First Harvest

At the NCBA Beginning Beekeeping Class, they cautioned us not to expect to harvest any honey our first year.  I pulled out five heaping frames today.  I am so excited, and so proud of the bees.  It's been a great year for bees in Fort Collins.

I went up to Copoco's to get a gate valve and a food grade 5 gallon bucket, a scraper, and a a bucket filter.  It's not worth renting/borrowing an extractor for just 5 frames, so I tried scratching open the supers and letting it drain out.  But since it's September and already cooled off a bit, the honey isn't viscous enough to drain out.  We've got loads of flies this time of year too, so I decided it was best to scrape out the comb and honey all together.  It will destroy a lot of work by the bees, but I want the honey that badly.

The scrapped out honey and wax makes a lump that looks a bit like creamed corn.  The golden honey drains out pretty quickly.  After it was mostly drained I took the wax that was left and left it in a strainer overnight to let gravity do it's work.  This separated some more honey, which I ran through the bucket filter to combine with the rest of the honey.

I got some half pint and jam jars (4 oz).  It's one of the lightest honey's I've ever seen, nearly water white on the color grade.  And it tastes AMAZING.  I think because I don't have to over filter it or heat it (because I'm not planning on selling it at this point), the honey is very raw.  And FRESH!!  It was in the hive just a few hours ago and was capped in the last week or so.  It's AWESOME!!

Levi & Rocket's Honey 2013

I wanted to start beekeeping because I know honey bees are in trouble.  Being a gardener and someone who appreciates the earth, I want to help them.  I really love being able to grow and preserve food for myself.

To keep bees is to see the hand of God.  The more I work with them, the more they teach me.