Grampa’s Gourmet is proud to be able to offer nucleus colonies “nucs” for sale this year.

Buy Bees from Grampa’s Gourmet

The nucleus colony is a small wooden box consisting of four frames from the original parent colony. Three of the four frames have brood in all stages, from eggs to hatching adult bees, and the entire frame set has a sufficient quantity of bees to ensure colony chores are maintained.

We are taking orders for the nucs online, and will be delivering them to downtown Denver, where the nucs will be available for pick up.

For details, see our new Buy Bees page, which we’ll be updating with more and more beekeeping related information in the weeks to come.

Also today, LA Weekly published a Q&A with Brent Edelen on it’s blog.

It’s a fairly in-depth interview and really captures the mission of Grampa’s Gourmet. Below are a few excerpts:

​Squid Ink: You’ve always been a beekeeper?
Brent Edelen: No, actually I hated it when I was a kid. My grandfather and my great grandfather were both bee keepers, and you learn quickly that it is pure hard work. I graduated in college with communication degree, doing radio production, but soon after I realized that I couldn’t stand being in an office. I knew I had to be back outside with the bees.

SI: How much of a role does a beekeeper like you truly play in how a honey tastes?
BE: I’d like to say a lot, that it is all me. [Laughs] But what’s really unique is the Southwest, not me. It’s basically giant desert compared to the Midwest and East Coast. Scarcity is what makes these honeys unique. When the flowers bloom, they’re stressed from no water, and I think they are very intense and they really produce a flavor that is more concentrated.

SI: So explain how exactly you “make” a specific varietal of honey.
BE: Well, you do have to manage the bees to keep the florals separate. That’s really all you’re doing. There are different ways. Usually it comes down to placement or timing. Like the chamiso “rabbit brush” blooms only at a certain time, so the key there is getting the other honey you’ve been making [harvested] and starting a new one right away when it blooms.

Today Grampa’s Honey got “discovered” on Treat du Jour!

I quote:

Honey is one of those indescribable miracles of nature. Thick with a glassy sheen, and sweetness and flavor unlike anything else. When honey is produced the way it should be, you get a product just like gramps used to make.

Grampa’s Gourmet was founded on the experience of generations of beekeepers. Beekeeping, and honey-making takes passion and love for the land as well as the bees. Brent Edelen, Grampa’s Gourmet’s main-man vowed to make the best honey around, using his grampa’s traditional methods.

Last weekend, Grampa’s Honey took part in the “Feast in the Field” event organized by Colorado Proud. The event paired food producer’s in the state with chefs from Denver who made a dish using the ingredients provided by the food producer. Grampa’s Honey got paired with Chef JP Krause of Westin Hotel (Downtown Denver).

Chef JP made a polish dish of a fruit Galaretka – or “jelly” in English. The galaretka itself had two sides, one with a cranberry base, and the other with an apples base. Chef JP used our Tamarisk Honey on one side, and the White Honey and Desert Wildflower on the other side.

Here’s a video of Chef JP explaining what he made:

I have to apologize to JP, I kept calling him PJ all day and did it again in the video despite my best efforts to get it right.

Below are some pictures from the event:

This month we got featured in the Cooking Light magazine! And not just a mention, they took a gorgeous photograph of our Tamarisk Honey, and  we won the annual Cooking Light “Taste Test Awards 2011” , within the “Artisanal Category“.

As you can image, we couldn’t be happier for the national recognition and it only validates what we knew all along: that based on the terroir alone, small-batch, varietal honeys deliver complex and distinct flavors worth celebrating!

Thank you Cooking Light! And thank you to Jenn Garbee, we couldn’t have done it without you!

Here’s what the page looks like:

On the opposite page, they had the Artisan Cheese Awards, and the whole two page spread couldn’t have been more perfect given our recent interest in honey and cheese pairings.

Here’s what the opposite page looks like:

Go get a copy!

This Thursday, Grampa’s Honey will be doing a honey tasting at the Mizel Museum in Denver. Below are the details.

The World of Bees and Honey

Thursday, September 15

5:30 to 7:30 pm

The new season of Salon Nights begins with The World of Bees and Honey, a presentation about beekeeping and honey making, followed by a honey tasting. Just in time for Rosh Hashana (the Jewish New Year). Yum!

