GloryBee Blog

Essential Oil Blends for the Holidays

With the business of fall –school, outdoor sports games, and even the holidays (yes, they’re just around the corner), aromatherapy is a wonderful stress management technique. By simply inhaling blends of essential oils, we feel that stress can be eased. You can even be taken back in time to a favorite memory – like the time you went on an invigorating hike with a friend, or even back to your Grandmother’s kitchen while she baked your favorite cookies. Below are a few of our tried and true recipes to try yourself.

You can practice aromatherapy several ways but the recipes below are designed to be used with an aromatherapy diffuser.

Wood Walking
4 drops frankincense
4 drops spruce needle
4 drops cedarwood - Himalayan

It Is Well With My Soul
2 drops lavender
2 drops sweet orange
1 drop geranium
1 drop clary sage

Quick – guests are coming!
3 drops bergamot
2 drops geranium
3 drops lavender

Sinus Wellbeing
10 drops peppermint
10 drops eucalyptus

General relaxation
10 drops lavender
10 drops bergamot

Clean kitchen, clean mind
10 drops lemon
10 drops rosemary

Calming and Soothing
5 drops geranium
5 drops lavender

Wild Rice Dressing with Candied Pecans

Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away! You heard right, it'll be here faster than you know it. Let the GloryBee family take some stress out of the day by providing a few recipes that we know will tickle your taste buds and please the crowd at your table.

Enjoy one of our new recipes - Wild Rice Dressing with Candied Pecans. It's an excellent whole grain substitute from standard bread based dressings. It has a simple yet wonderful flavor that is the perfect accompaniment to any roast bird. Cheers!

Ingredients

2 Cups wild rice
1 tsp fine sea salt, divided
1 Cup pecans (chopped and toasted)
3 Tbsp Aunt Patty’s® Coconut Sugar
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 Medium leeks (cleaned and sliced)
12oz mushrooms (cleaned and chopped)
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary (minced)

Directions

Bring 4 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add rice and ¾ teaspoon salt, lower heat to a simmer, and cook, covered, until rice is tender, about 50-60 minutes. Drain excess liquid, if needed.
To a small saucepan over medium heat, add pecans, sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt, and 1 tablespoon water. Cook, stirring, until the sugar is melted and coats the pecans, 3-5 minutes. Pour pecans onto a parchment-lined baking sheet to cool.
Add oil to a large skillet over medium heat. Add leeks and cook, stirring, until softened, 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and rosemary and cook until softened, 5 minutes more.
In a serving bowl, stir together rice, leeks, and mushrooms. Taste and season with more salt if needed. Top with candied pecans.

Top 3 Take-Aways From The B Corp Champions Retreat

Talk about amazing! We just got back from the 2016 B Corp Champions Retreat in Philadelphia. So many fantastic people all gathered together to discuss innovative ways to use business as a force for good in the world.

GloryBee has been a certified B Corp (what is a B Corp?) since January 2016, and we were super-thrilled to participate in our first retreat.

Here are our top 3 take-aways from the B Corp Champions Retreat:

We are excited to participate in the first-ever B Corp Call To Action: the B Corp Inclusion Challenge. The purpose of this call to action is to create change for the better, changing ideas into action, fear into hope and creating prosperity for all who live in our community.
We are so proud to be a part of the vibrant B Corp community of businesses! B Corps represent a wide variety of business sectors, including our fellow natural food and beverage companies like Ben and Jerry’s, Guayaki, King Arthur Flour, Lotus Foods, Numi Tea, New Seasons Market, A to Z Wineworks, Yogi Tea, KeHE Distributors and many, many more! Find a B Corp here.
We want to be B Corp ambassadors, encouraging other businesses in our community to become certified B Corps—or at least aspire to “be like a B Corp”. If you’re a business thinking of becoming a B Corp, please feel free to reach out to us.

Be the change in the world you wish to see, or as we say here at GloryBee—Bee the Change!

Slow Cooker Cranberry Sauce

With November in full swing, we wanted to provide a few of our tried and true Thanksgiving recipes. Many recipes call for refined sugar, but did you know you can substitute honey? We recommend using 2/3 cup-3/4 cup honey for every 1 cup of refined sugar. For the recipe below, we use California Orange Blossom honey – the sweet citrus notes make it a perfect match to use.

Ingredients

2lbs fresh cranberries
1 large orange – zest and juice
2/3 cup to ¾ cup honey
½ teaspoon salt
Spice to taste preference – cinnamon and clove

Directions

1. Rinse cranberries and then place in slow cooker.

1. Zest and juice 1 large orange. You can peel the zest or grate, whatever you’d prefer.

1. Stir honey and fresh orange juice together. Pour over cranberries in slow cooker.

1. Cook on high for 2 ½ hours, stirring at least once an hour.

1. Turn off slow cooker, remove lid and allow cranberry sauce to sit for at least 15 minutes to cool.

Serve either hot or cold. Enjoy!

