As part of the "In it For Good" campaign, New Seasons Market, GloryBee and Bee Local have partnered to create two hives on the roof of the New Seasons Happy Valley store. Watch this short video to learn about the installation of the hives and our efforts to help fight colony collapse disorder.
GloryBee Celebrates Earth Week by Cleaning Garden at River Road Elementary
In celebration of Earth Week, over 26 GloryBee employees took time out of their day to volunteer with the School Garden Project of Lane County. The employees helped clean up a beautiful garden at River Road Elementary. Weeding, pruning, raking, and tilling, GloryBee employees helped get the garden in working order so that students can learn important lessons in science, math and cultural history.
The School Garden Project of Lane County serves more than 30 K-12 schools in five local school districts. Since 2006, The School Garden Project of Lane County has supplied tens of thousands of healthy plant seedlings to local schools and education centers. Dedicated volunteers help schools maintain gardens through the summer, assist with their education programs, and coordinate nursery projects. Click here to learn more or donate your time.In celebration of Earth Week, over 26 GloryBee employees took time out of their day to volunteer with the School Garden Project of Lane County. The employees helped clean up a beautiful garden at River Road Elementary. Weeding, pruning, raking, and tilling, GloryBee employees helped get the garden in working order so that students can learn important lessons in science, math and cultural history.
The School Garden Project of Lane County serves more than 30 K-12 schools in five local school districts. Since 2006, The School Garden Project of Lane County has supplied tens of thousands of healthy plant seedlings to local schools and education centers. Dedicated volunteers help schools maintain gardens through the summer, assist with their education programs, and coordinate nursery projects. Click here to learn more or donate your time.
GloryBee Provides Homes for New Seasons Newest Workers
Things are abuzz at New Seasons Market. Today, the activity was on the rooftop as the Portland-based grocer introduced colonies of honeybees to hives placed on the roof of its Happy Valley store.
Aware of the honeybee’s plight and decrease in populations, New Seasons Market wanted to be part of the solution by raising bees and educating customers. This social, well-ordered team of team of 50,000 workers will forage for nectar and pollen, and produce honey, which will eventually be available in stores.
“As a kid, I grew up with bee boxes in my back yard, tending bees and harvesting honey, and many of New Seasons’ staff have worked on farms or their parents were farmers,†said Mark Feuerborn, manager of the Happy Valley New Seasons Market. “The rapid decline of honeybees concerns us all, and it’s a problem for our growers and local gardeners. We want to make sure our favorite foods can still make it to the table, and this gives us new way to support local growers.â€
This project is already a team effort: another example of how New Seasons works with local growers. The hives were donated by New Seasons Market’s longtime partner GloryBee, known for its continued dedication to educating and inspiring new beekeepers and as a supplier of high quality beekeeping equipment and supplies. Two nucleus hives, or small established colonies, came from local apiary Foothills Honey in Colton, Oregon and were installed by veteran beekeeper Damian Magista, owner of Bee Local. James Fitzpatrick, a New Seasons Market staff member who works at the Happy Valley store’s “Solutions†counter, is an amateur beekeeper and will work closely with Magista. Through this partnership, Fitzpatrick will earn his master beekeeper certification.
“Bees are gaining popularity in populated areas, which is great because they generally do really well there,†said Magista. “It’s really exciting to see a local business being proactive and making an impact on the honeybee community and the ecosystem.†Through daily observation and a bee-cam, the New Seasons team will watch the bee boxes closely and, assuming the colonies thrive, will install two additional hives at another store this spring.
Click here to read more about the New Seasons Hives
Bees Final from Generator on Vimeo.
Things are abuzz at New Seasons Market. Today, the activity was on the rooftop as the Portland-based grocerintroduced colonies of honeybees to hives placed on the roof of its Happy Valley store.
Aware of the honeybee’s plight and decrease in populations, New Seasons Market wanted to be part of the solution by raising bees and educating customers. This social, well-ordered team of team of 50,000 workers will forage for nectar and pollen, and produce honey, which will eventually be available in stores.
“As a kid, I grew up with bee boxes in my back yard, tending bees and harvesting honey, and many of New Seasons’ staff have worked on farms or their parents were farmers,†said Mark Feuerborn, manager of the Happy Valley New Seasons Market. “The rapid decline of honeybees concerns us all, and it’s a problem for our growers and local gardeners. We want to make sure our favorite foods can still make it to the table, and this gives us new way to support local growers.â€
This project is already a team effort: another example of how New Seasons works with local growers. The hives were donated by New Seasons Market’s longtime partner GloryBee, known for its continued dedication to educating and inspiring new beekeepers and as a supplier of high quality beekeeping equipment and supplies. Two nucleus hives, or small established colonies, came from local apiary Foothills Honey in Colton, Oregon and were installed by veteran beekeeper Damian Magista, owner of Bee Local. James Fitzpatrick, a New Seasons Market staff member who works at the Happy Valley store’s “Solutions†counter, is an amateur beekeeper and will work closely with Magista. Through this partnership, Fitzpatrick will earn his master beekeeper certification.
