Wilson is the beekeeper on our homestead, but reading Garret’s post below has me inspired, too. Please be sure to welcome Garrett to the Pantry Paratus blog by leaving a comment or two for him, & checking out his other work on his own website listed below the article.
–Chaya
Sweet Sustainability
Better Be Keeping Up with your Beekeeping
What could be better with a spot of tea or a warm piece of toast than a dollop of sweet, golden honey? How about honey that you’ve harvested yourself from your very own bee colony? Yes, please!
When it comes to making a living off of the land, few sustainable solutions are as diverse as beekeeping. As long as you take care of your colony, you can be sure they will take care of you with the myriad of options you can create from their annually-replenished product. Although it all begins with honey, that’s certainly not where it ends.
In addition to beeswax, which is widely used as a main ingredient in candles and skincare products, other honey byproducts include tools used in the practice of apitherapy, or the medicinal use of honey bee products. For instance, natural healing properties are found in:
• Pollen
• Royal Jelly
• Bee Bread
• Propolis: As one of the most powerful antibiotics found in nature, this amino-acid-rich, antioxidant-filled and antimicrobial substance is effective against disinfecting and protecting cuts and abrasions.
• Bee venom: This surprisingly beneficial resource is used to naturally treat and alleviate symptoms associated with serious conditions like arthritis, multiple sclerosis and lupus without creating dependency or imposing harmful side effects like manufactured pharmaceutical drugs.
And because bees are able to access nectar and pollen from trees in arid areas and places where other crops have failed, beekeeping is a viable endeavor for many people across the globe who find themselves in need of a feasible alternative to a life of poverty or those who simply need a fresh start.
So whether you’re just starting out as a beekeeper or you’re looking to take your hive to the next level, here are a few things to keep in mind as they relate to harvesting and storing your sweet and sustainable honey supply.
A Bit of Honey Background
Whether you are interested in beekeeping as a profession (as a sustainable livelihood) or a hobby to keep your friends and family stocked up with this sweet goodness, there are ways to subtly manipulate your season’s honey crop.
Since honey takes on the flavor profile of the flowering source of its sweet nectar, if you identify a popular flavor within your community of customers (for example, you have an overwhelming demand for lavender honey but not so much for clover honey) or you simply prefer the taste of one over the other in meals from your own kitchen, you can “encourage” the bees to produce more of the favored flavor by cultivating that particular flower in close proximity to the hive.
Although they will travel up to two miles to find a source, bees will work the closest fresh flower source first so if you can grow your own supply of flowers, you can help ensure they produce more of the product you need.
How-To of Harvesting
No matter what types of flowers your bees have alighted upon, you know when to harvest your honey based on the condition of the cap. Check your top bee boxes (your “supers”) for the following:
• Cells that have been covered or capped over with wax are ripe for the cutting because the honey has been created, cured and is ready to harvest.
• If there is no capped-over comb, all hope isn’t necessarily lost: check to see if the honey has cured. The easiest way to do this is to take the frame and with the open cells facing down toward the ground, give it a quick shake. If the honey stays put, it is cured and you can extract it.
• Always remember that good things come to those who wait, so if the combs are completely cap-less and the honey inside leaks when you turn over the frame, leave it alone. The golden juice inside the cells is still nectar and hasn’t been converted into honey at this point. If you did try to harvest it, you would end up with a sugary, watery mess (the water content is too high at this point) that will likely ferment and spoil.
Sustainable and Smart Storage
As soon as your honey is harvested, there are several things to keep in mind related to storing your honey and your hive for the winter.
Store honey at room temperature. When it gets cold, honey firms up and crystallizes to the point that it is no good to anyone. This is also why you need to harvest the honey during the waning heat of summer’s end rather than waiting for cold weather – it’s too difficult to remove once it thickens up!
Implement Site-Specific Precautions for your Hive. Much of what you do at this time depends on your individual circumstances.
For example, if you live in a place that experiences windy snow storms or midnight raids from wild bears, you may need to strap down your hive. Or perhaps you need to establish a wind break around the hive.
At a minimum, you should install a mouse guard at the entrance to the hive, which should be kept free of debris and dead bees. Also, ensure proper ventilation and moisture control around the hive itself.
Finally, patch, repair, clean and store your equipment in a dry space for the remainder of the winter!
What are some of your favorite tips and tricks you’ve picked up from your buzzing bees about harvesting honey from your own sustainable supply?
Garret Stembridge is a member of the Internet marketing team at Extra Space Storage, a leading provider of self storage facilities. Garret often writes about sustainable practices for the home and for businesses.
The pictures are from Garret, and all rights are reserved. If you would like to pin or share them along with this post, feel free to do so but please keep proper attribution.