September is National Honey Month and Broken Sound Club — a 5-Star Platinum Club of America — has launched its BSC BEE Positive NOW™ community initiative with a BEE Smart ‘honey of a month’ awareness and education campaign. Created to share the critical eco needs, health and community benefits and the advantage of installing hives and cultivating the sweet, pure golden crop for use in cooking, beauty and natural healing treatments. Honey is great for the skin, promotes wound healing and has antimicrobial properties. About one in three mouthfuls in our diet directly or indirectly benefits from honey bee pollination.
I recently had the opportunity to visit Broken Sound Country Club (BSC) for a unique, informative and interactive chef’s table dinner featuring a honey-rich menu as part of the clubs BEE Positive NOW community initiative campaign launch. It turned out to be an amazing opportunity, I learned so much about the importance of bees and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I am pretty amazed with the efforts that Broken Sound puts fourth to set an example for country clubs across the nation!
BSC began its sustainability efforts on its greens with reclaiming water and adding birdhouses, a butterfly garden and true native areas on its golf courses. Looking internally at facility operations, BSC moved to paperless accounting, cardboard and paper recycling and installing of water reduction toilets, shower heads, motion sensor lighting systems with LED fixtures and bulbs, and replacing Styrofoam cups with biodegradable products made of corn starch before its large investment in composting.
Most recently, BSC became the first club community to install a Tesla charging station and employ a beekeeper to install and maintain 22 beehives on its two Audubon Sanctuary and GEO Certified golf courses. The Club’s 2013 transformational design and build of its Moonstone Spa and Fitness Center earned LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).
For its best practices, BSC has received honors from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for its impressive recycling rate that is consistently three times the statewide recycling rate for the commercial sector and was a Green Corporate Citizen award finalist at the department’s 2012 Corporate Recycling and Waste Conference. Recognizing its golf course-focused sustainability best practices, BSC was the second golf facility in the U.S. and 14th in the world to be GEO Certified, the sustainability assurance of the Golf Environment Organization, an international non-profit dedicated to supporting sustainability in the sport of golf.
With the endangering plight of the bee population on the rise throughout the country that threatens the eco-system and food supply, Broken Sound Club (BSC) has taken ‘to the hives’ to do its part on the greens, in the club and throughout the community to increase appreciation, protection and populating of these hard-working, life-sustaining pollinators.
The sustainability leader’s beekeepers tend to an average of one million bees to produce more than 1,000 ounces of pure, natural honey per year. Additionally, BSC produces a healthy environment for ‘the birds and the bees’, the Club’s general eco-system and Club members. It also yields impact on the Boca Raton community.
Meet the BSC BEE Team
Sierra Malnove, BSC Beekeeper
Sierra Malnove is the mother of three young children and a passionate beekeeper who took the fast track on the beekeeping express, growing from 1 to 100 hives in under two years. She believes in treatment-free beekeeping and helping people to discover their beekeeping potential. She is the current Speaker Coordinator and the elected Vice President for the Palm Beach County Beekeepers Association and in 2014, coordinated the most successful Florida State Beekeepers Association Conference in recent history. She is the owner of Sierra’s Bees, LLC and gives private beekeeping lessons and takes care of Backyard Bees, Country Club Bees, and Pollination Bees.
Al Salopec, Beekeeper
In 2008, Al’s journey with bees began when his neighbor had a “problem” with bees. Not wanting to exterminate these bees, they worked together to carefully remove and re-locate the colony. In 2009, Al realized that the plight of the honeybee is an important lesson for mankind and began to set up his own non-profit honeybee educational program, Bee Understanding. It is through this program that Al is able to visit schools, clubs, and associations, teaching through speaking engagements and presentations to both young and old.
Al started Bee Understanding’s “Beekeepers Paying It Forward” program, where he has donated over 700 honeybee hives to beginning backyard beekeepers. Al was Vice President in 2012 and President in 2013 and 2014 of the Palm Beach County Beekeepers Association. Al continues to educate people and rescue hives from unwanted locations, and is looking forward to having an impact on the beekeeping industry on a local, state, and national level through education, legislation and innovation.
