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March is shaping up to be an exciting month here in the Lone Star State! The Texas wildflowers are beginning to bloom and folks are eager to get outside and enjoy the fresh spring air. This is our favorite time of year in southeast Texas and there's no better way to relish the fantastic weather than to head out to the many festivals that have been planned. Pack up your friends and family and come see us at these fun festivals this month.  Come join us at the 2nd Annual The Woodlands Shamrock Shindig on March 17 where you can pick up your very own Lucky Lime & Sea Salt clover honey to make margarita cocktails at home. While at the festival you can sip green beer, Irish beers and margaritas! The festival includes music of the Kites Band, Metanoia, Jesse & the Midnight Peddlers, Lil' Zac the DJ, as well as Bagpipers. There'll be food from Mi Patio Grill, Wings on Wheels, Greek Squad, Kettle Express, Menchies Ice Cream, KICPOPS and more. Shop vendors of all kinds and take the little ones to the Kid's Zone with inflatables and other activities.  Join in the fun at the SoTxFEST! This is a 3-day family fun festival dedicated to supporting the local charity community. SoTxFEST has 4 stages featuring many genre from Country to Red Dirt, gospel to jazz, from funk to classical, from Cowboy to Zydeco. The festival schedules Texas musical groups and no matter what style of music you enjoy, you’ll find it at Spirit of Texas Festival. Take your choice from many food options, which includes one of the biggest and baddest BBQ cook-offs in the Brazos Valley as well as a big, bold Texas-sized food truck competition. Taste the best our state has to offer with 50 trucks serving award-winning offerings all day everyday. Find us among the vendors and take home our Fiery Sweet Mesquite honey for your meats and veggie meals at home.  You can’t miss this event! Experience music and fun at the inaugural Tribute to Woodlands Music Festival. Enjoy food trucks and the kid's zone, as well as 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and 2000’s cover bands to include: VHT-Van Halen Tribute Band, Subdivided-Rush Tribute Band, Black Dog-Led Zepplin Tribute Band, Rusted Cage-Soundgarden Tribute Band, Foo Fakers-Foo Fighters Tribute Band, Nightbird-Fleetwood Mac Tribute Band, Grey Vinyl-Creedence Clearwater Revival Tribute Band and the Fab 5- Beatles Tribute Band. We'll be sampling out our honeys so that you can decide which is your favorite to take home to drizzle on your favorite foods!
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Before Texas became a state, it was a country. The Republic of Texas was a country born out of a fight for independence, on the backs of men and women at places like Gonzales, the Alamo and San Jacinto. In 1845, the Lone Star State was born. Texans are very proud of their history. And, we at Lone Star Bee Company are very proud of our name! One of the many things that we Texans love about our state is the deep sense of pride that is shared by our residents. Texas’s pride is the result of a fascinating and dramatic history that is like no other U.S. state. One of our state’s well-remembered historical chapters occurred when Texas stood on its own as a nation; as the Republic of Texas. Texas was once an independent, sovereign country known as the Republic of Texas. The republic declared independence from the Republic of Mexico on March 2, 1836 and existed until February 19, 1846. The boundaries of the country reached far north into states known today as Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming and westward into New Mexico and the size of the Republic of Texas totaled roughly 389,200 square miles.  The first flag to represent the Republic of Texas was the Burnet Flag, which displayed a single gold star on a dark blue background. In 1839, the Lone Star Flag was official adopted and still represents the state of Texas today. A total of five presidents lead the Republic of Texas; David Burnet (interim president from March 16, 1836 – October 22, 1836), Sam Houston (first official president from October 22, 1836 – December 10, 1838), Mirabeau Lamar (December 10, 1838 – December 13, 1841), Sam Houston (December 13, 1841 – December 9, 1844) and Anson Jones (December 9, 1844 – February 19, 1846).
After 10 formidable years as a country, the U.S. Congress passed a bill allowing the annexation of the Republic of Texas on February 28, 1845. On March 1, President John Tyler signed the bill and the date for annexation was scheduled for December 29, 1845. While December 29 was the legal date of entry of Texas into the Union as the 28th state, the Republic of Texas did not formally transfer authority to the new State of Texas until February 19, 1846. February 19 is the day that Texans recognize the end of the Republic of Texas. Lone Star Bee Company was proud to support this year’s Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo by participating in one of the world’s largest gourmet food events. This past weekend at the Rodeo Uncorked! Roundup & Best Bites competition, we enjoyed visiting with hundreds of folks who were eager to taste our Fiery Sweet Mesquite honey and our Lucky Lime & Sea Salt honey drizzled on cheese and charcuterie appetizers.
We were privileged to sit alongside many of Houston’s top restaurants and culinary professionals. Local food and wine enthusiasts enjoyed dishes from 106 Houston restaurants, chefs, caterers and food trucks paired with winning wines from the 2018 Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition. It was such a great time – we can’t wait to do it again next year! We are so thrilled that Lone Star Bee Company has joined up with the VERY best grocer in Texas! As of today, our Fiery Sweet Mesquite and our Lucky Lime & Sea Salt infused honeys are now on shelves at five Houston H-E-B Grocery locations! Swing by to pick up your very own!
