That includes 170 cases of gold reserve tupelo that he packages in 20-ounce bottles for $100, each one rolled in a sleeve of Canadian birch and sealed with wax from the same bees that made the honey. There will also be food, art & crafts, and live music. Tupelo trees bloom for only two to three weeks each year starting in mid- to late April, so bees have a short window to gather nectar to make sweet, sticky gold. About 10 percent of it will go to Brandon Tai, 42, a former commodities trader and wine salesman in Atlanta who turned to beekeeping and selling honey full time in 2017. What is Tupelo Honey? - Saratoga Tea & Honey Co. I have in front of me a cup of pure, raw tupelo honey, taken fresh from some of Don Smileys honeycombs at Smiley Apiaries in Wewahitchka. That said, there are natural solutions such as neem oil and Spinosad. Rachel Estes, The Times, Gainesville, Ga. So in order make a good showing this month at the Tupelo Honey Festival in Wewahitchka, Fla., he had to dig into reserves from last year, when the honey was flowing. Near a swamp in southeastern Georgia, Frederick Merriam Jr., right, his son Aidan Merriam, center, and Brandon Tai, left, of Honey Next Door in Atlanta, use smoke to keep bees calm while they check how the seasons crop of tupelo honey is progressing. Mr. Lanier was able to gather only a little bit of tupelo this year. There will also be food, art & crafts, and live music. You can also choose plants that bloom at different times of the year to ensure a consistent food source. Beekeepers who chase the tupelo bloom are a fiercely competitive and vanishing breed. It was Monday, May 10, and he was harvesting their prized tupelo honey. That is, until the 1970s when the rock star Van Morrison released his album, Tupelo Honey. We sat on the front porch and talked as we ate fried chicken and tater logs from the grocery store deli. She began with our Gardening in the Panhandle newsletter. Nobody knows whether a visit to the Florida Panhandle inspired this song and album title or whether he simply liked the sound of the syllables, but we do know the song was so popular it positively influenced tupelo honeys reputation. The difference in tupelo honey is immediately noticeable by sight; theres a greenish cast to the honey, which may come from the blossom itself. The Annual Tupelo Honey Festival will be held Saturday, May 21st from 9 am 4 pm central time at Lake Alice Park in Wewahitchka. Link: Growing fruit crops in containers https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/MG243. Beekeepers are as tenacious as their bees, he said. This is an exciting event, with your chance to take part in a local treat. Jeff Pippin, the state apiary inspector for Gulf County, said that even though tupelo honey is fickle and difficult to gather, he doesnt expect a decline in interest from beekeepers or buyers. Rhne-Alpes, former rgion of France. The first Tupelo Honey Festival was in 1941, and ever since, thousands have gathered in Wewahitchka, population 1,800, to buy and sample honey from local beekeepers. Our honey is 100% Raw and Unfiltered We also produce Quality VSH Queens and sell Nucs annually. Tupelo Honey | L.L. Lanier and Son's Tupelo Honey Since 1898 Florida's By far the most amazing variety. She said that Meyer lemon (Citrus x meyeri) is one of our more cold-tolerant types, but that is not always the case. Anyone can read what you share. Where the Tupelo Grows THE BITTER SOUTHERNER This is an anxious time for beekeepers. Floridas first major beekeeping operation was established in 1872 near Daytona and its second in Wewahitchka by S.S. Alderman. Choose plants with flat flowers or short to medium-length flowers tubes (corollas), and limit plants with long flower tubes such as honey suckle. This is your chance to take part in a local treat. He and his wife, Jackie, own West Meadow Apiary in Tunbridge, Vt. by Ray Bodrey | May 6, 2021 | Upcoming Events. The effect is cosmetic and will not cause harm to the tree or yield. Its only through experience we can tell. Its hard to say when honey bees reached Florida, but naturalist William Bartram traveled the state in the 1770s and wrote about the many he saw and how pioneers and Native Americans used honey to sweeten water. All Rights Reserved. She went on to say you need to match the container to the tree and that will come with a large amount of work. This is an exciting event, with your chance to take part in a local treat. Human impacts like dredging and decreased water flow have changed the rivers ecosystem, too, resulting in fewer tupelo trees. She pointed out that pest identification is crucial. Bloody Mary Festival Returns to Milwaukee Urban