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Sunday, November 25, 2012
Monday, September 10, 2012
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Honey Harvest Day - Operation Honey Thief
Today was our first BIG honey harvest and it was an adventure. Dirty Feet put together some new frames and foundation for an additional honey super because we were taking one off and they girls need something to fill up. He also put together my NEW EXTRACTOR that my daddy-o drove all the way to Paris to pick up for me yesterday. Thanks Sarge!!
At the hive the bees responded quite poorly to the honey robber. It didn't work as well as we'd thought it would to clear the supers. We put the fume board on and the hive got LOUD. After 10 minutes there were still a TON of bees in the top supe buzzing around and they seemed very confused and disoriented. There were thousands of my gals crawling out the front entrance trying to escape the foul smell (I don't blame them, I didn't like it either).
After getting a good look down in the supe it seemed as though enough frames were filled and capped and thus unready for harvest. I was a wee bit disappointed but I knew the bottom supe would be well beyond ready. We took off the top one and put it aside to be placed back on the hive later.
The bottom honey super was so heavy that I thought it was glued down with propolis, it turned out being about 26 lbs. The fume board worked pretty well on that supe and Dirty Feet and I loaded it into the wheel barrow, put the hive back together, and wheeled the supe around to the front of the shed. We went frame by frame gently brushing the hitchhiking bees off and putting the full frames in the uncapping tank.
Inside the house I got busy with the uncapping knife so that we could get the honey out with the extractor. We had a super special visit from Inches and her Mama :) They came by to pick up their honey and we got to explain the beekeeping basics and harvesting process to them. They even braved going out to see our grumpy gals. We LOVE visitors to The Hippie House, especially visitors that might start their own hives <3
Once each frame was uncapped with the uncapping knife, Dirty Feet loaded them into the extractor and spun away. The centrifugal force of the extractor spun the honey out of the combs and collected it down at the bottom near the honey gate.
After we got done with all the frames, we set our extractor on the table and opened the honey gate to drain into a 5 gallon bottling bucket with a couple of micron filters on the top. Once it finally flows all the way through the filters our honey will be ready for bottling! We're taking orders on those bottles now.
Because we aren't using our frames again next year (that's right! We got a new hive!!!) we were able to use the uncapping knife to remove all the comb from the frames. I'll be using that comb to make candles and lip balm in the next couple of weeks. There's nothing like the smell of a beeswax candle!
We set the empty frames out with the hive to let the girls them up and have a special treat. They were good sports about today, no stings, no aggressive behavior. Gotta love Russians, they make great babies.
Remember if you ever want to come by for a hive check or to see the girls just drop us a line!
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| Dirty Feet uses brute man strength to put the new extractor together |
At the hive the bees responded quite poorly to the honey robber. It didn't work as well as we'd thought it would to clear the supers. We put the fume board on and the hive got LOUD. After 10 minutes there were still a TON of bees in the top supe buzzing around and they seemed very confused and disoriented. There were thousands of my gals crawling out the front entrance trying to escape the foul smell (I don't blame them, I didn't like it either).
 |
| The Russians illustrating their disdain for my fume board and honey robbing practices. |
After getting a good look down in the supe it seemed as though enough frames were filled and capped and thus unready for harvest. I was a wee bit disappointed but I knew the bottom supe would be well beyond ready. We took off the top one and put it aside to be placed back on the hive later.
The bottom honey super was so heavy that I thought it was glued down with propolis, it turned out being about 26 lbs. The fume board worked pretty well on that supe and Dirty Feet and I loaded it into the wheel barrow, put the hive back together, and wheeled the supe around to the front of the shed. We went frame by frame gently brushing the hitchhiking bees off and putting the full frames in the uncapping tank.
Once each frame was uncapped with the uncapping knife, Dirty Feet loaded them into the extractor and spun away. The centrifugal force of the extractor spun the honey out of the combs and collected it down at the bottom near the honey gate.
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| Dirty Feet gets put to work extracting honey |
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| The inside view of the extractor with frames in it |
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| Liquid love pouring into the micron filters |
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| Small chucks of wax will be filtered out leaving us with pure honey. |
Because we aren't using our frames again next year (that's right! We got a new hive!!!) we were able to use the uncapping knife to remove all the comb from the frames. I'll be using that comb to make candles and lip balm in the next couple of weeks. There's nothing like the smell of a beeswax candle!
 |
| mind your own beeswax |
We set the empty frames out with the hive to let the girls them up and have a special treat. They were good sports about today, no stings, no aggressive behavior. Gotta love Russians, they make great babies.
Remember if you ever want to come by for a hive check or to see the girls just drop us a line!
Bottled and Labeled
Finally got everything bottled and ready to go on Thursday. The new Hippie House Honey - Early Season Harvest sold completely out in less than 20 minutes. Thanks to all the people out there that love their bee vomit local!!! We love you guys!
