Honey Harvest 2014

We are backyard beekeepers. Why? Eric has always thought it would be an interesting, fun hobby and would help us be one step closer to self reliance, and his little brother starting a few hives and that motivated Eric to start too. I am a backyard beekeeper because I am married to Eric.
Here is a photo journey of our first honey harvest since moving to Texas. In the past, in Idaho, honey harvest day was a family event. It was a family event here too, just not as much family; Eric and Me!

The extracting equipment all dusted off and ready to go!

Getting the smoker ready to go! Eric uses cedar chips.

Voila....smoke

Suiting up

Yes, I was forced to suit up this year too. Where is the son and sons-in-law when you need them?

I should lobby for a veil that actually fits me.

Inside the hive...busy little girls!

Our yard is all a buzzzzzz.

Taking off the super.

When bees hang out on the front of the hive it is called Bearding. Appropriately named it think.



Sometimes the bees build comb where they are not supposed to. Eric scrapes it off and turns it into lip balm or lotions.

No blog is complete without a selfie.  Aren't we looking bee..utiful?

These are the frames that we will extract the honey from. To get them bee free, Eric shook the bees off then brushed the bees off with a soft brush and then I took the frame away from the hives and placed them in the boxes and covered them with a sheet so the bees didn't get back on them. I didn't want bees in my house!

This is unfiltered honey coming out of the extractor. It is being filtered the first time through the red strainer. It then gets filtered a second time through a fabric that is similar to cheese cloth. No bee parts allowed in the final product.

Eric is removing the cap (wax) that the bees put over the honey when it is completely changed from pollen/nectar into the real stuff. When it capped we know it is ready to be harvested. I'm not the bee expert, but so I probably got that a little wrong. But in general it is pretty close.

The knife if heated so it melts the caps right off. After that the frames go in the extractor and we spin it to remove the honey from the comb.

Here is the honey after coming out of the extractor, through the first filter and now this is the final filter.

Last step is to put the honey in containers.

The honey on the left is honey we got from our hive when we lived in Idaho. The honey on the right is our first Texas honey. It is quite a bit darker in color. They both taste good, but different.

 

Really the final step in this whole process is the sticky clean-up. I am pretty sure my kitchen floor will remain sticky for a few weeks even though I have mopped. It just goes with the territory I guess.