“Bees are gaining popularity in populated areas, which is great because they generally do really well there,†said Magista. “It’s really exciting to see a local business being proactive and making an impact on the honeybee community and the ecosystem.†Through daily observation and a bee-cam, the New Seasons team will watch the bee boxes closely and, assuming the colonies thrive, will install two additional hives at another store this spring.
Click here to read more about the New Seasons Hives
Bees Final from Generator on Vimeo.
Listen to GloryBee’s Alan Turanski on The Wake Up Call
Our Vice President Alan Turanski was recently interviewed by The Wake Up Call Morning Show hosted by Rob Holloway and Bill Lundun. They discussed how you can get started beekeeping, Colony Collapse Disorder, Bee Weekend, and more. You can listen to the interview below.
Alan’s Bee Chronicles – Colony Check – All is Well!
My eight year old son joined me to check on our three hives as the weather was sunny and warm enough to check on the queen and the brood. It had appeared over the last 30 days that all three hives were in good health but I wanted to find out for sure. The intention was also to possibly rotate the upper super below as during winter the queen can tend to lay brood in the upper box only where it is warmer. With John helping me gently smoke the bees I was happy to find in the queen in the first hive which was a swarm hive I caught last spring and see that she was laying eggs in the upper section and had capped brood in both the lower and upper super. The honey and pollen stores looked good and there were no signs of mites, nosema, or American foulbrood.
We opened up our second hive to find similar results. We saw the queen, signs of freshly laid eggs and capped brood in both the upper and lower brood chambers. Again the honey and pollen stores looked good and there were no signs of mites, nosema, or American foulbrood. I did get stung on my foot so John took over removing the frames from the hive and putting them back in. He was so gentle with the bees at one point I heard him say to an injured bee “bee down, come here little bee I will help you”. I think he is a bee whisperer at the ripe old age of eight.
Unfortunately, we ran out of time to full inspect our third hive but the signs of a healthy colony were there. I am extremely excited about the health of my bees and believe some of the reasons for success were vinegar and sugar syrup feeding in the fall along with Api Var, plenty of honey and pollen stores for overwintering, dry sugar feeding during the winter. The bees just look so amazingly healthy I am going to have to watch them so they do not build up too fast or I may have swarming tendencies and need to split. My eight year old son joined me to check on our three hives as the weather was sunny and warm enough to check on the queen and the brood. It had appeared over the last 30 days that all three hives were in good health but I wanted to find out for sure. The intention was also to possibly rotate the upper super below as during winter the queen can tend to lay brood in the upper box only where it is warmer. With John helping me gently smoke the bees I was happy to find in the queen in the first hive which was a swarm hive I caught last spring and see that she was laying eggs in the upper section and had capped brood in both the lower and upper super. The honey and pollen stores looked good and there were no signs of mites, nosema, or American foulbrood.
School Garden Project of Lane County
As part of Aunt Patty’s Social Initiatives commitment, we are inspired to donate 1% of annual retail sales to “Healthy Living” initiatives. Aunt Patty’s was founded on Pat Turanski’s (co-founder of GloryBee Foods) belief in feeding her family healthy meals using alternatives to refined sugar. With childhood obesity rates increasing almost exponentially, we feel strongly about teaching our children the value of growing healthy food and eating nourishing meals.
Therefore, we are extremely excited to announce our support of the School Garden Project of Lane County.The School Garden Project is a 501(c)3 organization that helps Lane County schools create, sustain, and use onsite gardens by providing resources, professional consultation, and educational programming. They are committed to a future in which school garden education helps children become healthy adults who eat their fruits and vegetables, know the basics of growing food, and contribute to a thriving community.
The School Garden Project of Lane County serves more than 30 K-12 schools in five local school districts. Their educational programs introduce students to the fundamentals of gardening while naturally conveying lessons in science, math and cultural history.
Since 2006, The School Garden Project of Lane County has supplied tens of thousands of healthy plant seedlings to local schools and education centers. Dedicated volunteers help schools maintain gardens through the summer, assist with their education programs, and coordinate nursery projects.
Aunt Patty’s is proud to support such a unique and important program and we look forward to growing our relationship with The School Garden Project of Lane County.As part of Aunt Patty’s Social Initiatives commitment, we are inspired to donate 1% of annual retail sales to “Healthy Living” initiatives. Aunt Patty’s was founded on Pat Turanski’s (co-founder of GloryBee Foods) belief in feeding her family healthy meals using alternatives to refined sugar. With childhood obesity rates increasing almost exponentially, we feel strongly about teaching our children the value of growing healthy food and eating nourishing meals.