Milwaukee Honeybee visiting tupelo blossoms. Sugarbelle and Bingo are two of these varieties and are a type of mandarin that did somewhat ok in the cold. I helped scratch so the family could focus on processing more frames. Theyre working for me, and Im working for them.. It is called tupelo honey, but in fact it comes from only one tree from the many tupelo tree species, Nyssa ogeche, found in a small region in North Western Florida and Southern Georgia. After checking on the bees in the yard, Gary invited me to join him for lunch with Brodie at the honey house. I thought I had dodged a bullet, he said, just to open a whole new can of worms. This is your chance to take part in a local treat. Festival of the bees. By June, the family has moved north to Vermont, then returns in November. The eatery's last day of business in Sandy Springs was May 22, according to Christin Prince, senior vice president of marketing. Mr. Tai cooks a lot with tupelo, which maintains its distinctive character even when mixed with other ingredients. Bees cap the filled cells with their wax so they can eat the honey later in winter. But even the smallest areas have the potential to turn into green havens with a little imagination. There will also be food, art and crafts, and live music. 850-832-4843. In his thick Florida Panhandle accent that sometimes makes bee sound like bay, he said he does. Brian Bertonneau bottles honey from at least a dozen beekeepers to produce more than 10 varieties of honey for Smiley Honey. Link: Meyer lemon Meyer Lemon Gardening Solutions University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (ufl.edu). Link: Post-freeze damage in citrus https://nwdistrict.ifas.ufl.edu/hort/2023/02/16/post-freeze-damage-in-citrus-symptoms-and-recovery/. Youre likely to see leaf miners as discussed above or orangedog caterpillars. The nectar from the tupelo gum tree (Nyssa ogeche), produces some of the finest honey in the world. If you can't make it to the festival, don't worry. A better solution for homeowners is to watch for color break (this is when your fruit changes from green to its mature color) and begin tasting the fruit at this time. All rights reserved. In 2018, he got $18 a pound for it. 111 Lake Alice Park Drive. In the well-kept hives tended by beekeeper Fred Merriam in Georgia, every bee has a job to do. Miss Pam sat at their booth ready to sell honey, wearing gold honey bee earrings the size of my thumb and a tie-dyed shirt that read Go with the flow in yellow script. Things here tend to be ready Oct-Dec (may differ based on variety), and youll want to remove the fruit at that point. As well any branches growing too close to the ground can be taken off. I smiled as I listened to the band play the national anthem on saxophone and watched high school athletes giggle as they asked passersby for donations. Are we creating an ecosystem aesthetically pleasing while attracting pollinators? Tupelo Honey Festival 2024, a Festival in Wewahitchka, Florida She emphasized the need to buy registered citrus trees from a reputable nursery. Although there are more than 4,000 species of native bees in the United States, Europeans brought todays honey bees in the 1600s. If you said I could only have one honey for the rest of my life, it would be tupelo for sure.. Sign-up to receive adventure inspiration, Discover what it means to be connected to the water and the wildlife. I was going to go home and message him, she said, and he messaged me later that day. Your local extension professional is always on hand to help. Hard times fall on the American tupelo honeybee - Tallahassee Democrat They have nine children, ranging in age from 3 to 18, who live a nomadic, home-schooled life. Annual Tupelo Honey Festival Saturday, May 20th, 2023 | 9AM - 4PM Lake Alice Park Wewahitchka, FL He decided to try beekeeping in 2012. Follow NYT Food on Twitter and NYT Cooking on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest. They will most likely not do well in excessive shade and if grown in a pine hammock you may need to amend soils. Reportedly formed when sand bars created by the Apalachicola Rivers current blocked the Chipola River, the ensuing high water killed thousands of trees in the floodplain, leaving a graveyard of bottom heavy cypress skeletons, stumps and knees. Heavily wetting the soil will also provide some protection when cold is expected due to heat absorption with wet soil. If from cold there should be no issue with replacing that tree. Beekeepers have set up hives in the swamps here since the 1800s to capture honey that has a color, taste, and chemistry that sets it apart from all other honeys. Its price is determined by its flavor