Honey, Hives & Bees

 When we are in Savannah, I like to make a point to stop by the Savannah Bee Company's store located on historic River Street. We have watched the company from its inception- from the very first experimental hive on Oatland Island to the well-represented brand it is today. One of my favorite things about Savannah Bee Company- is the passion they have for what they do... whether honey, mead or hives.

On our last visit, a casual comment about reading Narnia and a quick question about what our nearest alternative to mead would be resulted in an in depth lesson on the history of mead as well as the process of making it from the knowledgeable guy at the mead tasting bar. It was an impromptu field trip...which are the very best kind...and we left with Mulling Spices, which we were advised are the nearest alternative sans alcohol content.




 On this particular trip, we found ourselves near the factory/headquarters location on Wilmington. Between the observation hive and the extremely knowledgeable gal at the front desk, we learned a lot about bees. As she described to us how gentle bees are (they are misunderstood!) and described for us the habits of the hive living in the store observation hive, her fondness for the bees was touching.

Did you know (we didn't)  that when a new queen is born she is heralded by an audible sound called piping? It is said to be a G sharp or A flat note. Long tones called tooting and short tones called quacking are used in different arrangement to communicate with worker bees.

Check it out: 

Watch a queen bee hatch: