Honey Harvest

Well, the bees were busy this summer. They made a lot of honey. James and Shawna are in Arizona, and someone should and needs to get the honey from the bees. Hmmmmm, Lorie, can you get the honey harvested while I am working in Colorado? No, she is canning peaches and apples that we were blessed with this year. I had planned on harvesting the honey anyway so finally the day arrived where I had chosen to take the honey from the bees.

Now, I had this all figured out: just smoke the bees, get them drunk on old straw smoke, and open the hive. I had been practicing this all summer and hadn't gotten stung yet. Now for the real thing. James had gotten me a hat with a net so my face would be protected from maddd, crazed bees. I looked for my long sleeve white tee shirt (the bees like white objects that do not appear to be bears or threatening).

I opened the first honey super and there was some bees and a little honey. It was not capped but I took it any way. Then came the next honey super. It was loaded with capped honey comb and bees. Well, I will just smoke them good. Then I lift the box with 10 frames of honey comb weighing about 50 pounds off and set it a side (bees and all). Now there are hundreds of bees flying around my face and head butting me trying to convince me to leave their golden nectar. Nope, I am not through yet. Now I pry the third super from the hive. This super is on top of the brood box and the bees are as numerous as the sands of the sea. I lifted it off and set it a side and NOW THERE are THOUSANDS of BEES in the AIR. One bee somehow made it into my veil protecting my face and started buzzing around my ear. I knew it was going to sting me so I swatted it and prepared for the worst by ripping my nice hat and veil off. My glasses went somewhere on the ground. I don't mind getting stung, just not in the face. Oh well, it stung me and now I was in a mell of a hess, bees all over. Bees in the air, bees crawling on the ground, and bees all over the honey. Up to this point it had gone very well.

With bees all over the ground, I didn't want to kill or anger gobs of bees by stepping on them. So, what do I do. James is in school, Kelly has done this before, better call him. He told me to go on and finish loading the supers with the honey into my pickup and bring them to him. This was the plan all along as he has a honey extractor. That is a story for another day. Shawna and James were surprised that I only got stung once. Actually, so was I, I thought I would get stung a lot as I had never done this before. These bees are quite docile and easy to work with. They do sting if they get in your face as I have found out, but all in all, not a bad work out for an afternoon. No one was there to help me or take pictures so you will have to imagine it.