Beekeeping Lesson #4

You do not realize how much work goes into extracting honey, it takes hours.  If I had more hives it would take days.  I'm inclined to just use these little square boxes (forgot what there called) and let the bees make it all from scratch.  That way all I'd have to do is cut the comb in pieces and be done with it.  

Anyways, before you extract honey from the comb you have to get the honey supper away from the hive without any bees attacking you.  After all, your stealing there precious food source.  If they notice it's gone they'll come after you.  Now there are many ways to do this, but I think it's easiest to...

• Get a bee escape board, place it under the top supper, and wait about a week for most of the worker bees to funnel down to the rest of the hive.  The bee escape makes it so they can't climb back up.  
• Remove the supper (about 50 pounds of honey) and rush it inside.  The bees shouldn't be able to come after you but why risk it?
• Lay out all bee equipment.
• Remove the top layer of wax (caps), this you can use later for candle wax or lip balm.
• Place the frames into the honey extractor and turn it on (works best in a heated room at about 82 degrees F).  Honey extractors are pretty expensive so it might be best to borrow one.
• Pour out honey onto a strainer to get any loose bits of wax out.
• Put into jar and enjoy. 

One interesting fact I learned was the difference between raw honey and "regular".  Raw honey still has pollen in it which is good for you.  "Regular" honey from the commercial beekeepers has been heated at 170 degrees F, which kills all of the helpful enzymes and then they remove the pollen.  I don't know the whole process but it seem like a waste to me.  

First Beekeeping Lesson

Went to my first beekeeping lesson today.  There is so much to learn, bees are such intricate little creatures.  It astounds me at how much they can accomplish in their short lives.  Did you know that in its entire life a single be makes only 1/12 a teaspoon of honey but in a year hives produce an average of 70 pounds of it?  Before today I never wondered how bees made the wax for their combs or how different species of honey bees not only differ in personality and honey production but also have different abilities.  For example, there is a Russian bee that's able to get rid of mites by itself without the help of treatments.  But, you could just as easily have Italian bees and dust them with powdered sugar to get rid of mites.

There's major conflict going on right now as well.  Bees are dying out because of all the pesticides used.  Without bees we could not produce enough produce to survive.  I think farmers should consider that when spraying their crops.

Anyways, I can't wait for my next lesson!  We are going to work with actual hives learning how to assemble them and whatnot.

New Hairstyle

Got my hair curled today and I think I'll keep this hairstyle for a while.  It didn't take to long to curl, less than half an hour but I was watching the first episode of The Walking Dead so I can't say for sure.

From people's commentary I thought this show would be too gory for my taste but it's not even close (after watching five seasons or so of Supernatural I'm kind of desensitized).

On another note, I start beekeeping classes this Friday!  I'm so excited!

Elementary

Finding out the name of the new Sherlock Holmes TV show took me a while.  I was expecting the name to have Sherlock in it but at least I found it in the end.  Unfortunately I started on episode four (something I strongly recommend against) so I had for find them online and start all over.  Elementary provides a new point of view on Sherlock Holmes.  Even hinting at what his past might have been like.  In Elementary Sherlock is a recovering drug addict and Watson is tasked with keeping him from relapsing.   I find I rather enjoy watching Sherlock in this new light.  Plus, he is a beekeeper which is something I've always wanted to be.  Though not quite as suspenseful as Sherlock (the TV show) this new Sherlock Holmes will keep you just as interested.