The Honey Harvest 2025 (Part 3)

Once we transferred the boxes to the honey house, the work of extracting the honey begins.  Our friend from the bee club has an air conditioned honey house and some expensive equipment.  We are a small operation and haven't invested in extraction equipment.  Fortunately, we have friends in our bee club that generously allow us to use their equipment until we get our feet on the ground.

So here is a medium frame of capped honey.  All of those cells have a layer of white wax that encapsulates the honey inside.  In order to extract the honey, you must uncap it.

There are several methods to do this:  Heated knives, fish-filleting knives, bread knives, and what we call "a scratcher." We used all three.  You stand the frame up sideways over a stainless steel table and begin cutting the wax cap off of both sides to expose the honey for extraction.

The uncapped frames are then placed in slots on the table.  The table has a screen at the bottom that catches all the wax cappings.  The honey that drips out of the frames or out of the cappings flows beneath the screen into a basin below.  There is a honey gate at the bottom that allows you to capture all the honey.

Here is a close-up of an un-capped frame of honey.  Sticky.  Sweet.  Delicious!  

The extractor holds 18 frames.  I think this one costs $1,800.  The frames are set, one by one in the extractor.  The folks at the uncapping table just keep on working and lining up the uncapped frames in the table.  The folks on the extractor spin the honey and continue pulling uncapped frames from the table.  Believe it or not, it doesn't take that long. 

Last year the extractor we used was a hand crank extractor.  We thought it was nice and it was.  This one is a Cadillac.  It has an electric motor and is gear driven and digital.  You can spin it at different speeds.  As you spin, the honey gate is opened on the bottom and the extracted honey flows through a screen into a food grade five gallon bucket.

The screen catches wax and any other impurities or bees that got into the honey.

We repeated that process until we had extracted all the honey from the boxes.  We're not done yet!  Stay tuned for Part 4.

The Honey Harvest 2025 (Part 2)

In Part 1 we talked about putting the 1 way entrance board beneath the honey supers that we wanted to extract honey from.  The thought being that the bees on the honey frames could leave, but would not be able to get back in.  That way, in the morning, the honey supers would have no bees in them and we'd be able to just remove them quickly devoid of bees and we'd take them to start extracting honey.

Well... it didn't work.  We pulled the lid off and the honey supers were full of bees!  Oh well, we were ready for this.  I had made a fume board.  A fume board is simply a board that is the same size as the honey box and it has a t-shirt spread across it.  We use an organic, all natural spray that the bees hate.  This is sprayed on the fume board and the fume board is placed over the top box.  In about 10 minutes, most of the bees will be pushed down away from the scent into the box beneath it.  Then you repeat that process until all the boxes are cleared of bees.

You can see some of the bees coming out of the very bottom.  They don't like that smell. 

We kept working and working, box after box, making our way to the last one.  Try as you may, there will always be a few bees in the box.  They like to protect their honey.  Next year, I'm going to use a leaf blower to blow the last remaining stragglers out.  I just don't think they are going to like the sound of the blower.  It's worth a try.  I don't like to get the bees all riled up, though, or we won't be able to go in the back yard without being attacked!

You'll see in the wagon below we have four full honey supers.  Bees will go back to the honey so the boxes are stacked in a telescoping lid on the bottom and one on top to keep them out.  Boxes full of honey is heavy.  A medium super full of honey weighs between 40 and 50 pounds.  We had to make several wagon loads to the truck.

We are taking the boxes of honey across town to a gentleman in our bee club that has some real nice honey extraction equipment that he offered to let us use.  We like to operate in the black, so we haven't purchased any honey extraction equipment until we pay off the investment in bee suits, boxes, frames, etc.  Here you can see we have 9 medium boxes of honey all stacked up.

In the next installment, we'll show you the honey extraction process!  

