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BLUE BUZZ BOTANICALS

Your Local Beekeeper

At Blue Buzz Botanicals, everyone agrees that honey bees are a vital part of our ecosystem, and we do everything we can to protect them. Please browse our site to discover our products and programs, and to learn more about our cause. Please email bluebuzzbotanicals@gmail.com for swarm removal services.

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Need a few hours to do some holiday prep without your child(ren) in tow? There are a few spots left in our Nature Circle! We are going to walk the woods and see amazing creatures, nature journal, look for wild food, and create a leaf garland using beeswax! DM me for details or to register. Link in bio!

Honey Day at the Market! I’ll be here til 12:00, then off to teach a FREE Zumba class at 1:00! Message me if interested. Do good things for your body, mind, and spirit! 🐝

Bee Bedtime 😴 Wouldn’t you want to sleep under a flower?

Anticipation

Last year, the bees loved to sleep underneath these flowers. Yesterday, I watched them scope out these buds (along with the dragonflies and other pollinators). We all await their opening up, bringing months of comfort and joy.

I’ll post the sleeping bees so you can see the adorableness.

Time flew and now we’re back open! Hope you stop by the market tomorrow and get some local goodies!

It’s swarming season! Call a beekeeper. Please don’t spray a swarm with anything.

Excited to show off some bees at SCC’s Earth Day event! Stop by the Columbus County Beekeepers tent. I’ll guarantee you’ll learn something new!��🐝

Last market of the season! Come celebrate with us!

North Carolina Honey Festival
Sept. 10, 2022 10am-3pm

Come out of your chrysalis and join us today!

It’s been the most amazing week with my students observing this monarch caterpillar. It’s hard to believe that its mom flew from Mexico to my yard and laid an egg on milkweed that I had dug up for @bessmessartist I never gave it to her because it looked like it hadn’t survived the transplant. It looked rough! But this caterpillar was munching away on it last Thursday morning when I went to grab a pot to bring to the library to show my students. The kids and I feel very honored to share these moments with such a special creature. It began the J phase of turning into a chrysalis tonight! I will keep you posted on the progression of this other-worldly looking chrysalis!

Be sure to join us next Saturday, May 21 at the Monarch Meetup to learn more about monarchs and what you can do help them on their journey! Got milkweed?

Hang on like a seed coat! The weekend is almost here.
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Speaking of the weekend…is the @cccfm Plant Swap a part of your plans? Saturday 8-1.

Our local reading association is sponsoring an event at the museum today! Science and books!!!! Does it get any better than that? 10:30-12:30 Take a child in your life to win free prizes and a love of nature! 💚

Honeybee swarm. This made for an exciting afternoon! 💛Got the swarm into a new home right as the rain started. It seemed to help motivate them to move into the box.
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Honeybees swarm for different reasons. It’s the way they keep their species going. If they run out of space in their current home or if they feel the queen is getting old/not doing a good job of laying eggs, they will create new queen cells. When the queens hatch, the strongest and last queen standing (yes, they fight) will send the old queen out of the hive along with half of the colony of bees. The new queen inherits the home. The exiled group will pitch somewhere (what you see here) while scout bees go out to find a new home. They come back and tell the colony where they are going to go set up shop.
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Swarms look very intimidating but they are actually very vulnerable in this state....they are homeless and just trying to protect their queen.
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If you see this, please don’t spray it with any chemical. You can contact a beekeeper, and they will try to help the bees settle into a safe space. If you don’t know a beekeeper you can call 911. They keep a list of beekeepers and will contact them for you.