H‑E‑B's story began over 100 years ago in a small, family‑owned store in the Texas Hill Country. Now, H‑E‑B serves families all over Texas and Mexico in 155 communities, with more than 340 stores and over 100,000 employees. H-E-B is committed to excellence; exceptional service, low prices, and friendly shopping. No store does more!!  Each Saturday, you can find Lone Star Bee Company's honeys at Eleanora's Market held at Cavatore Italian Restaurant in The Heights (Houston, Texas) at the corner of Ella Boulevard and TC Jester Boulevard! Come see us as well as 30+ other vendors selling the most high quality produce, meats, baked goods, art, textiles, flowers and more. We’re excited to be part of this great Farmers & Artisans Market from 9:00AM-1:00PM, rain or shine!
Be sure to come back later in the evening and treat your date to a fantastic dinner at Cavatore Italian Restaurant. Giancarlo Cavatore founded the restaurant in 1983 and brought with him delicious recipes from Bologna (Northern Italy) where his parents called home. Folks come for the great Italian food and for the ambience, which includes live piano music every night. Cavatore is located at 2120 Ella Boulevard and is open Monday through Friday from 11:00–2:30 for lunch and Monday through Saturday from 5:30-10:00 for dinner. Bees spend all spring and summer preparing for a cold winter by stocking up on as much honey as they can possibly create. When winter finally arrives, bees stay dormant inside their hives at temperatures below 57 degrees Fahrenheit. They huddle closely together to keep their queen warm, at about 95 degrees Fahrenheit.
Yesterday, we inspected our hives, as the temperature in our region of Texas made it up to the low 70s. The bees were no doubt glad to have a warmup and venture outside of their boxes. And, this gave us an opportunity to see how they have been faring the past couple of months. The photos above are from yesterday's hive inspection. Click on each photo to get a great view of our bees at work. UL: Bees are stretching their legs and wings on the landing board. They are taking time to clean the inside and outside of their hive box, as it has been several days since they have had the opportunity. UR: Looking inside our hive and down at the frames, we were happy to see our bees are healthy and active. LL: Do you see the queen? She is near the middle and in the process of laying eggs. Look closely at the dark circles (cells) and you will see a tiny egg in each one. LR: This is the result of the bees' hard work from the past spring and summer; beautiful capped honey for the bees to continue to eat for the remainder of winter. Mark and I truly enjoy our hobby as beekeepers! Whenever we can find time to escape the hustle and bustle of the big city, we make a two hour drive to the Texas countryside to tend to our eight hives. A couple of days ago, we checked in on our bees and found them very busy preparing for winter. The colonies are very healthy with hive boxes full of honey.
With shorter days, bees anticipate winter. To prepare, they have created all of their honey stores to last them for several months. Soon, the outside temperature here in Texas will begin to fall into the upper 50s, and the bees will remain inside their hives. They will gather toward the center of the hive box and create what beekeepers refer to as a “cluster”. They gather tightly together with one goal in mind; to keep the queen warm. To do this, the bees flutter in a constant motion and work hard to reach a core temperature of 95 degrees Fahrenheit. This constant motion requires a lot of energy and that is why it is important for the bees to have plenty of honey going into the winter months. So it is plain to see how important it is that as beekeepers, we are certain the bees' honey stores are in good shape before the winter season arrives. We've tinkered around with our infused honeys as fun ingredients in many cocktails, but Joe and Michelle, from Houston, Texas, came up with the best cocktail yet! This is a new twist on an old recipe that you must try. See how easy and fun it is to become a mixologist at home! Thanks for sharing, Joe and Michelle!  Bee-Haw! You can now find our delicious infused honeys on the shelf at a wonderful olive oil and vinegar shop at Fort Worth's Sundance Square. The Virgin Olive Oiler is located at 416 Commerce Street, offering the freshest certified extra virgin olive oils from around the world. Shoppers have a chance to enjoy a trendy and fashionable culinary experience of many fresh and flavorful selections. The Virgin Olive Oiler offers customers complimentary samplings of their tasty oils and vinegars. If you ever find yourself in Fort Worth, a visit to Sundance Square is a must! Located in downtown Fort Worth, Sundance Square is home to dozens of shopping, dining and entertainment options. Forty-two buildings, both historic and modern, make up the complex totaling over three million square feet of retail and office space. Brick streets line the trendy shops and a large entertainment plaza allows for a very inviting place for live music, theater, arts, and fitness. Sundance Square is a perfect fit for The Virgin Olive Oiler and we are thrilled to have our honeys available alongside their savory olive oils! We had a fabulous time at the International Bacon Fest in Houston this past weekend! Highlights of the event included Bacon Bros Public House’s amazing bacon inspired foods, as well as Buttz Food Truck that specializes in smoked pulled pork sandwiches. Some passersby drizzled our delicious and spicy Fiery Sweet Mesquite honey on their meals (we love it when that happens)! The food was amazing…so many intoxicating flavors floating in the air!
Others that joined included Wokker Texas Ranger Food Truck, Shucking Corn, Texas Beer Bus, Grandma’s Boys Lemonade, Doughmaker Doughnuts, Small Batch Pork Rinds, among others. And the music was a great mix…super cool! Bow Legged Monkey, DJ Wild Boi Jake, Texas Joe Bailey and Blaze X Black. We can’t wait to come back next year! |