Norm Klapper, Coloradoan and Israeli beekeeper, will open the evening with a discussion about the art and science of beekeeping and the importance of bees.

Next we’ll taste Grampa’s Gourmet Honey, raw varietal honeys from the San Luis Valley.

Click here to learn more and to register for this sweet Salon Night!

This weekend, in addition to our farmer’s markets in Denver, Grampa’s Honey will be at the Local Foods Festival in the Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield. Come and say hi!

Local Foods Festival

Below is more information about the event from the organizer’s website:

The exciting second annual fundraising event will highlight local, fresh, sustainable foods and products, focusing on Colorado’s agricultural heritage and culinary diversity. It will take place on Saturday, September 10, 2011 and Sunday, September 11, 2011 from 11:00am to 4:00pm both days.

The Local Foods Festival provides a fun, energetic, and inspiring atmosphere for families to learn more about Colorado food resources. Producers of local fruits/vegetables, meat, prepared foods, culinary gifts, and other items will be featured; as well as chefs from local restaurants and area farmers.

If that doesn’t sound tasty enough, the Local Foods Festival will coincide with the opening of the very popular Botanic Gardens Corn Maze, the largest of its kind in the country.

Bring the family and make a day of it!

We are nurturing some fun-filled activities and events including:

• A farmer’s market of approximately 50 vendors featuring local food, produce and homegrown gifts
• Samplings from local restaurants and chefs at the market
• A chili cook-off, featuring amateur chefs and local professional chefs
• An exclusive VIP evening event, Rhinestone Rodeo, where casual style never looked so glamorous
• A series of educational events focusing on how to prepare foods using fresh ingredients
• And much, much, more! Great events are cropping up all the time.

I was amazed when the food blogging community lit up with peanut butter pie recipes in memory of Jennie’s Mikey. So when I heard about “A Fund for Jennie”  I knew that I wanted to help in any way I could.

Grampa Gourmet Sampler Pack

To that end, Grampa’s Honey will be auctioning off our “4-Pack” of varietal honeys in which we’ll include:

Tamarisk Honey

Chamiso “Rabbit Brush” Honey

Grampa's Gourmet Chamiso Honey

Desert Wildflower Honey

Grampa's Gourmet Desert Wildflower Honey

White Honey

White Honey

Shipped to anywhere in the US

100% of the profits go directly to #afundforjennie.

Bidding starts at $50.

 To bid, just leave your bid in the comments section below.

Auction ends at August 31st, 6pm Mountain Time

Auction is now closed.

Next weekend Grampa’s Honey will be at the Denver’s 1st “Eco-Music” Green Route Festival where we’ll be highlighting a “green” side of our business we haven’t touted so far. For example, we make our own biodiesel and our honey house is solar powered. More details to come in preparation for the festival.

August 27, 2011
Green Route Festival
Noon – 11PM, RiNo Arts District in Denver
26th Street between Blake and Larimer

About a month ago, The Wall Street Journal posted a controversial editorial on the topic of Colony Collapse Disorder. The article basically said that it’s not a big deal and we (as beekeepers) are fine and there is not need to worry about pollination of our food supply.

I thought it would be fun to post the link to the article, a counter point response by Jeff Anderson (beekeeper in Minnesota) and Grampa’s Gourmet’s take as well.

Point

Here’s the original WSJ article: Blessed Are the Beekeepers

Counterpoint 1

Jeff’s response in it’s entirety (thanks to Tom Theobald for sharing):

June 24, 2011

Editor, The Wall Street Journal
1211 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036

Dear Editor:

I was at once pleased and disturbed by “Blessed Are the Beekeepers” (Rucker/Thurman OpEd, June 22, 2011). I am very pleased that the authors; “pay homage to the resilience of honeybees and to the business acumen and perseverance of commercial beekeepers.” As a migratory commercial beekeeper for 35 years who has operated as many as 5000 bee hives and as few as 1500, I say a hearty “Thanks!!!” That said, there remain several factual errors and unsubstantiated claims in the piece.