and packaging, but its also labor intensive to produce, and in short supply. Reach out to us at this link: local extension agents. A bee barge in Garys backyard along the Chipola River in Wewahitchka, Florida, a tributary of the Apalachicola River. People from around the area, and around the world, visited for the annual Tupelo Honey Festival. Annual Tupelo Honey Festival held in Wewahitchka Daniel Leonard County Extension Director/Agriculture, Horticulture, and Natural Resources Agent, Calhoun County (Moderator), Beth Bolles Horticulture agent, Escambia County, Matt Lollar Commercial Horticulture agent, Santa Rosa County, Danielle Williams Regional Commercial Horticulture agent, Gadsden County. This is for commercial groves and does not necessarily relate to the home landscape. Please let us know how we did by filling out this survey: Article written by Khadejah Scott, Horticulture/Agriculture/Natural Resources Agent UF/IFAS Extension at Wakulla County. It is harvested from White Tupelo Gum trees and they are most content when standing in several feet of water. Providing nesting and foraging sites for pollinators, butterflies, bees etc. It was incorporated in 1870, 101 years before Van Morrison released the song which you may be humming to yourself right now.). Put it this way: The tupelo trees got beat all to heck this year, so they couldnt bloom right, said Ben Lanier, 61, whose family has been producing honey in the swamps of the Apalachicola River basin in Gulf County, Fla., for three generations. The Official State Honey Of Florida Is Tupelo Honey - Only In Your State The tupelo bloom season lasts from approximately mid-April to the end of May. Now she manages their honey and home-building businesses. What is Tupelo honey? - Discover the benefits of honey The Wewahitchka Tupelo Honey Festival, celebrated every year on the third Saturday of May, is a charming festival centered around the Florida honey harvesting season, with plenty of honey, crafts vendors, a gazebo with all the honey facts you could imagine (and some great honey lemonade), music to enjoy and plenty of food to keep you happy for the day. There will also be food, art & crafts, and live music. The nectar from the tupelo gum tree (Nyssa ogeche), produces some of the finest honey in the world. The third Saturday in May, the town of Wewahitchka, known as "Wewa" swells from just under 2,000 to more than 6,000 people. Danielle suggested ruby red grapefruit (Citrus paradisi Ruby Red) or marsh grapefruit (Citrus paradisi Marsh) are her favorites that may do well with cold depending on the microclimates where they are grown. All Rights Reserved. Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress, Gulf County Extension Director, Agent III. He said most of the time bees dont want to sting. Creating a pollinator-friendly garden in an apartment is not only possible but can be an enjoyable and rewarding experience. When the economy collapsed in 2008, he lost everything. As they say in tupelo country, the honey is the money. About 60 of the wooden boxes hed brought in from the bee yard the day before needed processing to be ready for the festival. Lanier and his wife, Glynnis, attended the Sundance premiere, where Robert Redford introduced the film as Nuez presented Redford with a jar of Laniers honey onstage. Gary Adkison stood at the back of his pickup truck with a bee smoker resting on the tailgate. Area honey producers will be on hand, selling their honey in a variety of sizes. She began by emphasizing the FFL concept of right plant, right place. Theres a constant threat from mites and diseases. Tupelo Honey Festival As a rgion, it encompassed the southeastern dpartements of Loire, Rhne, Ain, Haute-Savoie, Savoie, Isre, Drme, and Ardche. Gary and Miss Pams grandson, 11-year-old Brodie, helps scratch frames and prepare them for the metal extractor. Because of the high ratio of fructose to glucose, tupelo honey never crystallizes. Wewahitchka host the Tupelo Honey festival each May. The Dead Lakes offer some of the best freshwater fishing in the nation, and a unique opportunity for nature photographers. He sold 37 tons of tupelo last year, some of it to wholesalers and the rest online or in stores. Wooden bee boxes were smashed into kindling or blown away. A 1943 pamphlet about beekeeping from the Florida Department of Agriculture said, The tupelo tree is the only lure to bring civilization to the banks of the Apalachicola. Photos courtesy of the State Archives of Florida. Encroaching development and battles between Florida and Georgia over water use have reduced the number of tupelo trees. It can also happen with specialty honey like tupelo and