Thursday, June 19, 2014

A Quick Honey Pull


After getting the last row of Tomatoes cleared of the Bindweed this afternoon I decided to just weed-whack the stuff in the middle of the row down. Truth is you don't get much of the root pulling up that stuff anyway so I just ate down into the dirt with the weedeater line and then put my last two sections of metal roofing over it. Maybe that metal roofing will cook those roots under there and slow it down some? Hey at this point I will try anything.

I then got a call to make a run down into Mennonite land. It's an interesting region of Missouri I will write more about tomorrow I think. I wish I had taken some pictures along the way because it is a very charming area and one of the reasons I count Missouri as a main collapse survival location. More on that and my observations later.

Anyway I got back home from little trip about 7:30 and then started harvesting my honey. The first harvest of the year is always a pain because I keep forgetting things, or can't remember where I put them, or how I did something etc. I spun out about 3 Gallons I think. Not much of a pull but it's been so humid the bees had very little honey capped and ready yet. They had a lot of full frames of unripened honey though so I suspect my next pull in July will be larger.

Still I have some clients waiting patiently and I promised em I would get em some honey by Mid-June.

Luckily I closed up the workshop/Honey Harvesting Hut this morning so it stayed almost 95 degrees in there well after the sun went down. You want it hot so the honey will flow but it makes for some very uncomfortable working conditions let me tell you. I had to harvest three frames then step outside for a bit, go in and spin em, then step outside for a bit. You get the idea.

Since the little local carwash place has an owner who appears to dislike keeping his small business open it looks like I am going to have to travel a few miles down the road tomorrow to power wash my extractor and decapping tank.

Another full day on the schedule for tomorrow but I am making progress. My goal is to be caught up and relaxing by Sunday now. God willing.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!


17 comments:

  1. Enjoy the sweet rewards of your labor.

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    1. Rob - I will but this pull was more for my allergy customers.

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  2. I was wondering if I could buy some show me honey?

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    1. Hell Bubba I will send ya a bottle for free if you will wait until the Summer pull. This early Spring Honey is pretty much all spoken for with my allergy clients. It's best if they get the season honey when they are most effected to build up a pollen immunity so I do some "special" pulls for them. Otherwise it is best to wait and do it all at once in the Fall usually.

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  3. I need to borrow an extractor! By the way, won't your bees clean your equipment for you?

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    1. MV - I have had issues with letting them clean out my stuff. They tend to get covered in honey and drown int he pools that form. Sometimes it seems I lose so many I just won't do it. That's why I don't put my extractor out because it is almost impossible to clean the bees out of it.

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  4. The honey is such a good skill, in a collapse there will be a major shortage of sweeteners. Honey and sorghum molasses (real stuff not the by product of sugar production) will have to take up the slack. Good molasses is comparable to honey but of course inferior if you put them in a taste test. Hops are my collapse crop as beer will be in short supply as well.

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    1. Sf - Ya thatw as my thinking with the bees. Several people have mentioned growing sugar beets but when I looked into it it seems they prefer a cooler climate than I have here, or maybe it was a less humid one. I don't remember but the map of where it is grown is no where near me.

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  5. Wish I could help with the honey. I'd only eat a little bit....

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    1. Stephen - I need to send you some this year... I think you, Harry, Sf and Bubba are on this years list so far.

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  6. I grew up munching on sorghum stalks as a snack, and still prefer good ol' blackstrap molasses to honey almost any day. But maybe it's just me.

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    1. RP - Molasses is good stuff but too rich for me to eat much of it. Also thick Maple Syrup can be used in many cases.

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  7. Good luck getting a chance to relax on Sunday. I have similar expectations, but life has a funny way of making fun of me while I run around.

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    1. Izzy - Oh I know something will come up. I am going to need to start mowing again tomorrow I think.

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  8. PP,

    3 gallons of honey on your first start, I say that's a good start. Don't kill yourself with all this heat. Enjoy your Sunday!!!

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    1. Sandy - I was hoping for about twice that. I actually got more last year ont he first pull and had half the hives. It's been so humid the girls aren't getting it cured very fast this year.

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  9. I love honeycomb ! My neighbor is a beekeeper, and I have a ton of respect for that. I don't think for a moment that I could successfully do it !

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