Making memories one day at a time.......and then I write about it.

Monday, September 9, 2013

Oh Honey!



Last Saturday started out beautiful.  A perfect day to harvest the honey.  The SM and Mr. T suited up and set forth for the task armed with only their white marshmallow alien suits and a shop vac that when you put the hose on the out take side, it blows instead of sucks.  Thus, the bees are blown away from the bee boxes where the honey is.  At least that is the theory............


No one gave the memo to the bees before hand so it took a little more persuasion to remove themselves from the bee boxes then was hoped for but alas, the job was done and as you can see, I'm not sure if this Native is hurrying inside the house with a box full of trays filled with honey or if he is going off to some fencing class!


Did you know that one little bee makes about only one twelfth of a teaspoon of  honey in it's little lifetime? To make one pound of honey, bees must tap about two million flowers!  Imagine! That can be about 55,000 miles to make one pound of honey.  Isn't it incredible?  And did you know, that honey is bee throw up?
Fascinated with all of my bee knowledge yet?  Yeah, me neither.  I got it all off of the Internet.......


As I was saying, this Native, not sure of his purpose......  swinging........... fencing.........  actually, he was a huge help to his Pa.  I have to say Pa cuz I feel all, "Little House on the Prairie" with us harvesting our own honey and all........  just don't ask me to be making a balloon for my little ones out of a pig's stomach.  I've not got the stomach for it.


What I DO have the stomach for is this!  Raw honey.  Look at it just oozin' waiting for someone to put their finger in!


Sorry.  Couldn't help myself.


Apparently I'm not the only one........


Anyhoo, it was a beautiful day for harvesting honey.  The sun was out, the temperatures were perfect, The SM and Mr. T were able to get all of the bee boxes in the house and just in time.


Not a moment to soon.  This started to happen.  These clouds started to roll in and I mean roll.  Not move or glide, roll.


The sky became very dark.  Inside of the house it was dark as if evening.  Supper time.


We've seen this before.  The clouds coming in fast and low like this.  Time to get everyone inside, all windows closed, the toys in the garage and the garage door closed, and then wait and see......


The wind increases and picks up.  Not too bad.  Yet.  So noisy!


And then the rains come with the whipping wind.  The rain coming side ways.


There was a bit of a mess to clean up after.  We actually didn't get hit that hard.  Further north of us received much damage as the winds and rains increased even more than we got if you can imagine!  I sat outside on the front porch watching and amazed at what was taking place when literally just minutes before it was calm, the sun was out, it was beautiful............  I stayed until the wind changed direction and started sending the rain directly at my front porch.  

After the storm, while it was still pouring rain, The SM and The Natives ran outside to see who needed help. They were gone for quite some time putting fences back up and picking up branches that had fallen in the yards of our neighbors.  It's what they do.  I love them so for it.


Back at home and somewhat dry but with wet sopping heads of hair still the honey harvesting resumed.


Isn't it beautiful?  I think I've said beautiful a few too many times this post........  but it is a delightful sight is it not?


The grey you are seeing are little caps of wax that the bees put over each little honey cell to keep the honey inside.


Did you know that if you barely touch one of those caps it breaks easily and then honey starts to ooze out and you have no choice but to take your finger and clean the mess up licking as you go like a lollipop?


At this point I wanted to stick my whole head in the bucket and pretend I was a bear!


The day after the storm.  I sat looking out my window as I once again was amazed at how crisp and clean everything looked.  The colors so vibrant.


The air so fresh smelling.  A cleansing.


Meanwhile, day two of harvesting, The SM using the best of equipment.  Top of the line use what you've got equipment.  That's how we roll 'round these parts.


Who needs a bucket of white flour when it can be donated to the cause of filtering this nectar?


Beautiful isn't it?  Just beautiful.............  and there's many many many more of this where it came from which makes the fun facts I told you about earlier all the more amazing.  Bees.  So tiny, and yet look at the good they do.

19 comments:

  1. WooHoo! Your first honey harvest? I LOVE doing the honey. Well, that may be cuz I'm not the one spinning the extractor or doing the lifting or tending to the bees whatsoever. But I open the spigot and do the filtering. That is, I *watch* it filter. But that counts for something, right?

    It's a sweet job, but somebody's gotta do it. Congrats!

    And I'm glad the storm didn't cause you any grief.

