Considering I spent much of June worrying about my bees and even considering feeding them - because how could they possibly be finding enough to eat when it rains for 28 of 30 days? Never mind find a surplus for me to steal!
They really made up for it in July.
I have eight - yes Eight -that's 8 supers to extract!!
No time for lollygagging - need to get everything clean and ready for a marathon of stickiness...
There's buckets and a settling tank to wash and dry...
The kitchen gets covered by old shower curtains and the extractor plugged in...
Then its just a case of uncapping each frame in turn...
and with the help of my glamorous assistant...
I can get a small stack of frames waiting for their turn in the extractor...
I LOVE the actual extraction. Watching the honey start to sparkle on the inside of the tank as it gets flung out of each cell. The air feels almost heavy with the smell of honey. Surely this is the BEST kind of candyfloss?
Gently does it at first...
Then with a bit of speed it floods out...
Meanwhile, at the bottom of the extractor... nothing is happening - this year's honey is super thick!!!
...and then gradually,.....ever ....so....slowly....it starts to flow through the filters...
Glamorous assistant proves his worth again by decanting the bucket into the settling tank...
Its amazing how many little flakes of beeswax come off the frames....
After a very long evening and a morning to finish off I have a great harvest. Interestingly 2 very different types coming off the hives this year. A very golden runny honey and a really dark (looks like treacle) dark honey.
Winter breakfasts are going to be tasty!!!
