Extracting honey without an extractor using the crush and strain method.
Tag: Honey
Setting Up the Bee Yard (Apiary)
Today we’re setting up the bee yard (apiary). Okay, apiary might be a bit of an overstatement, given that we’re putting one nuc into one hive. But this is the start of a bigger effort for us. We hope for beekeeping, and bee-related products, to be a key element in our homestead’s productivity. I’ll start by saying that I over-engineered our apiary (big surprise). What I’ve done here is not in any way necessary to get good results with your bees. But I really wanted this to be an effective, efficient, low-maintenance place to put my first four or five hives. And I think I’ve succeeded. Doing the Work to Establish Our Hive I started by marking out the boundaries
Apiary Tour
The Children of the American Revolution group Amanda belongs to arranged for a tour of Burgh Bees, an apiary located near downtown Pittsburgh, with a mission of education and the promotion of beekeeping. Amanda and Abby were so excited to visit the apiary. They (and we) learned a lot, got to experience what it’s like with literally thousands of bees flying around, and even got to taste to honey freshly-dripped out of the hive through our veils. It was fantastic. Not sure if me or the girls had the most fun. The staff at Burgh Bees couldn’t have been nicer, and I even got a lead on their Fall Beekeeping 101 course in October. Wild horses (or swarming bees)
Trip to the Bee Farm
Thanks to the Children of the American Revolution our family had the opportunity to take a tour of Burgh Bees, located in Pittsburgh, PA. Burgh Bees is a community group with a mission of promoting bee culture, and educating future bee keepers. After donning veils and making sure we all had long sleeve shirts, we proceeded into the bee yard. The staff showed us the differences between langstroth and top bar hives, explained the roles of the different bees in the hive, and gave us all a high-level primer on bee keeping. We even got to suck some honey through our veils that had dripped on the bars of the top bar hive (the girls’ favorite part). Probably the biggest benefit we got from this