Local Traditions Unite Communities

Hundreds of years ago, grain mills and single-room school houses could be found in almost any community. They were life-centers for families-- providing, food, employment and education to local residents. Sadly, over the years, authentic stone grist mills faded away to larger corporate milling operations—and local schoolhouses were replaced by State school systems. Communities began to lose local gathering places and now people connect less frequently with their neighbors.

Camas Country Mill is bringing local tradition back to the Willamette Valley!
Camas Country Mill started in 1952 and is operated by the Hunton family of Junction City, Oregon. In 2011, in an effort to grow grain for the local and regional market, they opened up a traditional stone grain mill—the first grist mill in the Willamette Valley in the past 80 years! Stone milling grinds the whole grain kernel, resulting in a natural whole grain flour which retains all of the inherent nutrition of the grain.

Saving History
With their stone grist mill productively grinding away at local grains, Camas Country Mill made another impact in their community when they stepped up to preserve a piece of local history—they saved a historic schoolhouse from demolition and transported it to their farm’s property. What once was an eyesore of peeling paint and rotting wood was soon revived to its former beauty.

Gather around the Table
A single-room school house and a stone mill—The Willamette Valley is reclaiming its heritage thanks to Camas Country Mill—the only thing we’re missing is the food… Wait! No we’re not. Camas Country Mill has opened up their Schoolhouse Bakery. Fresh baked bread, lunch and sweets-- all made from freshly ground whole grains and enjoyed in the ambiance of the historic little schoolhouse. It’s really amazing food; be sure to visit if you’re in Lane County.

A Partnership of Vision
GloryBee’s commitment to use business as a force for good in our community requires us to seek out business partners who share our vision for a sustainable future. We are proud to work with Camas Country Mill to make our local community a happy and healthy place to live.

Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

Did you know the average American consumes an average of 22 pounds of ice cream per year? Don't judge us! For those who like to make their own ice cream, we’ve come up with a fun seasonal recipe – Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream. Try adding crumbled graham crackers or chocolate chips to the mix if you’d like. Just make sure you make enough to share!

Ingredients

14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
4 tablespoons pumpkin puree
½ teaspoon Aunt Patty’s vanilla extract
½ teaspoon Aunt Patty’s organic ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon Aunt Patty’s organic ground ginger
2 cups of heavy whipping cream

Directions

In a large bowl, whisk together sweetened condensed milk, pumpkin puree, vanilla and all spices.
In a second bowl, beat the heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form. It’s easy to use a mixer for this process.
Gently fold the whipped cream into the condensed milk/spice mixture until fully incorporated.
Pour into a freezer safe container. A loaf pan works great as it’s easier to scoop ice cream when done. Freeze overnight.
Serve and enjoy!

Habanero Honey Chicken Biscuit Sliders

Believe us when we say these sliders taste as good as they look. Simple to prepare ahead of the big game, and easy to pack for a tailgating win. Enjoy!

Ingredients

10-12 chicken tenderloins – seasoned with salt & pepper, grilled.
12 cheddar cheese slices
1 cup of mayonnaise
2 canned chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, minced to a paste (about 1 tablespoon), plus 1/2 teaspoon adobo sauce
Bread and butter pickle slices
12 biscuits (we like this Aunt Patty’s Recipe but use what you like!)
GloryBee Gourmet Habanero Honey

Directions

Grill chicken thighs – cut in half when done to fit on the biscuit.

In a small bowl, mix chopped chipotle chilies, adobo sauce and mayonnaise. Spread chipotle mayonnaise on split biscuits. Drop a dollop of habanero honey on the bottom biscuit half. Top each biscuit with chicken, slice of cheddar cheese, pickle chips. Serve immediately to your guests!

Spiced Pear Punch

Fall is in the air! When you have an opportunity to entertain, enjoy the tastes of the season with a punch. You can't go wrong with the flavors of pear, cinnamon and ginger in our delicious and simple to make Spiced Pear Punch. Perfect on it's own, or you can enjoy as a cocktail mixer with your favorite shot of bourbon too. Cheers!

Ingredients

6 Cups (48oz) pear nectar
1 Cup GloryBee® Raw Honey
1 Tbsp ground ginger
1 Tbsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
6 Cups (48oz) club soda
Cinnamon sticks, for serving

Directions

In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 cups pear nectar, honey, ginger, vanilla, and cinnamon until the honey is dissolved.
Add mixture to a punch bowl and stir in remaining 4 cups pear nectar and club soda.
Serve over ice, garnished with cinnamon sticks, if desired.

Fair Trade- Putting People over Profits

October is national Fair Trade Month. GloryBee is taking action by spreading the word about the importance of Fair Trade. We believe the future of our planet and the people on it matter. We’re proud to be part of the Fair Trade movement to help ensure decent living and working standards for everyone and create justice in our global supply chain.