All images appearing in this post photographed by Holli Lapes, property of My Wellness RD, LLC
Guests who attended the interactive tasting viewed a presentation with live commentary from the beekeepers.
Bees on display for educational purposes
Pure honey produced by the bee’s at Broken Sound
Vodka – Honey Lemonade
Meet the BSC Culinary Team
JOE LONGO – BSC EXECUTIVE CHEF
Joe was hired at Broken Sound Club in September 2003. He was raised in Westfield, New Jersey. He brings 25 years of experience from the kitchens of some of the finest restaurants of New York, New Jersey and South Florida, including Gramercy Tavern in New York City, Unique Restaurant Concepts, owners of Max’s Grille at Mizner Park and Ritz Carlton Hotels. He is a member of the American Culinary Federation, The World Association of Cooks and is a certified Florida Foodservice Manager.
DIANNA WINKLER – BSC ASSISTANT PASTRY CHEF
Dianna was hired at Broken Sound Club in September 2013. She was born in Staten Island, NY and raised just up the road in Boca Raton, Florida. She studied Computer Engineering for four years at Florida State University where she became owner and founder of Piece of Cake Bakery. She quickly realized that her passion lied in pastry and moved back down south to pursue her dream. She went on to graduate with honors from Florida International University and holds a B.A. in Hospitality-Management. She has worked side-by-side with Food Network stars such as Duff Goldman at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival and enjoys incorporating molecular gastronomy into many of her desserts.
{Amuse Bouche} Honeycomb and Cambozola Muffin with a Honey – Onion Marmalade
Preserved Lemon and Honey Glazed Shrimp with Grits
Ginger & Honey Glazed Duck Breast
Honey – Miso Halibut Crispy Rice Cake, Miso Broth
Burnt Honey and Red Wine Glazed Filet Mignon
Honey Nut Crunch Pie
Upcoming Community Events
- ‘Queen BEE For A Day’ Facebook fun commencing Friday, September 9th to promote BSC/Bloomingdale’s BEE YUMMY event on September 17th.
- Queen BEE Day At Bloomies/Town Center, Saturday, September 17th: set among an array of Bloomie’s bee-themed china, accessories and linens, BSC Chefs will be ‘serving up’ BEE Yummy honey-themed cooking demos and tastings of signature Club recipes for cocktails, smoothies, salad dressings, sauces, appetizers, entrees and desserts.
- BEE Happy & Smart Day, Saturday, September 24th, Boca Raton’s Children’s Museum: Presented by BSC, the ‘Honey of a Day’ will feature a hive full of beekeeping family fun celebrating the great pollinators and their liquid gold. Activities to include an interactive BEE Understanding show, live entertainment, arts and crafts, storytelling, a BEE Hunt, games with prizes, BEE Lovin’ photo opportunities, tips for creating an at-home butterfly garden and more.
About Broken Sound Club:
Known as the “friendly” club for its signature blend of warmth, elegance and genuine hospitality, this award-winning private gated golf and country club community offers a choice of 27 lushly landscaped intimate residential villages, each with its own character. All are just minutes away from its main clubhouse with indoor and outdoor dining, two Audubon Sanctuary certified signature golf courses (one host to the PGA Champions Tour season opener), a new two-acre $6 million poolscape with bistro, a new $7 million 35,000-square-foot spa and fitness center, and 23 tennis courts. This 5-Star Platinum Club of America is conveniently close to two international airports, and just a few miles from the private Boca Raton Executive Airport, pristine beaches, A-rated public and award-winning private schools, two universities, and an exciting world of shopping, dining, and recreation.
Holli Lapes, RD, LD/N is a Registered and Licensed Dietitian Nutritionist in South Florida. Holli is the founder of The South Florida Sage (http://thesoflasage.com/) a food & drink blog featuring culinary experiences from the Miami, Broward and Palm Beach area.
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All images appearing in this post photographed by Holli Lapes, property of My Wellness RD, LLC
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary meal at Broken Sound Country Club.
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