Goofus and Gallant

 

Image Credit

Memories
Light the corners of my mind
Misty watercolor memories
Of the way we were

- Barbara Streisand

Memories are a funny thing.  I have trouble remembering computer passwords.  I can't remember any of my loved ones' phone numbers anymore because I just press their names on my phone.  But I can remember all of my grandparents' phone numbers from 1976.  I can remember the strong chlorine smell in the hallway going to swimming lessons at the YMCA in Lake Charles where I learned to swim.  I can remember all the lyrics to Jim Croce songs, John Denver songs, and even "You light up my life" by Debbie Boone.  We sang all these to the top of our lungs riding in the very back of the Oldsmobile station wagon facing backwards as Mom and Dad drove down the interstate.

I can also remember the horror, the absolute dread and fear of going down Oak Park Boulevard as a kid on the way to the dentist.  Dr. Morrissey, I'm convinced, led a double life working for the CIA torturing captured spies for information related to threats against our homeland.  On days he wasn't pulling toenails out or performing Chinese water torture on captured espionage agents, he doubled as a children's dentist.  It was a very effective cover.  

He was rough.  Although, I figure, he was a pretty good dentist, he wasn't compassionate.  I don't think he liked kids much.  I get queasy just thinking about what it was like as a kid waiting in the waiting room for my name to be called. In my mind's eye I could hear muffled screams from the poor kids that had gone before me. There was one thing to pass the time while you waited for the hammer and chisel that awaited on the other side of the wooden door.  There was a magazine called "Highlights" on the table in the waiting area.

I always turned quickly to my favorite section of the magazine.  It was a cartoon called Goofus and Gallant.  It, not so subtly, pointed out good behavior from bad behavior and tried to instill in children a desire to be well-behaved, respectful, and courteous.  Goofus was always doing the wrong thing.  He was rude and disrespectful, mean and selfish.  The point was made clearly by Highlights magazine - Don't be like Goofus!  In all actuality, I figure Goofus is currently residing in Angola State Penitentiary.  That guy, if a choice was to be made, always chose the wrong one, a contrarian by nature.

Image Credit

Gallant, on the other hand, was perfect.  This dude was thoughtful, obedient, kind.  Gallant never picked his nose and never said a cross word.  I wanted to take the magazine back to the dentist chair with me, because if my Mom ever read it and saw Gallant's model of behavior, well, I was in big trouble, because no one could measure up to Gallant.  I wanted to keep the bar low and not have Mom knowing about Gallant.  Why, she'd end up wanting her children to be like Gallant.  That was too high a hill to climb.  

About that time, I would be called back to be water boarded (cavity filled).  I'd walk to the back obediently to face my executioner like I assume Gallant would have done.  I guess there was one other bright spot to the visit than reading Highlights.  At the end of the visit, I would get to pick out a cool looking plastic spider ring out of a big candy jar.  Goofus, I'm sure, would've taken two, but I had been conditioned to be like Gallant and take one and say through numbed lips, "Thank you."  

The Honey Harvest 2025 (Part 1)

 

We started off the year with 6 boxes of bees, having caught two swarms and making two splits.  As things happen in life, you win some and you lose some (and sometimes you get rained out).  One of our two splits was successful - we lost one of them.  And surprisingly, we lost one of the swarms by way of losing a queen.  In the photo above, the swarm box on the far left was so weakened, we stacked the deep box containing the remaining nectar on top of the deep box in the middle (the tallest one).

This left us with four boxes of bees.  The other boxes were very active and healthy.  The medium boxes on top of the deep boxes are called honey supers.  They are called supers because they go on top of the brood boxes.  The brood boxes are separated from the honey supers by a queen excluder.  The queen excluder is basically a screen that has gaps big enough to let all the worker bees go up, but not big enough to let the queen go up and begin laying eggs in the honey supers.  The goal is to have the honey supers ONLY having honey - no eggs or brood.  This makes the extraction process easier.

When you go to remove the honey supers for extraction, there is a problem.  The honey supers are full of bees.  These bees are very protective of the honey.  This is their food source.  This is what they've worked for all spring to produce.  And these humans are going to rob it!  So you must get the bees out.  This is done by using a fume board.  A fume board is basically a board covered with a T-shirt and sprayed with an all natural scent that humans love but bees hate.  You spray this on the fume board and set it on top and the bees move downward.  That's the idea anyway.

