Invitation to UMO Pilot Plant to meet the Governor of Maine

On Wednesday, May 7th, Highland Blueberry Farm was invited to display our product at the Test Kitchen in the Pilot Plant at the University of Maine Food Science Department. Dr. Beth Calder asked if we would show our product and provide samples as well as a tasting of our whole plant tea. This was quite an honor for us as we are so grateful to everyone in the Food Science Department who helped us with the research and development of our whole plant tea after being awarded 3 Maine Technology Seed Grants.

My daughter, Chelsea and I gave the Governor a taste of the tea, to which he commented, "This is very good." We also gave him a 5 oz. tin with tea bags to take home. He promised to do more to promote blueberries.




This was the set up of our hot and cold tea samples at the UMO Test Kitchen.


Next month we will be hosting a Tea at the Blaine House together with Peaked Mountain Farm maker of Bite o' Blue Dog Treats. We will get to serve our tea to The First Lady and others that attend the tea.

Theresa and Chelsea

The Importance of Bees and Blueberries

After some pretty intense work on the prune field and on-going maintenance of both the prune field and harvest field, we now get to watch the bees do their work of pollinating the blueberry fields. Check out the pictures posted earlier. A great DVD to view is listed below with some details. It is so important to be aware of what is going on around us and this film does a great job of speaking on this topic.

Health & the Hive: A Beekeeper's Journey explores the importance of honeybees in our lives. Topics addressed in the film include pollination, queen breeding, disease control, bee venom therapy, organic agriculture and honey-based plant medicine.

The central figure in the film is Todd Hardie of Honey Garden Apiaries (www.honeygardens.com). Hardie, a lifelong beekeeper, is inspired, articulate and knowledgeable about bees. For him, keeping bees and making plant medicines is a series of partnerships with farmers, horticulturalists, queen breeders and many others. The film follows the web of teamwork that makes up Honey Gardens Apiaries.

The current crisis of the bees which has received so much media attention is not the central focus of the film, but it is impossible to talk about bees these days without addressing that crisis. In the view of one of the experts in the film, the “mysterious disease of the bees” is nothing more than the consequence of bad agricultural practices. Bees, one of the best bio-indicators in nature, the proverbial canaries in the coal mine, reveal how degraded our environment has become. The film suggests that a more respectful, less industrial approach to agriculture in general and beekeeping in particular will lead to a better outcome for both bees and the humans who are so dependent upon them. (53 min.) 2008

Go to this website http://www.jancannonfilms.com/honeybee.htm
Theresa

Bees and Bloom

Beautiful blueberry blooms of pink and white.



Bee taking flight after feasting on a bell.

Drinking a blueberry bell of sweet nectar.