Friday, May 4, 2012

For the Love of Honey






It's always a thrill to be hiving packages of bees with tens of thousands of them swirling around you in the air, their loud humming signaling their annoyance with you that you've cooped them up for days in a small box and are now literally shaking them out of said box into a home that they are unfamiliar with. I never tire of that thrill of having only a light jacket and veil between myself and endless possible stings. Note: garden gloves are not a suitable substitution for good apiary gloves.....lesson learned! a few stings on a couple of fingers.....oh well. Better than on the head, believe me. My husband, Mark,  takes two or three trips to south Georgia every spring to pick up about 600 packages of bees each time for local beekeeper. The packages were really nice this year. Seems like I had to shake and shake and shake to get them all out of the boxes. Our luck the last few years has not been very good due in great part to a resident bear who evidently has a real affinity for eating honey. Can't say I blame him. Last year we had our woods thinned and haven't seen said bear, so we are really hopeful this year that we may actually get some honey! If we do, there are plans for selling some, distributing some to our friends, saving some for cooking and medicinal purposes and last but not least......Meade making! All of our honey will remain in it's natural, most healthy state, none will be pasteurized. It's very easy to reliquify honey. Simply put the jar in a pan with a few inches of water, heat to a simmer and stir honey until returned to liquid state while trying not to over heat it. You can also accomplish the same in a microwave oven. I'll be posting some of the wonderful, healthy attributes of honey. It truly is one of Mother Natures greatest gifts. Keep ya posted!

5 comments:

  1. Sweet!!! Cant wait to get order some of your honey! Let me know when it sells!

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  2. Your bee keeping and the rest of your farming projects look so interesting. I look forward to following your blog and maybe purchasing some of your honey in the future. Say hello to Mark and take care! Annie

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  3. Very cool sis! Can't wait to get bees for our garden! I hope you'll share the mead to!

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  4. hi susie!! i figured out the blog-haha-great pictures!! did you say you were making a chicken coop from pvc too? love annie

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