A friend of ours introduced us to something new to try.  It is a board with a one way entrance.  The bees that go out cannot get back in.  We wanted to experiment with this new tool that might make the job of removing the honey supers for extraction easier.  So the day before, we inspected each hive and reorganized the honey supers, moving the supers that did not have capped honey down to the very bottom just above the deep boxes of brood and then placing the board with the one way entrance above the supers with uncapped honey.  Uncapped honey will not be pulled as the nectar or honey within them is too high in moisture and you run the risk of your honey fermenting.  We want to make honey and not meade!

So we lit the smoker and smoked the bees and rearranged the order, putting the one way entrance board in.  In part 2 of this post which will likely be posted Sunday night, we'll show you the results of this experiment and go on and show you the honey extraction process.  Ya'll have a great weekend!

Looking For Love In All the Wrong Places

Subtitle: Things aren't always what they seem

As far as birds on our homestead farm, once a year we raise Cornish Cross meat birds.  We always have laying hens of several different breeds.  At one time we had quail, we raised a couple of turkeys for Thanksgiving dinner, and one time, we even had a pea hen that adopted us and moved into our pasture.  We've never had ducks, even though I love to eat ducks and I hear their eggs are rich in protein and make great ice cream, among other things.  I've never wanted ducks because I hear they make a mess and make mud holes on the property.

We do have wild wood ducks that fly across the land, landing in the trees and raising their young.  We also have pairs of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks (Mexican squealers) that fly in daily and land in trees.  So it wasn't too surprising when a large duck flew low across the pasture.  Tricia saw it first and pointed it out.  "That's bigger than a Mexican squealer," I said. "I think that was a Muscovy duck."

The very next morning I walked out to the barn to let the chickens out, feed the cows, and prepare the feed for the goats we would be milking shortly.  Suddenly there was a rush of feathers, and I heard something on top of the barn.  Well, well.  It was a Muscovy duck.  The duck didn't seem frightened of me at all.

The fiddler on the roof

"Who are you and what are you doing here," I thought.  The duck was looking at a big plastic owl we keep on the roof.  The owl is fake.  He is there to ward off predators like hawks that like to steal our chickens.  The owl sits overlooking the hen house.  But the Muscovy duck appears to be over looking at the owl

The duck seemingly wanted to befriend the owl, but the owl kept his back to the duck, ignoring any amorous advances.  How rude!  The duck appeared rebuffed, rejected, and began walking away.

As I watched this failed courtship spiral downward, the poor, dejected duck turned to me and scolded my intrusion into the whole affair, embarrassed that I had witnessed the whole thing.  "Mind your own business," said the duck.  And then he flew off.

As I thought about it, the scene that played out before me was a mini parable on the barn roof.  The duck is us.  The fake owl is all the alluring things of the world.  They look nice from the outside.  We covet stuff, things, trinkets, experiences.  But if one looks closely at the things of this world, we see that it's all fake and plastic.  It has no ability to love you back or bring you any lasting enjoyment or satisfaction.  Try as you may to befriend the things of this world, we find that it is meaningless, vapid, and hollow to expect any real contentment.  Perhaps we should take the old Muscovy Duck's advice and just mind our own business!

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.  Matthew 6:19-21 KJV

My New Favorite Pepper in the Garden

We eat a lot of peppers at our house.  Now, I don't grow the super-hot varieties.  I don't like the peppers that make you sweat and your nose run.  Jalapenos are about the top of the Scoville Scale for my liking, and I do love jalapenos.  I don't do habaneros or definitely not ghost peppers or Carolina reapers.  Mainly the varieties we grow in abundance are: Anaheim, Jalapenos, Sweet Bell (several varieties), Banana and now, my new favorite: Shishitos!  Shishito peppers originate in East Asia and this year is the first year to add this variety to my pepper roster.

Shishitos grow quickly and produce abundantly.  I'm picking peppers about every three days or so.  Here is a little mess of shishito peppers that I picked.  You'll notice from the photo below that I like to leave the long stem on each pepper, if possible.  I'll show you our favorite way to cook them.