A Letter from a Vendor

Dear Farmer’s Market Patron,

At the end of this season, I want to say thank you for so many things. First, I’ve just got to say thank you for giving me a reason to ride in my big red truck with plants piled everywhere...between my knees/ankles, in my hands, wedged against my hip. It’s a funny sight, and I can’t begin to tell you how good the ride from home to the market smells. Thank you for giving me a reason to share my weird side. I do funny things with plants and wax and mushrooms and honey. And so many of you get it. That feels so good! I’m a maker and have to keep my hands going. You make me feel like what I am doing is worth something. I thank you for that. When you come to my table to look, I love it when you buy something because then I can get that wacky colored spool of macrame core that I’ve been wanting. But I equally love it when you just come to my table to talk. The Saturday morning exchange of your knowledge to me and mine to you enriches my life more than you can imagine. Belly laughs and tears...grateful for it all. I thank you for mindfully putting yourself first. That’s the only way this world gets better...through our own self care. When you care enough about yourself to know your farmer, your beekeeper, your soap maker, your baker, your hen mama, you are making a difference. When you buy local, you are helping your neighbor live out a dream and helping our Earth regenerate herself. I’m grateful for that. I feel so honored to be surrounded by like-minded people. Thank you.

I look forward to a few slow Saturday mornings to dream up what’s next for Blue Buzz Botanicals, to browse seed catalogs with a nice cup of tea, to take long hikes to mushroom hunt. It will be April before we know it, and we will be buzzing around the market together again. I look forward to growing with you again soon!

Much love,
Nikki

Sunshine in a bottle☀️

I use this beautifully colored body oil after dry brushing and love it. I thought you would, too. So, it’s now available to you.

Dry brushing not only exfoliates your skin, but it also promotes detoxification of your body by increasing circulation and promoting the flow and drainage of lymph. We ALL need this. I moisturize my skin afterward with this body oil that is super close to our skin’s naturally produced sebum and infused with skin healing plants.

Self care=self love, and you deserve this time to care for yourself. It’s a ritual that I have come to love. I hope you will, too.

Check this out at the farmers market, @kaliyogaarts or DM me for more info.

I’ve had quite a few captions in mind for this one:
1. If I had sprayed...(for a post to come...but in short, if I had sprayed chemicals to kill my weeds, I would have missed this.).
2. Stretch your mind...(try to see things from the perspective of others, dare to stretch the narrative, learn something new!).
3. Thank God I go to @kaliyogaarts ...(flexibility is key.).

When you see a honeybee out foraging for pollen and nectar, she is living the last days of her life. Honeybees have different jobs throughout their 45 day lifespan and being among the flowers is the last of their jobs. The average bee will fly around 375 miles and will make 1/12 a teaspoon of honey in their lifetime! A lot of work goes into a single drop of honey!

Honey, can we talk about it? Bees make honey for themselves to provide their colony with carbohydrates to eat. Honey is made from the nectar of flowers. It’s mostly water when the bees gather it. They bring it back into the hive and evaporate the water out by fanning their wings and maintaining a certain temperature in the hive. When the liquid gold reaches 17-18% moisture content, they put a wax cap over it to keep it from oozing out. Amazing creatures! Beekeeping changed my life!
In this photo you can see capped honey, oozing honey (I try not to break their caps but it happens.), and uncapped honey (not quite the right moisture level yet).

A beautiful gift from above this morning. Be uplifted.🌏

I walked amongst giants this past week, including the poplars (1-2). To experience the Blue Ridge through the lens of these phenomenal scientists, wildlife experts, and educators was the highlight of a lifetime. We hiked predawn and awoke the light within (3). Although we stood at 6,684 feet above sea level, it felt as those we were standing on top of the world (4-5). We knelt in reverence to the wild things (6-7) and stood in silence in awe of the rising sun (8). We laughed with the wildflowers, and I hope they forget-me-not (9-10).

Awaiting the metamorphosis that is sure to come after a trip like the one I am embarking on. Traveling to the Blue Ridge with the NC Museum of Natural Sciences is sure to bring about change that I can’t wait to share with my students and anyone who will listen! Link to blog is in bio if you’d like to follow along. #ncmns #ncmnswhiteville #educators #scienceeducation #science #monarch #monarchbutterfly #monarchcaterpillar #polinators #metamorphosis #bluebuzzbotanicals

Fuel your body with the good stuff at the Columbus County Farmer’s Market, especially those of you working out at the Fitness Court! It’s just a few steps across the street to finish the workout! 20% exercise and 80% what goes into your body. @cccfm #cccfm #eatlocalgrown #farmersmarket #columbuscountyfitnesscourt #columbuscountyfitness

Mindfulness and creativity. Yes, please! That’s what this young lady @kaliyogaarts is providing space for in the new studio downtown. There’s a Grand Opening tomorrow, (9:00-12:45) to teach about the various classes she has to offer and to show off the work of local artisans in her boutique. I placed these creations there today along with some others. Go check them out and take some time to get grounded and lifted!

