Honey!

We extracted honey over the weekend. There are lots of bears, glass jars and a few big jugs.

 We love the  new extractor. It is shiny and works hard but is gentle to the wax on the frames. 

I've had a lot of folks ask how we get the honey out. I use a heated knife most of the time and cut the caps off. This wax is the cleanest wax in the hive and I use it in hand cream and lip balm.

 Once the caps are off, the frame goes in the extractor. Then it goes for a spin, flinging the honey off the frame.   

 Sometimes the knife misses a few cells and we have to use scraper. This does the trick but it tends to leave a lot of damage on the frame that the bees have to repair. And it is more time consuming. 

 Finally the honey comes out of the extractor. While we don't filter our honey as that requires heating, we do strain it so that any stray bits of wax or bee wings are not in the honey. Fine particles of wax and pollen do make it into the honey. If you get the honey super fresh, you can find a whitish foam on the top. That is the wax and bubbles. 

 This is a light amber honey that captures some beautiful floral notes. It has the same strong black locust finish that is characteristic of our honey.  You can taste the summer sun in every drop.  This honey is ideal for toast, sore throats, and drizzling over fruit. For those of you who have a preference for a darker fall honey, we do intend to harvest again this fall.

Due to some increases in costs this year, our price have gone up a bit, but we have a limited number of larger containers that will provide the high-use customer with a lower per pound price.

1 lb bear or glass - $8

2 lb jars $15

5 lb jar only $35