A Taste of Honey

The bees have been having a good year.  A combination of learning from our mistakes, good weather, a better site for the apiary in the garden and especially working with a mentor has improved our beekeeping and Summer Sweet Apiary in New Farm is looking good.



Swarm in a spruce tree near the apiary



We had one hive winter over and we added a package to the other hive.  They were off a running.  On June 7th the green hive that had wintered over SWARMED! 

We tried to catch the swarm but they hugged a thick tree and by the time we got a spare box together and were ready to coax them they had departed for parts unknown. Fortunately the fertile Queen stayed with the original hive and they continued to work.

Jon and Bob helping with the hive inspections



 When we were in the hives for inspection and cleaning with our mentor on July 1st we noticed that one of the supers was full of honey.  Time to harvest! 

We soon extracted 2 gallons of dark, wonderful honey.   It is deep in color and flavor - not like the  light colored amber clover honey commonly found. Folks who have tasted it say it has various flavors of " molasses, vanilla, clethora (summer sweet), basil, mint, and earthy essences". 

It is excellent in tea, granola and yogurt and Liz has already used it in a couple of recipes.  We gave the neighbors a pint (we are keeping up good bee relations...a good idea when you have 70,000+ stingers flying around the hood).

Winds may blow over the icy sea
I'll take with me the warmth of thee
A taste of honey
A taste much sweeter than wine

as sung by The Beatles, Tony Bennet and more.



Ready to extract the stuff



First we add a "fume board" to drive the bees down out of the super



Jon adds a entrance reducer to prevent late summer "robbing"



We got the super full of honey off the hive by using a fume board to drive the bees down and then we used a  leaf blower to separate the bees from the frames.  The super went into a bag and then quickly into the house before the bees could rally.


The frames were loaded



The frames get spun in the extractor



Our honey extractor worked like a charm.  Afterwards I cleaned it in the outdoor shower.

Now I am looking around at yard sales for a couple of pots for processing my wax. 



Remove cappings, spin, filter - repeat





Whole lot of dripping goin' on - the capping yield some great honey





Yeah Baby!

 

We cleaned the frames after extracting and put the super back on.  Perhaps we will get a fall flow and harvest but first the bees need to have plenty of food for the winter.  It's only August but it is already time to think about winter feeding.

Keep up the good work girls...

The Competitive Edge

Durham Fair 2011 sets a new standard for our gardening and growing-our-own aspirations

The Durham Fair http://www.durhamfair.com/ is a showcase for all things agriculture, gardening and horticulture, homegrown goods and crafts, canning and pickling and award-winning livestock. 
 The New Farmers plan to compete next year.  Here are award-winning tomatoes:


Blue-ribbon tomato display - Durham Fair 2011

Awards also go to every imaginable vegetable that can be grown in Connecticut soil: Beets, Broccoli, Peppers, Swiss Chard, Celery, Potatoes, Eggplant, biggest Squash, and on. Requirements include that the vegetable be grown non-commerically in Connecticut.

checking out the competition

Other competitions in which New Farm hopes to compete include
Best Honey - all local apiaries, dark and light varieities
 

Various entries in the Honey Competition

  Our apiary is looking good this year with two nucs filled already.  We are hoping that both hives will winter over nicely.  Either way, the honey competition might be a couple years off for us. 



 Canning Contest - Must use all homegrown main ingredients.  Fruit: There were amazing blueberry, raspberry and strawberry jams, peach jams, and apple butters
Chutneys/Relishes: Also competitions for the best relish and chutney.  Orginiality was awarded here, again all ingredients must be homegrown.  I think our Apple-onion Chutney from the previous post would win as there was nothing else like it. 

Pickling Contest - our neighbors orginial recipe pickled peppers (with Italian fyring peppers) could win this category.  New Farm could enter as well, but details will be withheld for competitive purposes.

Pickling Competition - requires every ingredient to be homegrown

Best Eggs - Looks for uniformity in shape, size and color. White, light brown, brown and colored competition.  Brightness awarded in the colored category.  Our Aracona hen's eggs could compete. 

Look for us next year.