Honey Harvest

Our friends invited us to help with their honey harvest this year! It was so fun and educational. Plus, smelling the wax and honey made me blast to the past because my dad kept bees in our northwest Portland neighborhood. We got there just in time to see Mark and Dave smoking out and brushing off the bees so they could bring the combs inside. They left a few of the bottom ones for those hardworking bees to feast on all winter.

Once inside we watched the guys unplug the combs that were closed up for future bee consumption. They pack a lot of honey in each little comb!

This what the comb looks like before the bees start adding the honey and wax.

This is after. See the hexagonal combs? Some of them are open, and some they have plugged up.

 Once they got the holes unplugged, we put the combs in a large drum, two by two,

 

and rigged it to a custom designed "honey spinner" which whirled around with the power of an electric drill. The honey from the combs then flung out to the sides and the drum and dripped down the bottom.

 See it flinging? 

After the bin got kind of full, we lifted it up and drained it out into another collection container.

 Jennie made some delicious biscuits to eat and the girls had a little tea party! 

We stayed for most of it, but didn't find out until later that they harvested a total of 4 gallons of honey from their ONE hive! And that was after they shared some with us :) Mmmm!

Thanks guys for that fun, educational and tasty experience!  Unfortunately, the honey you gave us is almost gone... :)