This month we pulled honey from our hive. It’s a lot of fun and a lot of work. My two helpers, Amy and Hunter, who are “new bees”, were in charge of making sure no bee stragglers came back with the honey.
After the frames are removed, we have to uncap them. This is a process to remove the wax seal from the honey comb so we can extract. There are several processes for this. In the past I have used a hot knife, but this year I used a new uncapping fork.
After we uncap, the frames of honey go in the extractor to spin. Everyone gets a turn spinning the handle and the warmer the room the more easily the honey flows. From the extractor, the honey is filtered into a food grade bucket for bottling.
Our nectar source this year was mostly from Buckwheat that we planted for the bees. The honey is dark and rich. We have been blessed twice now with rare blue honey. This year there was a tiny corner of a frame with blue honey. If you haven’t heard of the phenomenon, there is a great article in “Our State” magazine. No one knows for sure why the bees in the Sandhills of North Carolina produce the purplish-blue honey, but it is light and delicate.
Now to put some finishing touches on our jars and submit them to the NC State Fair.
Fairway Farm 