We’ve been elbow deep in honey extraction since Thursday and are happy to report that the busy bees have produce 620ish pounds of honey for us. This isn’t technically a garden update, but since they do use the garden ‘s flowers for pollen and play a crucial role in fruit production, I figure they merit a mention.

Jean-Pierre and Stephanie had the great idea of purchasing a large electric extraction drum (as opposed to the manual cranking one) and many hours were saved as a result. It’s so encouraging to see golden honey flowing and it feels more rewarding than fixing tractors because you can lick your fingers occasionally. You do end up getting honey everywhere – Kamé had some caked into her hair in the back of her neck – but that’s part of the fun of it. We had the pleasure of family and friends coming to pitch in too which makes the task less lengthy and reinforces the whole community spirit that bees represent. I think that getting the honey from les hausses is the more stressful part because you are in the company of some protective bees who aren’t terribly interested in parting with the fruit of their labour. Then comes the désoperculage of the combs to remove the layer of wax, then the spinning to extract all the honey, then scraping les cadres to remove the gunk and propolis while the honey goes through three different filters. Then the bottling and weighing – a nice break because you get to sit down for this task – and last but not least, the labelling of the jars.

The other little hive update is that we have grown from a small 4 hives to a booming 7 this year – and could have had 9 it would seem. There were a few swarms (essaims) this year and our theory is because the hives were thriving and the queen thought it was time to separate and make a new hive. After much reading, Jean-Pierre has discovered that there is a great deal of contradicting info out there and that a lot of beekeepers are guessing and going by feel. So the decision here is to not replace the queens as some would suggest and let the hives do their thing. Keep a close eye on all of them, but let the bees manage their hives – logical eh? They obviously know what they’re doing because they are giving us lots of honey and surviving the winters disease free. All is well on the bee front!

On a less pleasant note, both our wells are quite dry. The few newly seeded plants and the transplanted lettuce are on their own for a few days until rain decides to grace us with its presence. This also makes honey extraction clean up tricky business. Nature likes to keep us creative it would seem ;o)

bees, cover, farm, friends, garden, honey, rain, seed, Stephanie, tractor