though. In the winter, bats will find caves and crevices and even tree cavities for hibernation. The rest of the year, though, bats need a place to roost during the day as well as to use as nurseries for their young. Bat Houses, like the ones that Heart of the Hills makes, are perfect places for bats to roost, and are easy for you to place on a farm or even in your backyard.

Once you have purchased your bat house, it needs to be place a minimum of 10 feet above the ground. You can attach your bat house to a pole, a tall tree, or even to the side of a building. When choosing a place for your bat house, be sure to choose a spot that faces to the south or southeast, where it will get morning sunlight, as well as sun throughout the day (the house should get a minimum of 7 hours of sunlight each day, beginning with the morning light).

Try to place your bat house within 1,500 feet of your bats’ water source (such as a stream or pond), so the bats will easily locate both water and food when they emerge at night. Also, try to place the house within 10 to 30 feet of trees or tall shrubs, as they will provide cover for the bats when they come out to hunt.

For more information about the proper placement of your bat house, check out the Organization for Bat Conservation website.

For more information about Heart of the Hills’ Bat Houses, click here.

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