Did you know Honey bees pollinate 80% of the flowering crops we use as food sources?!? That means they are responsible for 1/3 of everything we eat! If the bees die out so does our varied diet. Just some food for thought.

Kevin and I recently visited The Honey Bee Center near our home in Surrey BC.

As I’ve mentioned many times I like to eat local as often as possible. We’ve visited The Honey Bee Center on a number of occasions but this visit I made sure to snap a few photos to share with you all.

We didn’t take the tour but it looked like a neat thing to do with kids. The tour covers topics like pollination, life cycle, etc. They involve lots of hands on learning and of course you get to see the bees up close! The Bees and Bugs lab looks like something any little learner would love to explore!

Our visit was more based on need! I was out of honey and Kevin wanted to ask about local honey and bee pollen as an allergy fighting method. The staff, as always were friendly and helpful. We tasted some new to us products and learned in fact consuming local honey and bee pollen is thought to ward off seasonal allergies. We figured we would give it a go and bought both the local wildflower honey and the bee pollen. I was skeptical at first but after only a week of consuming the bee pollen my eyes have stopped itching! Good enough for me! I’m sold on the idea! Plus the other health benefits of honey are nothing to sneeze at.

Aside from the wildflower honey and bee pollen we had the opportunity to sample many other flavors. I enjoyed them all but stuck to my favorite, creamed clover honey and Kevin got some cinnamon honey. If you’ve never heard of the health benefits of combining cinnamon and honey you’ve got some research to do!! I swear by cinnamon and honey to ward of colds and throat infections. Back on topic! The store offers all sorts of honey, honey related products, as well as cute gift items. I’m a sucker for the honey in the little bear bottle!!

While we were there we checked out The Tea Hive Cafe which I was instantly drawn to because of its pond!

It is a peaceful setting to enjoy a cup of tea and chat with a friend or just enjoy the quiet calm sounds of the waterfall. Quiet, calm is something I’m really learning to enjoy recently in my life.

The Tea room offers all sorts of yummy treats for purchase, like fresh baked scones. As well they offer a variety of loose leaf teas. Yum!

I am always impressed by the helpfulness of the staff at the Honeybee Center, and by the variety of products they offer. If you are local or traveling to the area be sure to check out this neat little interactive bee kingdom! And don’t forget to high five the honey bear out front!

Hope everyone’s Monday was productive and stress free! I promise to post some recipes soon! I’ve been busy the last few weekends with cupcake orders and catering an event but things are back to normal now!