country n news-first honey, firewheel

COUNTRY N NEWS-FIRST HONEY, FIREWHEEL

this week i told my wife she
its time

we got our topbar hive a year ago
filled it with a nuch of bees
and
waited

so this week i decided its time to check the bees
after donning my full bee suit
so the bees wouldnt get me
but i didnt have a suit for poor bouncer-see yesterdays blog

so i smoked them real good
that calms them down
although this time i think it just made them madder

as i was working through the different combs
i realized that they didnt have enough honey for me
to be robbing from them

now robbing isnt the right word
i provide them a safe place to live
for rent they are suppose to pay me in honey
a fair exchange i think
but
as a young hive they arent quite ready to pay up

but
as i was working my way through the hive
there was a small comb that they had built in front
of a bigger comb
it was about a fourth the size of the full comb

now in a topbar hive the comb isnt square like in a regular hive
its shaped like a horseshoe

so i needed to remove that extra one
lucky for me it was full of honey
so
i trimmed it off
brushed off the bees
laid it in a plastic container that my wife she was holding
placed the cover on it to keep the bees from trying to save
the honey
making my wife she a target for the bees
since she had the honey
didnt tell her that though
as
she walked away from the hive
she looked like the peanuts character pigpen
with all those bees flying around her

as she got 60 ft away she went through the gate
where mr bouncer was happily awaiting her arrival
thats when he got zapped
again read yesterdays blog

eventually the bees gave up on my wife she letting them have
their honey back
so she took it inside the house

now we havent harvested honey before
so i had went online to youtube to find a lot of videos
on how to get the honey out of the comb and processed

so i found a kiss method
keep it simply simple method
my approach to things in this life

so
i opened the plastic container
cut the comb into squares the size of a cracker
dropped them into a quart fruit jar
took a spoon and crushed the smithereens out of the comb
of course i took the spoon out and licked it real good
not wanting to waste any honey

then
i put some cheese cloth over the mouth of the jar
screwed on just the metal part of a canning lid
set that jar on top of another empty canning jar with a lid on it
then
being the duct tape person i am
i duct taped it together

then
i set them on the counter to wait
it looked like one of those sand timers that used to be used as a timer
i guess in the old days

it was exciting to see that honey as it slowly slowly slowly
dripped into the lower jar

we waited overnight
then the next day i set the complex duct taped jars in the sun
until they got warm

then
i poured the warmed honey into a small jar
for use to admire
take a taste of occasionally
treating it like a million dollar bottle of some special liqueur

ok so i dip my finger in there all the time just to get a taste
my wife she uses it on her breakfast each morning

heres hoping it lasts until we can get a bigger harvest
next month

dont you just love homesteading

this is a firewheel or indian blanket wildflower that is blanketing
our pastures right now

im sure some of their pollen is in this
country n honey

the organicgreen doctor