A Honey Sommelier

Marina Marchese with bee hives

 

Almost two decades ago, Marina Marchese fell in love with bees during a tour of a neighbor’s honeybee hives. She built her own beehive, ordered bees, and was soon harvesting honey.

She eventually quit her job in the arts, and even spent time in Italy training to become a ‘honey sensory expert’ – which is basically like being a honey sommelier. Today, her small business Red Bee Honey sells artisanal honey and honey-related products to shops and restaurants all over the country.  » Read more

A Little Taste of Bourbon Street

Mudbugs Cajun Kitchen

 

We just saw this great review of Mudbugs Cajun Kitchen in Florida Weekly:

The food and flair of the French Quarter isn’t what you’d expect to find on a sedate Florida island best known for its shell-laden beaches, preserved nature and snowbird population. Nevertheless, Mudbugs bills itself as “Bourbon Street at the Beach,” and its interpretation of New Orleans cuisine is a welcome addition to Sanibel’s dining scene — and to greater Southwest Florida,  » Read more

Mangrove Tree Crab

Mangrove Tree Crab

Article and photo by Kyle Sweet, superintendent of The Sanctuary Golf Club

The Mangrove Tree Crab can be found all along the barrier islands of Southwest Florida and may at first glance look like a spider climbing along our native Red, Black and White Mangroves. As crabs go, they are very small, only being an average of an inch across. Their coloration greatly varies from olive green to brown and have very sharp tips on the ends of their legs that allow them to efficiently climb all throughout the trees.  » Read more

Lucky Loo

J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge Visitor & Education Center

The public restrooms at the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge Visitor & Education Center on Sanibel Island are in the top 10 list of contestants in the 2018 America’s Best Bathroom® Contest.

Contest host Cintas Corporation this week informed the “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society-Friends of the Refuge (DDWS) that the refuge’s Learning Lavatories (#LearningLav) restrooms project ranks among the annual contest’s finalists.

Voting for the contest begins Monday,  » Read more

“Bag Day” is Coming!

Women of St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church

The Noah’s Ark Annual Bag Day event is coming up Friday, August 10, 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Customers may buy marked bags in the parking lot for $4 each, fill them with store goods, and walk away with as many items as the bags will carry. Customers are free to purchase as many $4 bags as they wish for the Bag Day sale.

Any items that don’t fit in the bag are 80 percent off the regular price.  » Read more

A Good Neighbor, Indeed!

CROW releases a sea turtle back to the ocean

Good neighbors make a huge difference in your quality of life, no matter where — or who — you may be!

Take CROW for instance. The Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife on Sanibel Island helps injured wildlife found throughout Southwest Florida.

They recently released two critically endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtles at Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park in North Naples.

The first of the two turtles,  » Read more

Something Fishy!

Author Jennifer L. Schiff with stacks of her book A Shell of a Problem

Author Jennifer L. Schiff is back in hot water — or, more accurately — the warm waters of Sanibel Island with her new book, Something Fishy. This is the second volume in her Sanibel Island Mystery series, which premiered with A Shell of a Problem, published last fall.

Like its predecessor, Something Fishy is a cozy mystery set on our tranquil Florida island,  » Read more

Ding Darling Amateur Photo Contest

Bird on a branch with a caterpillar in its mouth

Paul Brook’s “Mangrove Cuckoo with Moth Caterpillar.” DDWS photo

 

The submission process is now open for Ding Darling’s Annual Amateur Nature Photography Contest!

Sponsored by the “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society-Friends of the Refuge, the annual J.N. “Ding” Darling Days Amateur Nature Photography Contest is open to non-professional photographers.  Winning photographs will be announced in conjunction with the annual “Ding” Darling Days,  » Read more

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