We get a cast iron skillet heating up on the stovetop with coconut oil in the bottom of the pan.  While that's getting hot, I drizzle olive oil on top of the shishito peppers and shake to make sure the oil has coated all the peppers.  By now there's smoke coming from the skillet and it's time to pour the peppers in.  You'll hear a lot of sizzling and some smoke will rise, so turn the vent hood on.  We usually put a cover on the skillet to keep the heat in and stop the oil from popping and making a huge mess in the kitchen.  We keep shaking the skillet to keep the peppers moving.  You'll notice than the peppers are starting to blister and char.  This is exactly what you want.  Now, pour the peppers into a serving bowl.

At this time salt the peppers real good and cut a lime in half, squeezing the juice onto the peppers.  We also like to add chunks of bleu cheese (the recipe calls for cotija cheese), and I'm sure grated parmesan would be good as well.

Put a cover on the serving dish and shake real good to distribute the salt, lime juice and cheese evenly.

And now it's time to devour them.  They are not spicy - the just have a nice taste and make a good side dish for most any meal.  They have become a family favorite and were a key part of our Independence Day BBQ.

Replacing Old Glory

We fly the Stars & Stripes in front of our home every day - not just on Independence Day.  We love our country.  Is it perfect?  No, but it is the greatest country on earth.  Why?  Because of its people and because our Founders (who were not perfect people, but who is? I certainly miss the mark by a very wide margin), set up a system based on Judeo-Christian values, that has no comparison in the world.  If we are so greatly flawed, why to people continually flock to our shores to be a part of this great experiment in freedom?  The following quote has been falsely attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville, but regardless who said it, I think it is true:

“Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the greatness and genius of America. America is great because America is good. If America ever ceases to be good America will cease to be great.”

Our flag, due to display in inclement weather, heat and cold, and the ravages of the sun, is ragged and worn, not unlike the flag in our National Anthem.  Ours doesn't have cannon ball holes in it fortunately.  But each morning when we wake and look out by the 'dawn's early light,' She's still there.  But She needs replacing.  It's shameful and unpatriotic to continue displaying the flag like this.

So earlier this week, I passed by a store and turned in.  I wanted to purchase a new flag to fly on Independence Day.

After getting my purchase home and beginning to take it out of the package, I noticed something that might be indicative of some of our problems in our country.  

Our American Flag.  Made in China.  I'm sure that there are American Flags made in America.  I hope they are.  I should have checked before leaving the store.  I want to support American workers.  Anyway, back at home, I took the old flag down and folded it as I was taught in Boy Scouts (RIP).  Tricia was out so I folded it by myself.  The final product wasn't as crisp as I'd been taught or as I taught my scouts.  My old scoutmaster would be disappointed in me.  I'd have to fold it again and again until I got it right.

I unfurled the new flag and displayed it as the other worn flag.  The colors were sharper and brighter.  There were no frayed, tattered edges as the old one had.  I felt a resurgence of pride and patriotism in what our flag stands for.  Freedom is so important.  Free people often take it for granted.  I never want to take it for granted.

In the photo above you can see a puddle of water beneath the column.  I'll tell you what that's all about.  When getting on a ladder to hang the new flag, I noticed a wasp nest about the size of a silver dollar with four nervous and aggressive wasps discussing amongst themselves where they were going to sting me when I got atop the ladder.  Not today, my friends.  I walked inside and got a small sauce pan of water boiling and added Dawn dishwashing liquid to it.  When it was appropriately hot, I took it off the fire and stirred it up.  Walking outside I sloshed the hot, soapy concoction up toward the wasp nest, covering it.  The four wasps fell to their deaths unceremoniously as I set the pan down and hung Old Glory.

The next project was to determine how to retire the worn flag.  You can burn it.  I didn't want to do that.  You can bury it.  I didn't want to do that either.  As it turns out, the Southwest Louisiana Veterans Home is in our town.  It is a nice place that treats our veterans with dignity and respect.  The place is immaculate and the workers love the residents.  I drove there down an avenue of flags that gently waved in the humid, summer air.

Right by the entrance there is a drop box for retired flags.  I deposited ours in the box.

Out with the old and in with the new.  I love America, and I'll continue to fly Old Glory.  She'll never come down and no other flag will replace her.  May God bless America!