Therefore, we are extremely excited to announce our support of the School Garden Project of Lane County.The School Garden Project is a 501(c)3 organization that helps Lane County schools create, sustain, and use onsite gardens by providing resources, professional consultation, and educational programming. They are committed to a future in which school garden education helps children become healthy adults who eat their fruits and vegetables, know the basics of growing food, and contribute to a thriving community.
The School Garden Project of Lane County serves more than 30 K-12 schools in five local school districts. Their educational programs introduce students to the fundamentals of gardening while naturally conveying lessons in science, math and cultural history.
Since 2006, The School Garden Project of Lane County has supplied tens of thousands of healthy plant seedlings to local schools and education centers. Dedicated volunteers help schools maintain gardens through the summer, assist with their education programs, and coordinate nursery projects.
Aunt Patty’s is proud to support such a unique and important program and we look forward to growing our relationship with The School Garden Project of Lane County.
Keep an eye out for Aunt Patty’s New Trucks
To our Pacific Northwest customers: Keep an eye out for our newly rebranded Aunt Patty’s delivery trucks!
Aunt Patty’s began in 1983 with her popular blackstrap molasses and today, her brand has grown to encompass even more high quality items, carefully selected organic and non?GMO baking ingredients for our do-it-yourself cooks.To our Pacific Northwest customers: Keep an eye out for our newly rebranded Aunt Patty’s delivery trucks!
Aunt Patty’s began in 1983 with her popular blackstrap molasses and today, her brand has grown to encompass even more high quality items, carefully selected organic and non?GMO baking ingredients for our do-it-yourself cooks.
GloryBee Wins Premier Employer Award
GloryBee was recently awarded the NWFPA/Hitachi Foundation Premier Employer Award. Read the award article below or download the attached PDF at the bottom of this entry to see the original.
GloryBee- Cultivating excellence in the hive
GloryBee attributes its long-term success to two key factors: the relationships in builds with its employees, customers and community, and high-quality products it produces that are supported by excellent customer service.
Practices
Rigorous hiring process: A rigorous and extensive hiring process helps ensure that the company hires employees who are a good fit with their culture.
Onboard and Retention programs: All new employees regardless of position or pay go through a comprehensive onboarding and training program.
Career Coaching and Promoting From Within: A focus on career coaching and promoting from within the organization help employees reach their fullest potential.
Employee Recognition: GloryBee’s employee application program recognizes employees’ contributions on everything from safety to healthy living.
Results: GloryBee is committed to the satisfaction and growth of its employees. 50% of supervisors and managers have been promoted from within the company. GloryBee’s employee engagement initiatives have driven higher productivity and quality and improved customer service. They believe their resiliency during the down economy is a direct result of their employees.
“Our ability to contribute and give back within the hive and externally is a direct result of our employee success” – Richard Turanski, Founder.
Think you have what it takes to join the hive? Our current open positions are listed here.GloryBee was recently awarded the NWFPA/Hitachi Foundation Premier Employer Award. Read the award article below or download the attached PDF at the bottom of this entry to see the original.
GloryBee- Cultivating excellence in the hive
GloryBee attributes its long-term success to two key factors: the relationships in builds with its employees, customers and community, and high-quality products it produces that are supported by excellent customer service.
Practices
Rigorous hiring process: A rigorous and extensive hiring process helps ensure that the company hires employees who are a good fit with their culture.
Onboard and Retention programs: All new employees regardless of position or pay go through a comprehensive onboarding and training program.
Career Coaching and Promoting From Within: A focus on career coaching and promoting from within the organization help employees reach their fullest potential.
Employee Recognition: GloryBee’s employee application program recognizes employees’ contributions on everything from safety to healthy living.
Results: GloryBee is committed to the satisfaction and growth of its employees. 50% of supervisors and managers have been promoted from within the company. GloryBee’s employee engagement initiatives have driven higher productivity and quality and improved customer service. They believe their resiliency during the down economy is a direct result of their employees.
“Our ability to contribute and give back within the hive and externally is a direct result of our employee success” – Richard Turanski, Founder.
Think you have what it takes to join the hive? Our current open positions are listed here.
Alan’s Bee Chronicles – Feed supply for my Hives
I've been waiting for a sunny day to check the feed supply for my three hives. It's important to make sure that your hives have enough to eat if their winter stores are running low.
Thanks to the nice weather here in Oregon over the past few weeks, I was able to add some granulated sugar to my hives so they had enough to eat. I was lucky to have my 8 year old son John join me for the process! We had a great time checking up on the hives and giving our friends a bit of food during the lean winter times.