Fair Trade Guarantees

Payment of Fair Prices
No child, forced or exploited labor
Workplace non-discrimination
Safe working conditions
Environmental Sustainability

You may notice there are numerous Fair Trade labels, certifications and organizations to choose from. We recommend you do these three things before purchasing a fair trade product:

Read Labels: Not all fair trade products are the same. Check out what percentage of ingredients in the product are actually Certified fair trade.
Research the Brand: Learn which companies impact the local communities where they operate and purchase from.
Look for all-in commitment: Notice any certifications or membership organizations the product displays. Be careful if a product says “Fair Trade” but is not certified or part of a membership organization.

Want to learn more? Visit fairworldproject.org

Top 3 ways to prevent wax moths

freezeIt takes eight ounces of honey for bees to make one ounce of comb wax. That’s a lot of honey that the bees could have used to feed the hive or stored for later use. If frames of drawn comb are added to a hive it requires less work for the bees, and ultimately, provides more honey for the beekeeper come extraction time. Don’t discard your frames of drawn comb at the end of summer-store them over the winter for use next year.

WARNING: Without proper storage practices, your drawn comb frames will most likely be rendered unusable by invasive wax moths.

Wax moths are winged insects that will damage your comb and woodenware if precautions are not made to prevent their intrusions. Healthy hives of bees can manage wax moths on their own, but frames stored outside the hives are prime real estate for wax moths to take up residence. A sure sign of a wax moth infestation is web-like cocoons covering your frames.
When storing your frames of drawn comb, there are three things you should do to ensure the frames are able to be used come next spring:

1. Freeze your frames: Extreme cold will kill wax moth larvae. Place your frames in a plastic bag and place in the freezer for two days before storing over winter.

1. Light and Ventilation: Wax moths prefer small dark places. Storing your frames of drawn comb in well lit areas and providing maximum ventilation creates a hostile environment for wax moths. If you store your drawn comb frames in supers, make sure they are placed in adequate light and there is ample space between supers so air can flow freely.

PDB: Traditional moth balls are made with chemicals that can harm bees and humans. PDB (para-dicholorobenzene) is a safe crystalline treatment available for use when dealing with wax moths. Stack your supers about five high and place a sheet of newspaper on top. It may be advisable to tape up all cracks between supers to ensure you have created a properly enclosed fumigation chamber. Place the PDB on top of the newspaper and put on a top cover. When spring arrives, make sure to air out PDB treated frames for a couple of days before adding to hives.

Don’t let wax moths destroy your bees’ hard work of drawing out comb. Utilize safe storage practices and help those bees make honey happen faster!

Layered Pumpkin Melt & Pour Soap

As the weather outside gets cooler, it’s the perfect time to turn up the heat, melt some soap and make festive fall pumpkins. Just alternate colors and scents and custom make a variety of unique pumpkin soaps to celebrate the autumn months. Being mindful of the temperature of the soap is critical, so be patient as you wait for the bottom layers to harden. New layers should not be too hot or they will melt the layers beneath them. These pumpkin soaps are great for party favors or for Halloween and Thanksgiving decor.

INGREDIENTS & SUPPLIES

3 lb Translucent Glycerin Soap Base
Gel Tones: School Days Orange and Slicker Yellow
Essential Oils: Sweet Orange, Lemon, Clary Sage
Soap Slicer
Pumpkin Cookie Cutter
Metal Cookie Sheet with a Lip Around the Edges
Rubbing Alcohol (In spray bottle)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cut translucent glycerin soap into 1 inch cubes with a sharp knife or our soap slicer. Melt 1 lb in a double boiler or a glass bowl in microwave – about 30 seconds at a time until melted.

1. When melted, add each fragrance (.2 oz ea) and colorant: orange (6 drops) and stir. Add more if desired.

1. Slowly pour into cookie sheet. Spray rubbing alcohol over the top. This will eliminate the air bubbles and help adhere the layers together.

1. While this layer is setting up, repeat steps 1-3 using the yellow colorant this time.

1. When the yellow layer is setting up, repeat steps 1-3 using the orange colorant again.

1. Once all the layers are set up, but still warm, use the cookie cutter to press through the three layers of soap. Repeat until you have cut out as many as possible. Be sure to cut close to each other in order to get as many pumpkins as you can.

Once all shapes have been cut, turn over cookie sheet allowing molded soap to come apart from unshaped soap. Re-melt the excess soap and pour into another soap mold or if you have a smaller cookie sheet, cut more pumpkins. These will not be layered but will be scented and decorative.

Cinnamon Honey Butter

Nothing is better than butter on a warm homemade biscuit – we’ll agree. But we’ve found a way to make the experience even more tantalizing for your taste buds. Try adding honey and cinnamon to the butter – you’ll never want to eat a biscuit another way!

You can also use this as a quick and easy gift for friends. Multiply batch as needed, store in 4oz canning jars in the fridge.

Ingredients

½ cup organic unsalted butter (room temp)
2 tablespoons GloryBee Wildflower Honey
½ teaspoon Aunt Patty’s Pure Natural Vanilla Extract
½ teaspoon Aunt Patty’s Organic Cinnamon

Directions

Cream butter in large mixing bowl. Add cinnamon, vanilla and honey. Mix until well blended. Serve with warm biscuits, rolls or even a piece of toast. Enjoy!