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Spring Gardening Tips for a Flourishing Garden
As the vibrant colors of spring burst forth and the air fills with the sweet scent of blossoms, it's the perfect time to roll up your sleeves and tend to your garden. Whether you're a seasoned gar...
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New experiential honey center opens in Woodland
This roadside attraction is sure to get people buzzing.
Featuring the first varietal honey- and mead-tasting room of its kind, The Hive will celebrate its grand opening Nov. 13 and 14 in Woodland.
Located just off Interstate 5 at Harter Avenue, The Hive offers a one-stop honey immersive experience. The new home of Z Specialty Food, The Hive combines honey making, packaging and appreciation all in one site – much like Northern California wineries showcase wine.
“We want to educate people about honey tasting,” explains Joshua Zeldner, Nectar Director at Z Specialty Food. “It’s very similar to wine tasting.”
Z Specialty and its sister brands, Moon Shine Trading Company and Island of the Moon Honey, offer more than 30 varietal honeys plus fruit-honey spreads and other honey-based treats. All of those will be processed and packaged at the new location.
“It’s hard to believe we are finally here, a true dream come true for our family business,” Zeldner says. “I am so excited to invite people to experience what we have created — the full circle of plants, bees, honey and mead.”
In the honey business for more than four decades, Z Specialty Food had been planning The Hive for four years. The project cost about $5 million.
The family business had operated for many years just down the road from its new three-acre location.
“It was a grass field I had driven by so many times,” Zeldner said. “It was not for sale. It took months to find the owner (and negotiate a deal).”
The Hive combines the honey business with honey appreciation. Filled with bee-friendly perennials and shrubs, a newly planted drought-tolerant pollinator garden encircles the building’s entrance. That flows into an outdoor events area.
“There are all types of mead to appeal to all types of tastes,” explains Zeldner. “The educational component of what we’re doing is what I’m excited about. We’ll be serving meads from throughout the country – California, Michigan, New Hampshire. The idea is to have a rotating selection.”
The tasting room is decorated with hives and beekeeping equipment that belonged to the company’s founder, Ishai Zeldner, who died in 2018 at age 71.
“They’re not any old hives,” said Zeldner. “They’re my dad’s equipment.
Shoshana Zeldner, Joshua’s sister, and mom Amina Harris also are integral parts of the business.
Harris, Z Specialty’s Queen Bee, has long been a proponent of varietal honeys.
“I am passionate about introducing people to taking the time to taste honey properly, noticing every unique color, flavor, aroma and texture that comes through,” she says.
The tastes can be surprising.
“Most of our honeys are collected locally,” says Joshua Zeldner. “We also offer unique international honeys. We have two from Mexico – coffee blossom and mango – and their taste is mind blowing.”
Mango honey? Imagine liquid smoke mixed with barbecue and marmalade. Better yet, ask for a taste.
Open free to the public, The Hive’s Grand Opening will be held from 1 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 13, and 11 a.m to 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 14. The Hive is located at 1221 Harter Ave., Woodland.
Festivities include live music, games, craft and food vendors, yoga and movement classes, a mobile plant nursery, food trucks, big discounts on Z Specialty products and lots of honey.
Guests are asked to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination or recent negative COVID test.
Before and after the grand opening, The Hive’s tasting room is open from 11 a.m to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.
Details: www.zspecialtyfood.com .
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Garden Checklist for week of May 19
Temperatures will be a bit higher than normal in the afternoons this week. Take care of chores early in the day – then enjoy the afternoon. It’s time to smell the roses.
* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. If you haven’t already, it’s time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.
* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.
* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.
* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters.
* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.
* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.
* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.
* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.
* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.
* Don’t forget to water. Seedlings need moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants.
* Add mulch to the garden to help keep that precious water from evaporating. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch to 1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.
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