Happy belated Valentine’s Day!Chokecherry mead is back on the market, and wonderfully sweet/tart.

Next week is already March.Winter finally came to our region—a little late, but we are buried under blankets of snow.Hard to believe that within six weeks the bees and the honey house will be “waking up” from our slumber and preparing for Spring. We are now official members of the American Mead Maker's Association, and hope to participate next year in the The Mazer Cup International Mead Competition!

Here is a picture of our bottle wall and "bee shelter" where most of the hives have wintered.
Our next sale will be at the Greenland Township Building on March 16th, and it is also a luncheon to benefit the County Fair!10-3 pm. Hope to see you there.

The Honey House will host a special event on March 23rd for our “cabin fever concert”featuring The Terminal Orchestra, Sycamore Smith and The Door Cats, all from the Marquette area and known throughout the Midwest and beyond.

We are thrilled to have so many talented musicians coming our way.Of course there will be a mead tasting along with the event.The Terminal Orchestra started as a studio outlet for making pastoral movie soundtrack music (for movies that haven’t been made yet) has since ballooned into a live, performing thirteen piece ensemble, complete with strings and percussion.Jesse DeCaire and The Terminal Orchestra’s album The Seasons is as chilling and eerie as it is uplifting and triumphant.Jay DeHut, formerly of Ontonagon, is also part of the ensemble.
Two other bands from the Marquette area will be opening the show.The Door Cats are a trio led by Kerry Yost on vocals and guitar.They weave intricate harmonies and perform original songs written by Yost, as well as classic and contemporary folk/alternative music.Yost is accompanied by Rebecca Rucinski on cello, vocals, and guitar, and Marcella Krupski on vocals and auxiliary percussion.

Sycamore Smithis the stage name of Marc Smith, a musician from Marquette, Michigan. Smith writes folk songs in an old-fashioned, vaudevillian rural style; songs about heroes and swindlers where characters including Wolfskin Rosie, Legless Paul, and Bobo have adventures that are at times triumphant and other times melancholic.
Doors open at 6:30 PM, and general admission is 5$ per person. Come out and bring a fiend to support these creative artists bringing culture to our area!Hope you can come out and help us “wake up”the House on March 23rd!
As we usher in a new season, we are so grateful for you continued support and well wishes.By attending our events and telling your friends about our products, you are helping the bees. You can check out Melissa’s Etsy site to purchase some art recently listed, and of course visit our usual retail outlets.We’ve added a couple recently:The Marquette Regional History Center andRare Earth Goods, in Ishpeming.
Keep the Hive Alive!!Winter survival continues to be a challenge in our apiary.A considerable investment each year goes into keeping the number of hives up to provide everyone with honey!You can visit our blog and donate to “sponsor a hive”!

Drop us a line if you are in the area or have any questions about our products and events.Our next event will be “arts and starts” on May 18th, a farmer’s and artist’s market—live music! John hopes to have our tasting room finished for that event!
Contact us if you are interested in being involved!

Happy Spring!Melissa, John, and the bees.

It's been a lovely fall and harvest season here!  Still honey on the field (lots of busy bees today)...just thought I would drop in to give you a glimpse of what we have been up to here....lots of veggies, and strawberry mead in the stores next!  Hope you can make it to our October Honey House events!  All the best, Melissa and John 

 

largest pumpkin in the field!

great Autumn skies! 

traditional, strawberry, and raspberry

 

Okay....drum roll please........thanks to the TTB, Rachel Martinez, Designotype Printers......and patience......our "mead wine and raspberry wine mixture" will be available for purchase (and tasting) at Roe Family Singers at the Honey House Thursday, June 28, and Mid-Summer Artist Market!!! (Saturday June 30th) Very limited edition...just over 100 bottles available....waiting on formula approval for traditional mead...that will be on the market soon!! Huzzah! Dream becomes reality!
Come see us at the Honey House! With gratitude, Melissa, John, and the bees~

Full Summer Show Schedule

This is our summer schedule of events!  Of course, it is subject to change...we hope the honey holds out before our next harvest!  Hope to see you out and about or at the Honey House! 

