Aunt Patty’s Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Sometimes you need to whip up cookies in a pinch for a last minute party or company event. This easy recipe takes about 18 minutes start to finish and is a hit around our house!

Optional:

Instructions:

  • Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease cookie sheet or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
  • Blend coconut oil, egg, water and full pouch quick bread mix together in medium bowl until dough forms, hand kneading if necessary. Add chocolate chips and nuts as you blend.
  • Scoop dough by rounded tablespoons, roll balls into coconut flakes.
  • Bake 8-10 minutes or until light golden brown around edges. Cool cookies 5 minutes before removing from cookie sheet. Makes 24 cookies.

Sustainable Gifting

Following the tenements of reduce, reuse, recycle, and rethink, sustainable gift giving is easy. Prevent packaging, wrapping, and broken junk from entering our landfill, and save money by giving thoughtful and useful gifts.

Reduce by giving items that need little or no wrapping. Trips to the zoo or the symphony, or Organic and Fair Trade certified treats need little to no packaging or wrapping.

Reuse means it can be used again and again, and will not break down or go out of fashion by January. Learn more about signing up a loved one for a community supported agriculture program by clicking here.

Recycled gifts could come from the thrift store, local charities, or your own closet.

Rethink: What is needed, what is desired and what will last?

Go Organic and Fair Trade or Rain Forest Alliance Certified; teas, chocolates, honey, and roasted nuts make a delicious gift that can be enjoyed and shared.

 

Australian Blue-Banded Bees are Heavy Metal Fans?

Some very interesting (and amusing) video from RMIT University in Melbourne Australia.

Researchers used high speed video to capture how Australian blue-banded bees pollinate flowers compared to other bees. Turns out they head-butt flowers at around 350 times per second! This head-butt action in turn releases the pollen.

This unique pollination from the blue-banded bee helps pollinate at least 30% of the crops in Australia.  Check out the video below:

According to the paper that was published in Arthropod and Plant interactions journal, the Australian blue-banded bee is more efficient at buzz pollination than its north American cousin, the bumblebee.

The important question from all of this: Who did it better?

waynes-world

 

Make Your Own Herbal Shampoo

Have you ever thought about making your own shampoo? We make it easy to do with this three ingredient recipe that is easily customizable. Simply choose the essential oils that are right for you to create stress relieving, calming or invigorating aromas!

Consider gifting your personalized shampoos to friends and family this holiday season. Homemade gifts are a unique and thoughtful way to show someone how much you care.

Ingredients:

Directions: 

Mix shampoo base with essential oil. Add gel tone colorant a few drops at a time, mixing until you like the color.

Pour into bottles of your choice and enjoy!

Coconut Macaroons

Ingredients:

Directions:

  • Combine the sugar, honey, egg whites, vanilla and salt by beating with a hand mixer for 2 minutes.
  • Add the coconut and refrigerate for 1 hour.
  • Using a small scoop(about 2 inches in diameter) or a heaping teaspoon, form into balls, spacing 1 ½ inches apart.
  • Gently flatten each ball.
  • Bake at 325° for 9-10 minutes until edges are begin to turn golden.
  • Cool completely.

School Garden Project – GloryBee Work Party

Yesterday morning, some of our bolder GloryBee employees traded in their work clothes for rain coats, boots and muddy work gloves, and headed down to volunteer for another work party with the School Garden Project. Our “adopted school” garden at Fairfield Elementary School was in need of some TLC, and we were eager to jump in and help.

School Garden Project Work Party Dec 2015

Despite the storm that rolled in, bringing our party to an abrupt stop, we were able to accomplish nearly everything that we set out to do. We would like to extend big thank you to those dedicated employees who continually participate in our volunteer events to engage with our community. We would also like to thank all other volunteers, near and far, who take the time to help make our world a better place.

HUGE Bee Swarm

We've seen some big swarms in our day, but *nothing* compared to this. According to the photographer, it was about 6 and half feet long and about 3 feet tall. It had two queens inside as well!

Whats the biggest swarm you've seen? Let us know in the comments.

