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Did you know that honeybees must visit 2,000,000 flowers to make only a single pound of delicious honey? It takes 150 bees to make one teaspoon of this golden nectar!

I recently visited Pete and Paul Blake of Blake’s Orchards and Cider Mill in Armada. They operate three farms equaling 700 acres, and honeybees are some of their hardest workers!

I was totally fascinated by the bees and the beautiful, colorful hives. Pete and Paul told me that every year they hire beekeepers to set up their beehives on and around their orchards to pollinate all of their fruit trees, berry bushes and veggies.

The Blakes must purchase new bees every year. Although the bee should live from year to year, they have tragically been dying from Colony Collapse Disorder. Scientists aren’t exactly clear on what’s going on with the collapse — whether it’s the mites, radio waves, cell towers, pesticides or simply a natural cycle. Do a search to learn more about this strange, mysterious phenomenon and the decline of our bees.

We’re looking for local beekeepers to get in touch with us, as we’d love to carry and sell your honey at our Achatz pie shops.

I love the R and D end of the business at Achatz Handmade Pie Co. I had just come back from a bike ride and had the urge to put together the Boston cream pies that I had been thinking about for a long time.

Of course, a Boston cream pie is a cake, not a pie, but we still have a lot of customers coming in asking for them. So now instead of saying, “No, we don’t make that,” we’ll say, “Yes, how many do you want?”

The Boston cream pie starts with our tender flaky pie crust, followed by a couple pounds of our homemade pastry cream made with pure butter and real vanilla, and topped with this really awesome delicious yellow cake! Then, my favorite part… a ton of super high fat chocolate ganache poured over top! Ohhh… must ride 10 more miles to burn just one slice of this heavenly pie!

Our clientele gets anxious for strawberry pies come May, so we’ll ship in some fresh berries from Florida… and sometimes we get lucky and get a really nice batch. Michigan strawberries are the best, though you have to be patient! Michigan berries — especially buying them from local farms close to home — just seem to taste better.

But watch my recent segment on Fox 2 News where I made a Strawberry and Cream Pie with beautiful strawberries delivered from Florida. They were deep red, as big as apples, and looked like they were pumped on steroids!

This June, Strawberry and Cream is our Pie of the Month. We’ll be using locally grown strawberries from Blake’s Big Apple orchard on North Ave. in Armada, Mich. Visit Blake’s and they’ll allow you to pick your own berries. It’s worth a trip up; bring the kids and experience the hard labor of harvesting your own fruit (it’ll be good for your kids)!

Each month we spotlight a different pie for $1 off the regular price. Our Strawberry Cream pie will go fast and will soon be off the menu until next June, so call ahead to reserve yours.