June 9^th:  Houghton Arts and Music Festival, Houghton, MI  12-7 PM

June 23^rd:  Scandanavian Mid-Summer Festival, Marquette, MI  11-6PM

June 30^th:  Algomah Acres Honey House Mid-Summer Festival, Greenland, MI  10-3 PM

July  7^th:  Lake Linden Farmer’s Market:  10-2 PM

July 14^th:  Lake Linden Farmer’s Market :  10-2 PM

July 21^st:  Porter School Farmer’s Market, Alpha, MI 

July 28-29^th:  Ontonagon County Fair, Greenland, MI 

August 4^th:  either Farm Block Fest or Re-Treat flea market

August 14^th:  Lake Linden Farmer’s Market, 10-2 PM

August 18-19:  Copper Harbor Art Festival, Copper Harbor, MI 

August 25^th:  Lake Linden Farmer’s Market, 10-2 PM

Sept. 1^st:  Ontonagon Labor Day Festival

Sept. 8^th:  Iron Mountain TV 6 show

Sept. 15^th  Lake Linden Farmer’s Market, 10-2 PM

Sept. 22^nd:  Hayward Harvest Festival, Hayward, WI

Sept. 29^th:  Lake Linden Farmer’s Market, 10-2 PM

Oct. 6^th:  Lake Linden Farmer’s Market, 10-2 PM

Oct. 13^th:  Harvest Festival, Algomah Acres Honey House!!

May's moon is the Full Flower Moon, named for flowers blooming everywhere this month! It is also a "super moon": this full moon coincides with perigee, the point when the moon is closest to Earth. Dandelions are finally out here and chokecherry blossoms. Trilliums, arbutus, daffodils, and many more close behind!

We are about to submit our first labels for approval from the TTB! If they approve, we will have Raspberry Mead available first, then Traditional Mead in June or July....Cyser this Fall! Take a look and wish us luck~

Things are starting to get busy around here! Our Kickstarter project caught the attention of a blogger for Epicurious.com! She did a great Q and A piece on our honey and mead.

We did a beekeeping talk in Calumet this week and local paper did a nice article on the event. John's picture made the front page!

Our next show is in Marquette at the TV6 Mother's Day Craft Show, where we will have our full line of honey and hive products, including hand-dipped beeswax taper candles and the new "bee line" of upcycled tee shirts!

We will have our Season Opener at the Honey House on May 19th for our "Arts and Starts" market, music, and luncheon! Hope to see you there! Maybe we will have mead for sale!!
Many, many thanks as we begin on 2012 Season. We are so very grateful that you helped to make our dreams a reality through Sweetness and Light!
Hope to see you out and about or at the Honey House! All the Best, Melissa, John and the Honeybees~ (photo taken April 7th)

March Update

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/663683868/sweetness-and-light-algomah-acres-honey-house-mead/posts/191690?ref=email&show_token=b93fb3cfeba56319

Passed our final inspection today from the state investigator~let the fermentation bee-gin! Celebrated with a little blueberry melomel and watched the honeybees visiting the first crocus of Spring!!

Bees are buzzing in our overwintered hive near our house~

Don't forget to visit our website and get your e-mail added to our mailing list: free honey for the 50th name entered! (at the honey house page)

http://algomahacreshoney.com/honeyhouse

Lastly, here is a Mead toast for St. Patrick's Day:
"Friends and relatives, so fond and dear, 'tis our greatest pleasure to have you here. When many years this day has passed, fondest memories will always last. So we drink a cup of Irish mead and ask God's blessing in your hour of need." The guests respond: "On this special day, our wish to you, the goodness of the old, the best of the new. God bless you both who drink this mead, may it always fill your every need."

We will be in touch to let you know about our summer events!

All the best, Melissa, John and the honeybees too~

Meadery Update!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/663683868/sweetness-and-light-algomah-acres-honey-house-mead/posts

Well the February Full Moon (Wolf Moon) came and went this week, and we are waiting on a lot of things! We now have phone contact with Julia at the Federal TTB (had to send some photos of our building, etc), and looks like the State LCC has updated our status to“SCHEDULED FOR COMMISSION MEETING” this week.…any day now! We had to amend our application to include “entertainment” to the permit so we can keep hosting the diverse events that we host. What events would you like to see at the Honey House this summer?
While we wait, we are keeping plenty busy. We have the occasional honey and hive product sale(at the Copper Country Mall in Houghton this Saturday from 10-6), and we are having a mead tasting on February 16th at the Ontonagon Theater for the Performing Arts along with a Kitty Donohoe Concert! If you missed our summer tasting, this would be an opportunity to try some of John’s elixirs!
While we wait….we have some homebrews going…the latest is made with Alaskan Raspberries (20 pounds hand delivered by George!) and one Cyser (on the far right)

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Melissa has been diligent in the studio, and will have several art pieces in the Great Lakes Showcase art show at Michigan Tech in March, and another art show at Finlandia’s Reflection Gallery in April. (Houghton and Hancock, MI) Melissa paints with pigmented beeswax.

We will keep you posted as things progress with our winery application! Hopefully you will hear from us again soon. We will check back in on March 4th, as we “march forth” with our plans and dreams!
As always, wishing you sweetness and light as the daylight increases and the bees endure the last quarter of wintering…

Love, Melissa, John and the bees