Rucker/Thurman boldly—and falsely—label Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) a ”disease.” This is an almost understandable mistake. Even some bee researchers have tried to paint CCD as a ‘disease’ similar to the other historical bee mortality events. While nearly all of the significant historic events can be traced to a SINGLE causative factor, CCD is different. Honey bees now have ‘AIDS’. One year my hives appear to die from nosema, the next a virus, the following, varroa mites and on… The one constant? . . . nearly all hive losses can be blamed on compromised immune system. Pathogens, which bees were previously able to survive, are now easily vectored and quickly tip the scales into colony demise.. Is it a strange coincidence that the new “softer” agricultural chemicals target the very P450 enzymes that insects—in fact, all animals including humans—use to process and jettison toxins from their systems?

Summarizing several other points from the article which I feel need addressing;
‘Bee supply for pollinated crops has been stable’
‘Increased cost of renting bees since the inception of CCD has been ‘modest’
‘Honey production has been stable “approximately the same in 2010 as it was in the several years before CCD”’

Contra Rucker/Thurman the cost of honey bee colonies for pollination has increased drastically since 2004. While fall of 2006 is given as the start of CCD, it is important to note that many bee operations were experiencing very high losses as early as the fall of 2004. It wasn’t until Penn State was invited to investigate in the fall of 2006 that these losses were recognized and termed CCD. CCD is used to describe colony mortality for which the cause is unknown.

In 1998 honey bee colonies for Almond pollination in CA were $40 per hive. That price remained fairly constant with an average of $50 paid in 2004. In 2005 the price spiked; $85 up to $145 due to bee shortages. The average in 2006 was $135 and this past year was about $150 per colony.

The sharp price increase in 2005 was due to a severe shortage which was covered by migratory bees from the East coast which were able to afford to make the trip to California for more than doubled pollination price. If one is to believe that CCD started in January of 2007, you can legitimately state that the increased cost of renting bees has been modest. The major price jump is the main factor in maintaining a nearly adequate bee supply.

Further, Rucker/Thurman categorically state that domestic honey production “has been stable.” This is false. National Honey Board records on the amount of honey produced in the U.S. is on a steady downward trend line. Similarly, if you take 5 year averages, over the last 15 years a disturbing pattern emerges, both in colony counts, and the amount of honey produced by each colony. Using National Agricultural Statistic Survey Numbers (NASS) averaged for 5 years

One last fact about honey according to National Honey Board figures, in round numbers 10 years ago US honey producers supplied 2/3 of the US market, today 2/3 is being supplied by other countries. Therefore, while there is no shortage of honey to supply the US market, the US produced supply is rapidly declining with the ever-increasing gap supplied by foreign countries.

The article concluded by stating, “In the meantime, we can be grateful that CCD has had no measurable, let alone drastic, effects on the availability of fruits, vegetables, nuts and honey. Beekeepers have been as busy as . . . well, as their iconic insect partners to bring this about”.

Considering my last winters 30%+ losses followed by 20% queen losses of hives I divided to recover this spring, and the fact that my crew is out today still dividing bees as I am writing this which is 2 months after we are usually quit dividing, I don’t consider abnormal bee mortality at an end yet.

You decide

Jeff Anderson
Owner of California Minnesota Honey Farms
Eagle Bend Minnesota

Counterpoint 2

Here’s Grampa’s Honey’s response:

Rucker/Thurman are obviously more concerned about presenting the article as a economic news article related to Agri-business on the wall, not as a scientific article. Jeff is correct in pointing out their blunders. I believe Rucker/Thurman wrote the article to stem fear in a particular market. The U.S. Dept. of Ag, like most federal agencies, are far detached from reality. They rely on “experts” opinions and surveys to gather data. The data rarely represents the true situation.

We as beekeepers have seen the problems since 2006. We have seen the increase in pollination and honey prices. We have also seen the weak and struggling colonies that would have never passed strength inspections in the past allowed to fill contracts.

Just as in beekeeping itself, there are so many factors at play in the beekeeping industry. This article is simply the talking heads spinning their version so that their stock in Monsanto, P&G, and Cargill doesn’t  go in the tank.

Brent Edelen
Simply Honey/Grampas Gourmet
Alamosa, CO