Off to the Store

I have bottled and sold jars to the Volunteer Park Cafe on Capitol Hill. ALL JARS OF HONEY SOLD! I decided to keep the label the same as last year, for I was happy with how it looked. I got the honey in just in time for Christmas, so good timing on my part. I hope everyone enjoyed their honey! I know I did! :)

The money I made from selling the honey I am donating to Seattle's Pollinator Pathway. The Pollinator Pathway is a plan to provide an urban model of support to the foundation of the food web. With a mile-long series of gardens in planting strips along Seattle’s Columbia Street, the project establishes a corridor between the two green spaces bookending the project-Seattle University’s campus at 12th, and Nora’s Woods at 29th. You can learn more about Pollinator Pathway at http://www.pollinatorpathway.com/

-Audrey

Time to Bottle

Once I finished extracting all the honey, I had to let it sit in the bucket overnight so that all the "junk" that got into the honey could float to the top. Once that happened I could scrape it off. Then, just to make sure I got all of the "junk," I strained the honey into another bucket with an opening at the bottom so I could fill my jars easily. I had two sizes of honey this year, the jar I had last year which was 3.75 oz and then a new smaller jar at 2 oz. I probably could have filled more 3.75 oz jars then I did. The honey has a mellow taste at first, but then what seems like an after kick of flavor. It's different from last year, but both are good. Now all I have to do is label the jars!

-Audrey

EXTRACTING

IT'S HONEY EXTRACTING TIME! YAY!

I love this part of the year, for I have all the honey I want and it is fun to taste the difference between mine and others. I went over to Corky Luster's house, from Bh Honey, and used his extractor. This year my honey turned out MUCH darker than last year. Last year the honey was a light gold, but this time it is dark like maple syrup. Must be the different plants that the bees go to. I preferred how last year's honey looked. I only got about 25 pounds of honey, which is enough so I can sell to the Volunteer Park Cafe, give as gifts to friends, and keep some for my family.

-Audrey

Pulling Frames

Sorry it has been such a long time since my last post, I don't know where the time has gone! I will review what the hives have been up to in the past months in the next few posts. In this post I'll summarize the pulling of frames to use for extracting honey.

The blue hive had a weak year, so to maximize the potential of survival through winter I decided not to pull any frames from them, so they have all the honey they can eat through the winter. It's sad that I couldn't get any honey from them, and I wonder how different the taste would have been from the pink hive! For the pink I ended up pulling about a box of frames, not as much as last year. I think the problem was that Seattle had a cool and rainy summer. Many frames were filled with honey on one side, but not the other! Oh well. To help both hives through the winter I will feed them till around October. Hope the honey tastes yummy!

-Audrey

Backyard = DONE!

Finally, the yard is finished! Though it took the entire summer (basically) to do, I am glad that the fence is up and that the plants are in the boxes. This summer has been terrible in Seattle. While most everywhere else in the USA is steaming, Seattle still has not reached 80 degrees. The bees have suffered from this, plus getting such a late start. Neither hive is as great as last years. The blue one is the weaker of the two. The queen has not laid many eggs, and their honey supply is limited. I will most likely not pull any honey from the hive, but feed them sugar water or old frames full of honey from last year this winter. The pink hive is better. They have a stronger population and enough honey that we can take some, but not much. I will probably wait 3 or 4 more weeks till I start pulling frames for honey extraction. I should work on labels!

-Audrey

Spain Honey

For two weeks this summer my family celebrated my older sister's high school graduation by traveling to SPAIN! I could go on and on raving about everything. The ham, the wonderful narrow alleyways, the stores. I wish I could go back soon. On the trip I had my eye out for unique honey from Spain. While strolling down a street in Barcelona I came across a small store selling honey. I quickly popped in and found two jars/flavors I liked. One is Miel de Romero and the other Miel de Azahar. I have opened the second one, and it is scrumptious! All this honey eating has me thinking on when I will extract honey from my own hives. Hopefully soon!

-Audrey

Apiary construction almost done!

Eek! I have been extremely busy these past months! Juggling school, finals, summer plans... I sadly have had not much time to update this blog. The backyard construction has made progress. All the boxes have been made and placed. The wonderful gate that will lead into the bee section of the yard has been delivered. Teddy and I are in it, as well as the bees. Seattle has had one of the worst spring/summers in history (or at least in my life time). We have gone from winter to winter and finally 70 degree weather. Spring never came. So, due to all the weather delays the bees came late this year. At the end of May they arrived. I hope this doesn't affect the honey output... The pink hive is named Queen Hippolyta and the blue is the same as before, Queen Titania. These are the names of characters in my favorite Shakespeare play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. While I observe the two hives I can tell that the pink hive seems stronger and more active. The blue hive is quieter. The blue one though has a better location, for the sun hits them earlier in the morning. Today my mom and I opened the hives. The pink hive does seem to be doing better. More honey and eggs. Because of this we have added a box, making the pink hive three boxes tall and the blue two. We will most likely add a third box next week to the blue hive. Yesterday my mom and I went shopping for flowers to fill our yard. I have already seen the bees checking them out! Hope the weather heats up!

-Audrey