Shake the Honey Tree.
This picture was of my son and me after I had been doing some beekeeping for Stratford Ecological Center. My son had asked me what his name meant as we hiked around the nearly three hundred acres. I told him it’s from the latin Ursus, meaning bear. And he said to me, “like you mommy?”. I laughed and nodded, yes, just like me, a great mama bear shaking the tree to get the beehive out, and then sticking her paw in the honey.
In all fairness bears are not always so forceful, they can display a great deal of finesse when needed. But it’s probably a pretty apt description. I find however that both in working a beehive properly and in making pastry, you need a fair amount of precision, a gentle hand, but also efficiency and strength. And in both skills, the clock is always ticking. From the time you open the hive, or from the moment you pull a laminated dough from the refrigerator, that pressure is there.
I began my path as both a beekeeper and a chef when I was an undergraduate student in Zoology at The Ohio State University. I needed a work study position and found a poster at the old BoZo building (now demolished, sniff) for “Beekeeper, wanted”. Of course I had to respond to this add because who wouldn’t want to do that! And a day later found myself in a relaxed interview with the woman who would become my boss for the following eight years.
I eventually graduated with my degree in Zoology, specializing in beekeeping and honey bee breeding and genetics. Meanwhile I had been supplementing my income by bartending at a wonderful fine dining restaurant in the Short North called Rigsby’s Kitchen. When the honey bee lab closed, I worked up the courage to ask owner and chef Kent Rigsby if I could learn to cook. I’ll never forget his response, he said “well, you work hard and you have a knack for recipes, but you’re too nice.”
He let me into the kitchen anyhow, I got to apprentice under him and the other sous chefs at the time. Eventually we figured out I was pretty good at baking and so I became their head pastry chef. While I was sad to let the beekeeping go, I had found something equally satisfying and also very creative. Pastry was such a perfect fit for me as both a scientist and an artist.
I went on to work at other local companies and restaurants, always honing my skills and meeting more friends. I was privileged to be hired as the Executive Chef at Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, where I was asked to head up the newly formed R&D department. I was a part of the team that worked on the first Jeni’s cookbook and helped transition the company to a national brand.
I worked for our beloved local coffee roaster Stauf’s, where I helped them re-brand their company and install a bakery program to supply all of their locations.
I love my work as a chef, I love to bake, I love keeping bees. But none of it compares to my love of being a mom. I am fortunate and so very grateful I was able to leave work when my son was young so I could stay at home with him.
And I’ve been fortunate again, as time opens up just a little for us, to have time to write these recipes I so adore to share with you. And in the spring, I’ll be over joyed as I join our beekeeping group at Stratford and my friends at Yankee Street Farm to get back into the hives and harvest some honey.
Cheers!
