It has been so long since I have posted. Lots has been going on. Today we harvested our hives. It is a several day process because we don't have an extractor...they cost several hundred dollars. We decided to use good ol' free gravity.
In preparation you get a paint strainer and clip it over a 5 gallon bucket.
Once you have pulled the frames you are harvesting you crush the wax and comb and all that good stuff unto a mixture that looks unmistakably like puke...
It's nice and chunky so sometimes you have to use your hands to get it out. For those of you who hate sticky hands (Mom) this would be unpleasant.
We ordered the little spigot thingy off the internet and drilled it into a $1 bucket from Home Depot.
Then beautiful gravity does its job.
Because the honey mixture is so viscous it takes several days to strain out everything. but for the time being we have 4 pounds of beautiful raw honey.
It has a wonderful citrus bite to it. I cannot get over how yummy it is. I am excited that as they get more established they will make more honey!
