First, I have to get this out of the way. If the food was this good at MY college, I'd never have gained the Freshman 50 eating crappy cheap delivery pizza on all those cram sessions. Chef Mark Harris and his staff are incredibly talented, creative and committed to serving healthy, locally-produced fare, and let me tell you, I was treated to lamb crepes that made me melt into a puddle right there in the cafeteria.

Okay, now that that's been said, I'm so grateful for the invite, via an introduction by Laura Wendel of the Moreland Farmers Market.

I had a blast, doling out samples of our blackberry comb honey and Sellwood Plunder raw extracted honey, and hearing the gasps of appreciation from students, faculty and kitchen staff. I know, it seems like I'm inserting a brag here, but I can't take credit for the diversity of forage here in the Sellwood neighborhood, and the bees did all the work. All we did was work the bees, extract the honey and handle the bottling, which really is more fun than work anyway.

I was also amazed at the popularity of comb honey among the younger crowd. It's a common belief that comb honey is more of an "old-timer's" thing, and I think we dispelled that myth as soon as the sample cups hit the tray.

But most amazing of all is that we're nearly sold out of all our 2007 harvest. Reed College and Bon Appetit have just ordered five cases of Sellwood Plunder, and many students have contacted me to purchase jars for themselves.

At this rate, we may be buying honey for our own use before long, if we don't hold some back! We've already set aside our holiday honey for friends and family, and I've convinced Curt that "we're all out" because otherwise, he'd be pouring a pound a day on toast, in tea and on anything else remotely edible.

But it's also a great excuse to try out the honey produced by other apiaries. We had some fantastic Tupelo honey from the Slotki Brothers [Warm Mineral Springs, Florida (941) 425-5155] and I'm hoping to get my hands on some fireweed honey soon.

So if you're interested in getting your hands on some Sellwood Plunder, you'd better get in touch soon. It's going fast!