Well, I waited long enough to do this. First of all, I’ve never done any of this before. Second, I was so in awe over the whole process I didn’t want anyone to miss how beautiful the frames looked. And to harvest the first year! What joy! I showed the frames to everyone who visited, and there was much finger dipping. Typically, beekeepers who use the standard frames will harvest their honey with an extractor. Those are expensive and I didn’t care to either buy one or rent one for just two half-sized frames. And God didn’t give me one out of the blue along with a bunch of other equipment while I was reading a beekeeping book from an elderly woman on the ferry whose beekeeping husband just passed on, either (that happened to my friend’s husband!).
Me, I just scraped.
The scraping itself was relatively easy, but the frame was SO heavy! I was afraid I’d drop the whole thing!
I set up the entire batch into a large colander over a large pot to strain. Then I covered the whole top with plastic wrap and just let gravity do its thing. The next morning, most of the honey had strained through. I gave the beeswax/honey mixture a stir and let it strain some more. Then, I strained it once again with a smaller sieve. I saved the beeswax for chewing (the kids love it!) and I’m going to experiment with making honey-lip balm with the rest.
I was delighted to find I had two very full quarts! And the taste is incredible! I look at it like liquid gold, real raw food with real healing properties. And because it’s from my own yard, I expect this wonderful sticky liquid to help combat against pollen allergies for our family as well.
You could do this, too. Or anything else you’ve been sorta-think’in-you’d-wanna-learn. The coming winter is a wonderful time to dream, buy a book, take a class, meet a mentor, jump in. The results can be very, very sweet indeed.
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Blessings,
I’m so glad to find this post! We bought our farm last fall, and two colonies were still in residence in two hive boxes left here. I bought a new colony this year, which brings me up to three. I do not have the money for an extractor, either, and I never once thought of extracting the honey this way.
I’m also inspired while reading your posts. Like you, beekeeping classes are too far from here to attend. I have found a wonderful beekeeping mentor, thankfully, and I’m also doing a lot of trial and error since he’s a half hour away. I’m enjoying reading all your posts, and seeing all you’ve learned along the way. ๐
Thanks, Sheri! I had to let my bees go ๐ but I am anxious to do it again, when the time is right. That honey sure was amazing. And I sure loved being around those honeybees; what incredible creatures. Thank you for taking the time to leave me a comment; I wish you the very best!
I wondered if you still kept bees, as it was an old post. May I ask what made you decide to give them up? Thanks for the well wishes. It’s a learning process, but I’m enjoying it.
Sure! There were a couple of reasons.
One, I was finding that I had too many other things going on that were distracting me from my home and children. I’m homeschooling and none of my children shared my love of honeybees so it wasn’t something I could really share with any of them. Furthermore, my days began to revolve around those outside needs/chores, the bees just being a small part of them (I had to give up some other interests as well). It’s amazing how many *only (fill in the blank) minutes/times a week* add up when there is a lot of them.
Also, along those lines, I did not feel like I was able to wholeheartedly give it the attention that it deserved. In the short times I have to myself, I felt like I needed to *focus* more on a *few* things rather than just give little bits of time to *many* things. I felt/feel a need to do things as well as I can, and I just couldn’t do it with too many things on my plate.
That being said, beekeeping is a marvelous thing!! In my mind, I think once my baby is out of toddlerhood and the current classes I’m taking end, I’ll have the physical and mental space to try it again. In the meantime, I’m a satisfied supporter of my local beekeepers ๐
Many blessings and enjoy those awesome girls ๐
Awh! Thanks a bunch for responding. I’m a homeschooling mama myself, so I *completely* know what you mean. Mine are a bit older…my youngest is in preschool…but neither one is into anything related to bugs. Lol. It’s easy for all of those small thefts of time to end up gobbling most, if not all, of our days. I’ve had to cut back on several things myself. I pray you’ve found a good balance. It’s something all of us mamas are searching for.
Blessings to you!