sourwood. Beekeepers built floating docks, called bee barges, in the swamps to get their hives close to the trees. For six months, the family stays in a southeastern Georgia house near the tupelo trees, surrounded by multicolored hives. Link: Growing fruit crops in containers https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/MG243. This was the first festival since 2019 due to the pandemic, and the excitement was palpable. Increasing natural enemies of pest insects. Its also good simply poured over fresh Georgia pecans. Bird houses also provide shelter to cavity-nesting species and increase the species of birds at your apartment. How often do we stop to think of the importance of pollinators to food security? The meaning of the word is swamp tree, as this tree flourishes in areas of wet soils and seasonal flooding. Visit Place St. Andr, the heart of the city's historic quarter. His company is called Honey Next Door. Bees buzzed by my eyelashes, and a green spider smaller than my pinky nail lowered itself on a silk thread in front of my nose. Turfgrass to Seagrass: Become a Scallop Sitter! Lanier credits his mother, Martha, with the honeys first and most influential advertising campaign. Its like the Hatfields and McCoys. Make sure your space gets adequate sunlight and is close to a source for watering. I spoke to Lanier by phone about his familys tradition of harvesting tupelo, and he said with or without that attention, tupelo honey has long been a delicacy. By following the tips above, you can create a welcoming environment for local pollinators to thrive. Tupelo honey is a specialty honey produced from the tupelo gum tree which grows profusely along the Chipola and Apalachicola rivers of northwest Florida. To sling, 30 frames are moved into an extractor a silver, cylindrical machine that works like a top-load washer on spin. Brodie pulled a frame wider than he was from the box and craned his neck to look at both sides. Its fun, and the honeys good.. And to Gulf County beekeepers, its much more than that. Lake Alice forms an Old Florida backdrop. Wewahitchka, FL 32465. Port St. Joe, Florida 32456, 2023 Gulf County TDC. Migrants' trip to Sacramento aboard private jet appears to have been arranged by state of Florida, officials say. You may have tried it before and run into some issues. The Annual Tupelo Honey Festival will be held Saturday, May 15 th from 9 am - 4 pm central time at Lake Alice Park in Wewahitchka. Frederick Merriam has been keeping bees full time since 2008. This calmed the bees enough to remove the honey-filled frames, though thousands flew through the haze. Growth from above the graft union will be the desired tree capable of producing the desired fruit. This can include adding different heights, shapes, and textures to your garden, as well as incorporating a variety of flower colors. Tupelo never goes bad, although its best in the first couple of years. I didnt make a single spoonful of honey the next year.. These are the larval form of a moth which lays eggs in new growth of citrus. You can reach the vendors by phone or email for shipments of tupelo honey all year long or at least until supplies run out. For two precious weeks each spring in this slice of southeastern Georgia and in the Florida Panhandle, tupelo trees bloom with pale, fragile flowers that look like pompoms for tiny cheerleaders. You can also remove any branches which have become too large or out of bounds. Participating businesses include Tupelo Honey Cafe, Crafty Cow and Steny's Tavern & Grill of Milwaukee, . The tupelo tree, the pamphlet said, is the only lure to bring civilization to the banks of the Apalachicola.. Places to Stay | Tupelo Honey Festival Because of this rare location for Tupelo trees, tupelo honey was officially designated as the Florida state honey in 2016 by Governor Rick Scott. Many native wild bees have relatively short proboscises, or tongues, and may not be able to access nectar from flowers with long tubes; however, flowers with long floral tubes can attract other pollinators with long tongues or beaks such as butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds. That doesnt include hundreds of other beekeepers who might secrete a few hives along the riverbanks. A wildflower area of refuge can fulfill the shelter resource needs of these bees since that area will not undergo regular tilling, thus minimizing nest disturbance. For instance, basil (Ocimum basilicum) and oregano (Origanum vulgareare) are fantastic nectar sources if you allow them to flower. Ive been doing this a long time, Brodie said with a smile. Photo by Jessica Bradley Wells. Under the great mossy oaks of Lake Alice, people come from all