Sweet Honey Wine

The thing that I love most about setting up
at farmers markets is meeting new people who, like us, have a hobby that has gone wild.

We are not dedicated market growers like many
of the vendors, our business is landscaping. Our fruit orchard is more of a hobby business, being too many trees for even an extended family, but
not so many that it requires full time attention.

At the markets we set up at, I think about half the
vendors fit into our category; people who work
other full time jobs (for security and insurance), but love growing things and want to live in a
more natural world.

At the Bucyrus Lil' Farmers Market we became friends with Bill and Kathy Beebe. This was as easy as can be because they are about the most likable people I've ever met. The Beebes are appropriately named because they are bee keepers, as well as having a menagerie of animals, large veggie, flower and herb gardens. Their business is Bebee's Bees.

Last fall, Bill bought apple cider from us. Like his bees, Bill is a busy kind of guy and decided to make mead.

I first heard of mead in "Robin Hood", as it was the favorite drink of Friar Tuck. The only thing I knew about mead is that it is made from honey.

When we went to buy bee supplies from Bill (who also has a bee supply business), he gifted us with a bottle of the mead he had made.

I like the taste of it...for me it is a "sipping drink", very relaxing. But what I like more is the fact that it was made by a friend using his honey and our cider. Now that, folks, is about as local and organic as it gets!

Jim pretty much sticks to drinking beer, so I shared the mead with my social media mentor and now good friend, Violeta Chinni.

We did not polish off the bottle and it sat in the fridge for about a month. By yesterday, the amber liquid was pretty strong. Jim finally had his tasting and all I am going to say is that his eyes suddenly opened up about as wide as I've ever seen them. :)

I knew the wine was past its prime, but did not want to pitch it.

I decided to slow cook a pork roast with the mead.

Good decision!

Marcheta *hog-wild for honey wine

PS If you want to learn more about mead, Got Mead is a good place to start.