Friday, June 15, 2012
We Learn Much Through Others
Networking allows the Stinky Farmers to learn and grow. Check out The Urban Farming guys, our heroes and online mentors:
http://theurbanfarmingguys.com/
http://theurbanfarmingguys.com/
Some Thoughts from the Beekeeper
Beekeeping tends to change your perspective on things. Here are a couple I've noticed so far:
When I drive by my neglectful neighbors house and see that his clover filled yard is overgrown and obviously hasn't been mowed in weeks I no longer groan about the eyesore and lowered property values because I see a plethora of close-to-home food for my babies to forage that hasn't been sprayed with pesticides.
When we have a too short winter and amazing spring like this one I practically worship it. The mild temperatures, the rain, the excess of pollen. I no longer curse the pollen for giving me wicked allergy attacks, get pissed about the abundance of pesky bugs, or mope around because I didn't get the cold weather I miss so much. It's perfect honey weather.
When I drive by my neglectful neighbors house and see that his clover filled yard is overgrown and obviously hasn't been mowed in weeks I no longer groan about the eyesore and lowered property values because I see a plethora of close-to-home food for my babies to forage that hasn't been sprayed with pesticides.
When we have a too short winter and amazing spring like this one I practically worship it. The mild temperatures, the rain, the excess of pollen. I no longer curse the pollen for giving me wicked allergy attacks, get pissed about the abundance of pesky bugs, or mope around because I didn't get the cold weather I miss so much. It's perfect honey weather.
Monday, June 11, 2012
Nectar of the Gods... er Russians
Not too long ago we made a plan 'ol trip to the hive to add a queen excluder. Lo and Behold, the Russians had been busy filling foundation-less frames with some CRAZY comb. Normally bees will build comb into frames so that each frame slides out easily but this time around my gals had built comb that took up two or three frames at a time making frames impossible to remove. To make matters a bit more sticky, the comb was full of sweet, oozing uncapped honey. In order to remedy this we had to remove the entire super of golden awesomeness. Dirty Feet, my usual buzzy photographer, had to help me by holding out giant bags to fill with frames and comb and helping sweep the baby girls off their precious nectar. What does a girl do with 40 pounds of uncapped honey and beeswax??? I thought you might ask...
The wax comb is pulled from the frame then crushed so the honey comes out. You can wait for it to drain but it's a bit more fun to get your hands all gooey and takes a lot less time. You put the smashed wax in a colander to drain the rest of the way. After the wax is drained you can rinse it with warm water and store it to make candles, lip balm, and other products later on.
You're left with oodles of golden goodness that contains flakes of wax. Quite delectable but those chewy chucks can be annoying.
You then filter it, I chose double filtration... I like to leave some nature in my nectar.
Then you pour your filtered Russian awesomess into jars of your choosing for later use.
That's not bee pee folks, that's a great start to the 2012 bee season. Two pints of some very interesting tasting stuff. We had quite a bit more but decided it would be best fed to the gals as a treat. While it's not technically honey yet, it still won't ever spoil and is great for making mead, baking, or just sticking a spoon in. It's very sweet with a mild plantlike/cloveresque flavor to it. Come by The Hippie House today and get your fingers in our honey pots. Then you can comment and tell everyone how you would describe the taste!
Along the way we had one casualty, I accidentally crushed one of my gals and she exacted her revenge swiftly. RIP worker number 14,261. We'll miss you.
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Playing Catch Up
Growing season is in full swing and I must say Dirty Feet has done most of the work this year with the edibles. Check out some of the greatness he's pulled off:
Bell Peppers are growing like weeds. They're delicious too!
Baby watermelons are starting to form on some of the vines.
Squash plants get bigger every day but as you can tell on the picture on the right, something has been eating our babies! Any ideas on what it might be?
Tomatillo Plants. Guacasalsa anyone? YUM!
Moon Flowers are starting to bloom like crazy. They're climbing up the Sweet Gum tree where the old Foxglove used to be and growing along the fence line. They are absolutely gorgeous.
This ends today's tour. Check back for more on the progress of the plantlings and adventures into homesteading.
Bell Peppers are growing like weeds. They're delicious too!
Baby watermelons are starting to form on some of the vines.
Squash plants get bigger every day but as you can tell on the picture on the right, something has been eating our babies! Any ideas on what it might be?
Tomatillo Plants. Guacasalsa anyone? YUM!
This ends today's tour. Check back for more on the progress of the plantlings and adventures into homesteading.
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Well now Stinky Followers, it appears as though we've been too busying DYIing and gardening to keep up with our blog much. Many things have happened. Last year's crop of Squash and Zucchini can only be described as outstanding. The farmers experienced vegetables larger than any we've seen in a supermarket. Dirty Feet learned the basics of how and when to fertilize and we experienced another boom in growth. The beehive grew their numbers and miraculously everything survived that hellish drought.
This year we're back at it with more DIY adventures, more veggies, and a lot more wisdom. Happy Harvest!
This year we're back at it with more DIY adventures, more veggies, and a lot more wisdom. Happy Harvest!
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