Country Mouse Monday: Heidrun Meadery field trip and....

We've been hunkered down and working hard here at Blissbug these past few weeks. What can I say?

It's been Summer As Usual around here.

Which means we've been staying ahead of the zucchini bounty, making pesto and harvesting tomatoes. and thinking ahead to winter crops. In addition to attending BlogHer 14 and building our little businesses. Serious bliss.

Without planning it that way, I managed to celebrate my six-month anniversary of self-employment in the most perfect way: by taking a little field trip to Heidrun Meadery in Pt Reyes Station ON A WEEKDAY. Yes, last Friday, in the middle of the afternoon, there I was sipping six kinds of mead and wandering around the Meadery in a honey-drunk daze.

Did I mention it was a weekday?

Listen: I don't know about you, but any afternoon spent in West Marin is like a holiday for me. I get a little crazy about the farm-y life possibilities out there, and return home fired up about maximizing our harvests, planting more, growing more. And buying land.

But to be there in a gorgeous summer afternoon, warm by Pt Reyes standards, warm enough to sit out at this lovely table with friends and sip tasty alcoholic beverages by the light of day? Wow, when did I get so lucky?

Oh wait, it's not luck, remember?

What I particularly loved is that when we arrived, the owner of the Meadery had just returned with honey-loaded hive supers and was taking them into the Honey House for harvest. And we were invited in to go check that out, gawking at the shiny machines, so very different from our little no-tech honey-harvest method. Later, as part of the official tour, we got to see where and how they actually make the mead, so very different from the 5-gallon experiment we'll be embarking on soon.

They were so open, so friendly. So inspiring. And the mead, ultimately, was so tasty.

Heidrun Meadery uses the méthode Champenoise – i.e., they produce a light, bubbly mead which is a far, far cry from the sticky, heavy mead I remembered trying at the Renaissance Faire back at the beginning of time. What was so remarkable about this mead is the delicious smell of honey even before you take a first sip and then the way the taste of the blossoms just unfolds in your mouth.

We tried 6 meads in total: Radish Blossom from the Willamette Valley in Oregon; Alfalfa & Clover Blossom from Montana; Macadamia Nut Blossom from Hawaii; Oregon Meadowfoam Blossom and Madras Carrot Blossom, both from Oregon; and finally, California Orange Blossom. All of them were delicious, though I admit that the Radish, Orange and Macadamia Nut were my faves.

Super coolest of all? Heidrun is now brewing up mead made from local honey. The honey-supers that came off the truck and into the Honey House while we gaped and tagged along, were from Bolinas, Petaluma and Nicasio. Soon we'll be able to drink the flavor of our own local flora in mead-form. I can't wait.

The tour and tasting at Heidrun was $15, which is a total steal, in my opinion. It's a lovely way to spend a few hours and experience flavors in a bee-kind of way, savoring the nectar of life. They also sell bee-friendly plants and fresh eggs.

Aaaah, mead, Pt Reyes, West Marin, on a beautiful weekday afternoon: what could be better?

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In other news, Blissbug is participating in the 2nd Friday Art Walk on August 8, 2014. Come on down to Burns Florist from 5 - 8pm this Friday, have a drink & hang out. Joe and I will be there, talking bees to whoever will listen. ;> We'll also have some goodies in the raffle. Yay!

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