Standing Stone Brewing Company

Bee Girl

By in Uncategorized 0

Bee Girl Pints for a Purpose Recap

Thanks to everyone who came out to our most recent Pints for a Purpose event. The Bee Girl team joined us for a wonderful evening full of fun, community and lots of beer. The tallies are in, and we raised…drum roll please…$438 for their organization! We are so grateful to have the opportunity to give back to the community, and couldn’t do it without you.

pints for a purpose 2

Mark your calendars for our next event as we host the Children’s Advocacy Center of Jackson County, January 12th, from 5-10pm. We’ll have more to come on that soon…

Cheers!

 

By in Ashland Oregon, Brewery & Beer, Community, Events, Standing Stone Farm, Sustainability 0

Pints for a Purpose benefits Bee Girl Dec. 1st

We want to say a big “Thank You!” to everyone who turned out for our first Pints for a Purpose event. You all drank 213 pints of beer raising over $426 for our friends at Sanctuary One. What a huge success and great way to kick off the Pints for a Purpose program!

Now for round two… Join us December 1st as we benefit Bee Girl. From 5-10PM, $2 of every pint sold will be donated to their non-profit organization. 54d775_d6c21cf14378499282c390782008d18e

Bee Girl inspires communities to conserve bees and their habitat. They offer community beekeeping classes, public lectures on honey bee conservation, work with children through their Kids and Bees program and much more. Founder Sarah Red-Laird has built a dedicated team who are inspiring people all around the world to make a difference.

Why should you love honey bees? Because 1 out of every 3 bites of food we eat is pollinated by a honey bee. Without bees, we have no food; and without bees, we hate to even say it, but we have no beer! These little guys are working hard to keep food on our tables and beer in our bellies. It’s the least we can do to give them a hand.

Here are 3 easy ways you can help, from the Bee Girl herself:

  1. BeePlant Flowers- Choose flowers that bees love like Lavender, Sunflowers, and Poppies. Avoid chemicals and adjust your mower to leave the clovers and dandelions on your lawn.
  2. Vote with Your Fork– Choose local, sustainably raised and farmed food choices. Not only will you support your local farmer and economy, you’re also helping to keep your local honey bee colonies thriving and healthy
  3. Create a Space in Your Heart for Bees– The more we care about honey bees, the more we can do to make choices that benefit them. Whether you’re keeping bees, or planting a garden bed full of flowers, every little bit helps.

We would love to hear ways you are helping to conserve our honey bees! Have a hive or garden at home? Feel free to share your pictures!

We hope to see you December 1st from 5-10PM. Remember, those pints add up fast! So bring your friends and family and come hang out with us and the Bee Girl team. Let’s enjoy a pint or two for a good cause!

Bee1

Our Bees at the One Mile Farm

By in Brewery & Beer, Community, Employees & Partners, Events, Sustainability 0

Happy November! Pints for a Purpose 2015/2016

Fall is here and we are very excited to announce the 2015/2016 recipients for our Pints for a Purpose program. For those unfamiliar with Pints for a Purpose, let us explain. Each year, we invite local nonprofits to submit applications on behalf of their organizations and we as a staff vote to choose our top five favorites. November through March each group is awarded their own special evening, and from 5-10 p.m. $2 of every pint of beer sold goes straight to their organizations. We invite the group’s representatives to spend the evening with us, and share a pint as they answer questions, and offer information as to who they are and what they do. Here is the lineup for this year:

friends of library

November 10- Sanctuary One

Sanctuary One provides a safe home to rescued farm animals and house pets. The farm includes expansive gardens which not only provide rich vegetables and food for the animals, but opportunities for growth of the people who tend them.

December 1- Bee Girl

To inspire and empower communities to conserve bees and their habitat. Bee Girl, a nonprofit organization founded by Sarah Red-Laird, aims to conserve our bees by educating the public on their importance through programs focused on community classes and events, public lectures, and their Kids and Bees program. 

January 12- Children’s Advocacy Center of Jackson County

To meet the needs of children and families in our community by providing a community-based, child-focused center that facilitates a compassionate, multi-disciplinary approach to the prevention, treatment, identification, investigation, and prosecution of child abuse.

February 9– Rogue Valley Farm to School waterwatch

Rogue Valley Farm to School educates children about our food system through hands-on farm and garden programs, and by increasing local foods in school meals.

March 9- No LNG Campaign 

No LNG Exports Oregon is a statewide coalition of activists, experts, and community members with the goal of stopping two LNG pipeline projects in Oregon.

So there you have it! Last year, we raised over $2,300 (that’s 1,150 pints!) benefitting five different wonderful nonprofits including, Rogue Climate, Water Watch of Oregon, Friends of the Ashland Public Library, Rogue Farm Corps and Rogue Valley Earth Day. We are very happy to continue with the tradition and hope you join us at one (or all) of our Pints for a Purpose evenings this season.

By in Food, Standing Stone Farm 2

Sweet Rewards of Our Honey Harvest

SSBC Beekeeper Danielle with hives (photo: R. Koning)

We’re buzzing with sweet joy as we welcome our first batch of honey from our bees on Standing Stone Farm! We’ve been tending to our beloved honeybees all summer long, and as we prepare to wrap them up warmly for the winter we delight in a sweet treat from our bustling hives in return.

Busy hive entrance

We started beekeeping on our farmland earlier this summer with four single-level beehives. These colorful boxes live in a sunny pasture in the middle on our farmland on Eagle Mill Rd. in Ashland,OR, surrounded by bushes of blackberries to supply plenty of pollen. As our hive populations expanded over the summer we added several more levels to our hives, giving our bee friends and their queens plenty of room to grow their families and make delicious honey.

In September, as the warm, sunny weather began winding down, our Standing Stone beekeepers took a course from Bee Girl of Ashland, OR all about winterizing beehives and harvesting honey. Here, they learned that honeybees need plenty of reserve honey to supply their diet during the cold winter months when they don’t leave their hives. They also do well in small, combined hives that contain their warmth and don’t let cold wind gusts inside.

SSBC Beekeeper Rachel preparing honey (photo: C. Meeks)

After the class, our beekeepers spent a day inspecting and consolidating the hives to prepare them for the cold winter months. They left the bees with enough honey to keep them full with food while pulling the extra honey that was leftover once the bees were settled in their new, cozy spaces.

Back at the restaurant, we harvested our honey using an old-fashioned “crush and strain” method, pushing the honey through a fine mesh strainer to separate the liquid and wax. Once finished, we filled five liter jars with fresh, delicious honey to use in our restaurant. We’ll be sure to use it in dishes that let its natural sweetness shine through, so stay tuned to special’s board for honey delights coming soon.

Final product – fresh, raw honey! (photo: R. Koning)

To enjoy local honey at home visit your community’s farmers market or food co-op and stock up for winter. The sweet treat is a delicious traditional aid for soothing a chilly-weather cold or flu, and a yummy ingredient in cooking and baking or homemade mead. And if you’re interested in starting your own hives at home, be sure to visit the Bee Girl website for resources, tips and community classes in Southern Oregon.

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