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    1. It is!! Our very first which makes it that much more exciting. We ended up with a bit over 8 gallons. Can you believe that?? 8 gallons! Who knew such little creatures could produce so much in so few short a months......

      I 'do' the honey as you do! :D Your 'doing' and my 'doing' totally count. Especially the tasting part. One should not bottle honey unless they've tasted each batch first several times....... we don't want bad honey..... that would be........... bad! (Good grief! I need to go back to bed, I think the honey fumes are going to my head!)

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  2. That is so cool! But I would have drawn the line at licking the frames!

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    1. I didn't lick the frames either........ but I did slide my finger across them and scoop the honey and then lick my finger. That means the germs will instantly killed, moot, deceased between the frame and my mouth. ;)

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  3. What a treat! What a treat!!!

    I'm jealous . . . :)

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    1. We've been 'treating' now for several days and I have to say, raw fresh honey is just that, a treat! As usual, store bought doesn't compare to fresh!

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  4. Bears got ours again this year. :( Can't wait for our first harvest. Love the storm videos. How does your dog child do with the storms? All of a sudden our Mercy dog is afraid of them.

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    1. Again????!!!! Darn those bears! Isn't there a scare crow type thing one could fashion to scare the bears away from the hive? We have skunks and raccoons that we have to watch for but that is easier than bears. The SM just puts down spikes around the edges of the hives so if they step on them.......... ouch! He buys those carpet tack things. The wood with the nails sticking up. I wonder if you could do something similar for bears except bigger spikes.......

      You have reminded me that I need to do a post on Zoe. Wait till you see her!!! She is SO BIG and so darling and so much fun!!!! She's a goof ball, that one. So far, she isn't afraid of storms. She stood in the doorway with me as I watched this one. She would often stick her nose out and sniff the rain and wind. She doesn't like going out in the rain...... but other than that she is fine. We'll see how she does when the snows come! Thankfully, she's not afraid of loud noises too much. She chases the vacuum and isn't bothered by the blender and such. It's fun to vacuum with her around because to her it is a game. Everything to her is a game!!! She doesn't just walk, she bounces and prances everywhere with her fluffy hair on her head bouncing and prancing along with her. Okay. I do need to do a post on Zoe. I need to get some fun photos of her! You've convinced me. :D

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    2. Great....my ever so subtle reminder worked stunningly well! We did finally put up electric fence around the hives, but the day after that, the bees swarmed away, so I am blaming the bears for that, too!
      We will try again next year. Are your hives just a year old? How many do you have? That's a LOT of honey!

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    3. Oops. I see you answered some of the questions on Wabi's post....

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    4. Our hives are two years old. Last year, all of the bees died. The SM thinks with all of the spraying people do, it killed our bees. This year, the hive was obviously very successful. We have two hives. Each hive ended up with six boxes. The bees were crazy with the honey making and The SM kept adding more and more boxes. So, 12 boxes total. We used only 2 boxes from each hive that we took honey from. So 4 boxes total. I'm excited for The SM to clean the wax for me so I can start playing with the wax!! Wabi has given me some fun ideas to do with my wax. :D

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  5. i'm amazed that you got that much honey!

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    1. Us too! We had no idea and were pleasantly surprised.

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  6. have you read "one drop at a time". and my sister in laws family does this for a living!!! has for years!! it is soooo yummy!!!

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    1. I've not read that. I'll have to go check it out!

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  7. Oh, I like your post, it looks like in Switzerland:)
    I follow your blog!
    Greetings from Switzerland:-)
    Orianne

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    1. Greetings to you Orianne!! Thank you for reading my blog and for commenting. How fun! Switzerland......... awwwww............ one of those places I see in photos and want to visit. So beautiful!

      Keep commenting. I love making new friends. :D

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  8. goodness that was some storm! You guys just do things bigger in the US! And look at your honey, wow that is truly beautiful golden nectar. I for one was interested in all of your bee facts, they are little miracles of nature x

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    1. These storms we've been getting as of late in the last few years aren't typical for around here so we are all wondering what in the world is going on! The more I learn about bees the more I marvel. So incredible! The other day I was in the city and there was a little honey bee on the sidewalk. I had to laugh at myself because my first inclination was to stoop down, pick it up, and place it somewhere safe so it wouldn't be trampled!

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