Old Fashioned Farm Day at @cccfm this Saturday. Tractor Show, Farm History, Kids Activities...in addition to some daggone good local produce, handmade products,and more!

Did you know the color of honey depends on the nectar source (which flowers were visited by the bees)? At the market Saturday 8-1.

Tomorrow we add another pair of wings to our community. The pair pictured is at the Columbus County Arts Council. We’d love to have you come see the pair at the Farmers Market! Dedication at 10:00 am. @bessmessartist @cccfm

Tomorrow is Opening Day! So many goals this season for the Market and for Blue Buzz Botanicals! Come see that life’s better with a little Buzz!🐝

Today is still Earth Day, and tomorrow, and the next. I can’t think of a better way to spend these Earth Days than to be teaching the young ones to be OF the Earth and not just ON it. 💚 They usually teach me a few things too. 🌱

Sun Sets On Spring Break. So thankful for the time to be productive around the homestead and for the time to recharge.

What a dandy day. Warmer temperatures have these girls on the move (and me too 💛). This dandelion is super important to the honeybee. It’s one of the first sources of food for her in the spring. There’s not a lot out there for the bees to feed on right now. So please consider leaving the “weeds” for them to eat...without the bees, we don’t eat. They provide every third bite of food we take! So round up the Roundup, and take it to the Ag Agency on the appropriate disposal day. Did you know that our ancestors removed the GRASS from their lawns so that DANDELIONS could grow? Wow, how things have changed.

This year has been heart-wrenching and eye-opening but also sacred and WONDERful. It taught me more about myself, at what seems like lightning speed, than any other time in my life. It brought me to my knees quite literally, and there I found comfort in the moss, the mushrooms and the crawly things. It broke me completely open, but the plants, the bees and the wild things held my hand through it. With clarity I now see my soul work because I’ve deeply worked ON and WITH my soul. This year planted me, but I kept watering myself and giving myself the sunlight I needed to grow. The harvests have been bountiful, and I’ve made sure to save some resilient seeds forward for the upcoming year.

My wish for us all this year is that we reconnect to the wild, to the land, to the wondrous natural world that is there for us, to aid in our healing. Let’s play in the dirt this year. I promise, it helps. Here’s to growing strong roots and magnificent aerial parts. Thank you twenty twenty and thank you to all the living things, both human and not, that have helped me through.

Tiny Bubbles! Fermented Honey Garlic to keep you well. Eat a clove by itself, take a spoonful of honey, or better yet, do both.

Bring your booty to the Farmer’s Market Saturday for the final market of the year. 😄 8am-1pm. Lots of vendors will be set up for the Christmas From the Heart Market. It’s more important than ever to support small business and local artisans. And even more important to know your farmers/beekeepers and put good stuff in/on your body.

Come see me at the market! 8am-1 pm #bluebuzzbotanicals #farmersmarket #handmade #beekeeping #plants #ecoconscious

Did you know that some of the ingredients in your chapstick are toxic? Come get one of these lip balms made with plants renowned for healing your skin, infused into oils easily absorbed by your skin, and beeswax. Better for your lips and the paperboard tubes are better for our environment. Blue Buzz Botanicals balms, syrups, extracts, and more available tomorrow at the Columbus County Farmer’s Market. 8:00-1:00. #bluebuzzbotanicals #farmersmarket #beekeeper

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ABOUT US

By Nature, for Nature

Everyone at Blue Buzz Botanicals shares an undying passion for the wonderful world of bees. Since 2015, the bees have been keeping us busy, doing our part to make the world a better place to live in. Starting out with just a few beehives, we've learned so much from the bees on how to care for them and about life in general. Our apiary in southeastern North Carolina is growing and so are we.

In addition to maintenance and production, we hope to raise awareness about the dangers bees currently face. Please follow us to stay up to date about all our initiatives and to learn about our eco-consciously developed products.