over the world to Wewahitchka, Florida Tupelo Honey Festival | Wewahitchka FL Bass anglers regularly travel to this area to lure, then wrestle one of the big boys out of the cypress tree stumps that give the lake its name, and nature photographers join other outdoor lovers to capture a glimpse of this hauntingly beautiful body of water. As the tree grows, the leaves are stunted and become curled. Though most people think tupelo honey comes from Mississippi, it actually comes from the swamp-loving white tupelo tree. By all accounts, those hives would have traveled to the tupelo trees solely by waterways, and the finished product would have been shipped out via water, too. I am in Northwest Florida, in the slip of a spot where beekeepers harvest the only pure tupelo honey on Earth. Photos | Tupelo Honey Festival Two guesses to the reason are irrigation being off (too much or too little), the other is too much fertilizer at one time particularly when the tree is setting fruit. Many of the stumps and trees you see standing in the Dead Lakes and the Apalachicola River Basin are Tupelos. We can also find this honey with its whole name: Ogeechee Tupelo honey. There will also be food, art & crafts, and live music. How can I fix that?. She has written four books and was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for public service for reporting on workplace sexual harassment. The city changed its name to Tupelo after a Civil War battle of the same name. Aileen Perilla is a freelance photojournalist based in Tallahassee, Florida. She said that the commercial growers use a Brix to acid ratio, but that requires special equipment which most homeowners dont own. Landowners he has befriended let him park them free, happy for a few jars of honey in return. Tupelo Honey Festival Brings Thousands to Wewahitchaka - MyPanhandle Now he's among the tenacious harvesters of tupelo honey. Visit Grenoble: 2023 Travel Guide for Grenoble, Auvergne - Expedia The answer is that there is a high likelihood that your tree was grafted if bought from the nursery. Beekeepers watch the weather and pray the flowers will hang on. Learn more in ourCookie Noticeand ourPrivacy Policy. These are the larval form of the giant swallowtail butterfly (Papilio cresphontes) which are a pollinator. Just up the road in Wewahitchka, Smiley Honey offers several varieties of raw, all-natural honey. All citrus is grafted, and where the scion wood and root stock meet is called a bud union. The tree produces a small, lime-like fruit from August to October, but in April it sprouts flowers, from which bees gather the nectar for honey. Link: Citrus cold protection https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/CG095. Regardless of seasonal impacts, the demand for Gulf Countys tupelo honey never subsides. In a small area, vines can significantly expand the habitat that is available by climbing up a trellis or lattice against a wall or fence. Explaining why tupelo honey is so special is part of the work Mr. Tai does at local markets like this one in East Atlanta. Smooth bright green oval leaves splay from its branches. Purchase a potting mix (one that does not specify garden soil) from the store preferably one without a moisture control element. Before that, he studied to be a chef at Johnson & Wales University. Below is a summary of the program with links and references. Get regular updates from NYT Cooking, with recipe suggestions, cooking tips and shopping advice. 2018s category 5 Hurricane Michael leveled towns on the coast and destroyed buildings and trees as far away as Georgia, along with Floridas 2019 tupelo honey crop. He showed me his hands, dotted with little black sting marks like sharpened pencil tips. The common name tupelo is derived from language of the Muscogee Nation, also known as the Creek Indian Nation. But good fortune in April doesnt guarantee a good honey flow. Tupelo honey is a high grade honey produced where a water-lover tree grows. This months program focused on Citrus for the Home Landscape. By some miracle, none of his hives were destroyed by the wind or fallen trees, but when he went to check on the bees days later, hungry black bears had eaten 77 of his 100 hives. It seems like every time I turn around, the beekeepers are heading back to their honey houses for more honey to replace the purchased store on their tables. He said you should plant new trees close to your house on the south side or use surrounding trees to create microclimates. Flickr Greenville Daily Photo They then fan the cell with their wings to remove excess water until the honey has thickened to the right viscosity. His daughter, Jenny, got a loan to buy more bees