I have been buzzy. Picked up a couple of bee hives a month and a half ago and have been reading up on bee keeping. Also been busy with yard work and infrastructure projects. There is way to much work to do around here. I really enjoy working with the bees and have plans to put as many as 10 hives on some acreage I own. At least the property will pay for itself that way.
We just got honey this week. We only had about 30 pounds but it is so good. Much lighter and prettier than last year. Freddy only has one hive but that is enough for our family and all he has time for right now. Have fun with yours!
I WISH I had a chunk of comb right now! I can remember as a kid buying honey in a jar with a chunk of comb in it, and chewing a piece ... a real treat!
I need to learn about bee keeping. I've got 20 acres...a 200 acre nature preserve across the street...and 80 acres of farmland between myself and my nearest neighbor. I'd have a wonderful set-up for it, and we love honey. (would also like to help support bee populations!) We HAVE tapped our maples for syrup. First time I tried it, I was shocked at the simplicity. I drilled a hole in a tree with a little pen knife, and put a little piece of plastic tubing in there with a few holes. (just something I found in the garage...big fish aquarium tubing essentially) I didn't have a bucket, so I poked the end of the tube down a 2 liter pop bottle, tied a string around the bottle neck, and hung it around the trunk. Next morning I went out to the tree and stared in rapt amazement at the tree PULSING sap out in little spurts. In just a few hours...the bottle was nearly filled! So of course I tasted it....and it doesn't taste like much. Vaguely sugary water. But I figured what the heck....took it inside, put it in a pan, and let it boil. About an hour later, I had about 2 ounces of thicker stuff at the bottom of the pan.... the most AMAZING syrup I've ever tasted. Wow! Made me a believer. So then we got buckets and lines, and started saving the sap in a chiller, and made a very crude boiling pan up on legs we could build a fire under. Anyone who has ever done this process knows it takes a big, long fire...lol. You need GALLONS of sap for just a little syrup. Patience is a serious virtue. Eventually we gave up on boiling it ourselves...and instead trade the sap to a co-op for finished syrup. They come in and take sap from about 20 of our trees every year, and we get a whole case of packaged filtered syrup to give as gifts. (or keep...YUM!) Would really love to learn about bees. Could see getting into that!
Also should mention (if you're gonna try this at home with kids) that you need to gather your sap in early spring (Feb, March here). Very cold nights, warm mornings....makes the sap run like crazy. (it really does spurt out in little pulses...like a heartbeat...it's sort of creepy! lol) But yeah....even if you have ONE maple tree and want to make just a little syrup to show the kids....this is a fun simple project that can be done with stuff you have lying around. The little hole won't hurt the tree as long as it's trunk is more than 12 inches in diameter. Sugar maples are the first choice, but you can also use red and black maple trees....Manitoba maple, silver maple...and a few others I think. Watch some youtube videos about drilling the hole and placing a tap (tube). People make taps out of everything from PVC to copper to carving them out of wood! You can buy them, too...but I wouldn't bother. Make sure to take the tap out when you're done. The hole will heal up in a couple years.