Huge Bee Swarm

Source: Imgur via Greentotoro

Tea Tree Salve

With cold weather descending across the United States, dry and cracked hands are a fact of life. In addition if you’re working out in the yard, it’s easy to get scratches and dings on your hands. This Tea Tree Salve recipe is great for all-purpose use on blemishes, small cuts, scratches and even insect bites. In a pinch, you can also use it as a hand lotion or lip balm!

Tea Tree Salve

Melt beeswax in a double boiler. Add oil. Beeswax may solidify; if so, just wait and stir a bit. When liquid, remove from heat and add essential oil. Mix thoroughly and pour into a jar.

Aunt Patty’s Gingerbread Cake & Whipped Coconut Cream

Prep:
35 mins: 15 min. for prep, Bake for 20 min.
Makes 9 servings

Ingredients

Directions

Combine egg, sugar, molasses, butter and water; mix well. In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, ginger and salt; add molasses mixture. Beat until well mixed. Pour into a greased 8-in. square baking pan. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until cake tests done. Serve warm with whipped coconut cream.

WHIPPED COCONUT CREAM

Prep: 10 mins. Makes about 2.5 cups

Ingredients

1 13 oz Jar of Aunt Patty’s Organic Creamed Coconut

¼ - ½ Cup Aunt Patty’s Organic Sweet Agave Powder

½ tsp pure vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Chill coconut cream in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, chill a large mixing bowl 10 minutes before whipping.
  2. Place hardened, refrigerated coconut cream in the chilled mixing bowl. Beat for 30 seconds with a mixer until creamy. Then add vanilla and agave powder and mix until creamy and smooth, about 1 minute. Taste and adjust sweetness as needed.
  3. Use immediately or refrigerate. It will harden and set in the fridge the longer it's chilled. Keeps up to 1 to 2 weeks

Melt and Pour Soap

Homemade soap is one of the easiest DIY projects that creates a simple and personalized final product. Choose your favorite ingredients and scents, and then all you have to do is melt and pour.

Ingredients:

Directions:

  1. Cut soap base into 1' square blocks and melt in a double boiler or the microwave (if you use the microwave, heat in 30-second increments, mixing between heating sessions).
  2.  Remove from heat and add skin-safe essential oil or fragrance oil to your liking. A good rule of thumb is to start with 1 tsp of fragrance/essential oil for every 16 oz of soap base you use, and go from there. Be careful not to over-use fragrance, or the soap won't solidify properly.
  3.  Add a few drops of gel tone colorant* and mix; add more drops until you achieve the desired level of color.
  4.  Pour into molds and let cool. After a few hours, the soap should be ready to pop out of the molds!

*You can also get creative by adding spices, seeds, etc to the soap. For the dark reddish soaps, we use Aunt Patty’s Turmeric Powder!

Videos:

Step One

Step Two:

Step Three:

Motorized Apiaries

We sell motorized extractors in our factory store, but these mobile apiaries from Romania take motorized beekeeping to a whole new level!

Interesting idea and it might be a bit easier than loading and unloading hundreds of hives when moving locations for different crops.

What do you think? Let us know some potential upsides and downsides in the comments section.

Motorized-Apiary-1

Motorized-Apiary-2

Motorized-Apiary-3

Motorized-Apiary-4

Source: Imgur via Beekeeping Reddit.

Giving Tuesday

On this Giving Tuesday, we would like to highlight 12 of the many non-profit organizations that GloryBee and our employees want the world to know about! We strongly believe that stewardship and social responsibility are among the most fundamental elements to making our world a better place, one kind act at a time.

With the holiday season upon us, we encourage all of you to give back in any way you can, as we will continue to do. Our 12 Days of Giving begins today, and we will be actively seeking help for the organizations, and more.

School Garden Project

Eugene Mission

Operation Freedom Paws

Relief Nursery

Save the Bee

Food Corps

FamilyWorks

Habitat for Humanity

Food for Lane County

Veterans Moving Forward

A Family for Every Child

Anna Banana Milk Fund