while Gary repaired two 50-year-old honey extractors and built more boxes, pallets, and equipment. Researchers are beginning to learn how climate change and variations in weather patterns are affecting bees food and habitat availability, but theyre also in danger of predators like black bears (which are plentiful in the Panhandle), diseases like those caused by parasitic Varroa mites that wipe out colonies, and habitat destruction and pesticide use as more people move to Florida. Honeybee visiting tupelo blossoms. The flavor is delicate and complex. Thats what tupelo is.. Photo Credit: Gulf County Tourist Development Council. For now, theyre grateful to have brought approximately 1,000 bottles of honey to the 2021 Tupelo Honey Festival. The city sits at the confluence of the rivers Isre and Drac, encircled by the snow-covered Alps. I scoop a spoonful to put on yogurt, and as I dangle it over my bowl, about half clings to the spoon while the rest drips in syrupy ribbons that briefly hold their shape before settling as a golden pool at the top of the bowl. The men and women who make tupelo have more than weather to worry about. The cluster is so delicate that winds or rain can knock the flowers off and ruin the honey crop. Tupelo honey is harvested from clean, empty hives moved to areas where white tupelo trees are blooming, often along rivers and swampy areas. A pound of tupelo can sell from $14 to more than $30. | Contact Us. For decades, bee barges floating docks with platforms 20 to 30 feet above ground were the only way to make tupelo honey, as they were high enough to avoid flooding and low enough that the tupelo blooms could hover over the hives. Tupelo Honey Southern Kitchen & Bar recently announced plans to relocate from Sandy Springs to Gainesville in 2024. Citrus may be grown from seed but will take a long time to grow and produce fruit. He realized beekeeping could be more than a hobby and started making honey to sell. At the moment, there is evidence of damage to other types of citrus from the cold. How Weather Affects Citrus and Other Dooryard Fruit Varieties, Plenty of Summer Gardening and Landscape Activities Ahead. With a little bit of creativity and effort, you can still create a welcoming space for pollinators to thrive. They are only loyal to one thing: the dollar.. Citrus is a major crop in Florida and has been declining due in part to citrus greening. This is an exciting event, with your chance to take part in a local treat. "Wewa" (as the locals affectionately call it) was brought into the spotlight in the 1997 movie "Ulee's Gold," about a beekeeper and his family (more on that later). The meaning of the word is swamp tree, as this tree flourishes in areas of wet soils and seasonal flooding. Finding space for just you and your possessions, much less a garden can be difficult. His company, Honey Next Door, sells what some people call ZIP code honey gathered from the flowers in one neighborhood at farmers markets and festivals. "Our team members have been offered relocation opportunities and we are immensely grateful for their hospitality Sandy Springs has come to expect from us.". Mr. Merriam had already started to keep bees when the recession took hold in 2008. Gary noticed that she was liking his Facebook posts about bees and messaged her to ask if shed be interested in helping him. The planting of native wildflowers in Florida can benefit agricultural producers likewise, native pollinators and other beneficial such as parasitoids and predators. The common name tupelo is derived from language of the Muscogee Nation, also known as the Creek Indian Nation. Its flat streets are ideal for exploring on foot. Festival International du Cirque. However, it was noted that it is illegal in Florida to propagate your own citrus tree and that they must be purchased from a certified citrus nursery. The May sky swirled with gray clouds the kind of weather that makes bees cranky so he stuffed bits of pine straw into the smoker to feed a slow-burning fire in the canister. Wewa, as locals call it about 30 minutes from Port St. Joe on the Gulf of Mexico near Floridas largest river, the Apalachicola is the unofficial tupelo honey capital. The Tupelo Honey Festival is Just Around the Corner Hurricanes, blights and encroaching development have cut into the harvest in Florida and Georgia, but a small cadre of beekeepers still fiercely pursues this lucrative prize. Despite its mountain location, Grenoble is a low-lying city. We never have enough, he said. Danielle answered that you should take into account that the tree was in the correct place to begin with and if the reason for death was from the cold or something else.