For those who are wondering what type of Hive setup you see in the background, it’s a deep super with windows. I like this hive setup because the window allows you to see the bees moving between the frames. If you're interested, you can purchase it here. Even though we're still in the depths of winter, it’s never too early to start planning for colony exapnsionI've been waiting for a sunny day to check the feed supply for my three hives. It's important to make sure that your hives have enough to eat if their winter stores are running low.
Thanks to the nice weather here in Oregon over the past few weeks, I was able to add some granulated sugar to my hives so they had enough to eat. I was lucky to have my 8 year old son John join me for the process! We had a great time checking up on the hives and giving our friends a bit of food during the lean winter times.
For those who are wondering what type of Hive setup you see in the background, it’s a deep super with windows. I like this hive setup because the window allows you to see the bees moving between the frames. If you're interested, you can purchase it here. Even though we're still in the depths of winter, it’s never too early to start planning for colony exapnsion
Fizzy Bath Bombs
Ingredients:
1 Cup Citric Acid
2 Cups Baking Soda
3 TBSP Carrier Oil of your choice
Spray Bottle with Water
Fragrance Oil
Colorant
Soap or Applique Molds
Instructions:
In a large mixing bowl; mix citric acid and baking soda with a whisk. Add colorant, fragrance oil, and carrier oil, mix thoroughly to break up clumps. Spray mixture with a little bit of water at a time. The mixture is ready if the batch sticks together when squished. Put mixture into molds, pack them as much as possible and wait a few minutes. Flip mold over and tap out molded bombs onto a smooth surface.
Tip: The harder you pack the mold, the more dense, heavy and durable the bomb will be.
They are now ready to add to your bath. Relax and Renew!
Smooth and Silky Body Powder
1 cup organic cornstarch
1 cup arrowroot powder
Fragrance oil or essential oils
Skin-Safe Glitter
Instructions: In a large bowl, mix cornstarch and arrowroot powders together. Add a little fine skin-safe glitter if you'd like a sparkly powder. Add 25-30 drops of fragrance oil or essential oil and mix VERY thoroughly so that all of the oil is evenly dispersed throughout the powder.
Using a homeade paper funnel, pour into powder shakers or other desired containers. Enjoy!
Bee Chronicles by Alan – Working the Bees
The main purpose of working the bees today was to attempt to weaken the packaged bee hive and give it more space while in turn strengthening the swarm hive. First I swapped locations for these two hives so that the field force of the packaged bee hive would end up going into the swarm hive in its new location improving its population. I then got into the swarm hive, and noticed right away that they had built some supersedure cells (because they had such a weak queen) and I removed those cells.
I looked to see if they had released the new queen, which they had. I looked further to see if she had started laying eggs and the good news was that she had laid eggs. I removed three frames, checking as I went to make sure the queen was not in them. As I was checking, I knocked as many bees off the frames as possible back into the hive and set them aside. I looked into my top brood chamber box of my packaged bee hive and looked for three frames with capped brood. I swept bees off of those back into that hive and moved the frames into the middle of the swarm hive's brood chamber. This accomplishes two things, the first being giving the swarm hive a head start on some brood and the second is to give the packaged bee hive more space to lay brood and hopefully not swarm.
I noticed that in only four days the swarm hive had gone through three quarters of the inside feeder. I'll need to fill the feeder up in the next couple of days and start preparing another deep super as an eventual addition. This could be in as soon as one week. I also took a quick check on my hive from last year and you can see from the picture of the capped brood that things looked good.
The main purpose of working the bees today was to attempt to weaken the packaged bee hive and give it more space while in turn strengthening the swarm hive. First I swapped locations for these two hives so that the field force of the packaged bee hive would end up going into the swarm hive in its new location improving its population. I then got into the swarm hive, and noticed right away that they had built some supercedure cells (because they had such a weak queen) and I removed those cells.
I looked to see if they had released the new queen, which they had. I looked further to see if she had started laying eggs and the good news was that she had laid eggs. I removed three frames, checking as I went to make sure the queen was not in them. As I was checking, I knocked as many bees off the frames as possible back into the hive and set them aside. I looked into my top brood chamber box of my packaged bee hive and looked for three frames with capped brood. I swept bees off of those back into that hive and moved the frames into the middle of the swarm hive's brood chamber. This accomplishes two things, the first being giving the swarm hive a head start on some brood and the second is to give the packaged bee hive more space to lay brood and hopefully not swarm.
I noticed that in only four days the swarm hive had gone through three quarters of the inside feeder. I'll need to fill the feeder up in the next couple of days and start preparing another deep super as an eventual addition. This could be in as soon as one week. I also took a quick check on my hive from last year and you can see from the picture of the capped brood that things looked good.