Support for Pollinator Pathways

I had a nice meeting with the creator of Pollinator Pathways, Sarah Bergmann, after the holidays to talk about bees, future volunteer opportunities, and to donate the proceeds of my honey sale to the program. She was very thankful for the donation and said the money would go towards the purchasing of Camas bulbs, which would be planted this fall- a plant much loved by many pollinators, and that looks gorgeous in groups. If you would like more information of the program

visit: http://www.pollinatorpathway.com

-Audrey

End of 2011

I have closed down the hives for winter and hope to have a successful next year! See you in the Spring!

-Audrey

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