Since Jack’s been recovering from his bum foot, it often means that I’m asked to be his right hand (or…foot?). He’s getting close to being back to 100%, but there are some things that he still can’t do. Checking on the bees are one of the items on our to-do list that’s been being put off until he was well enough, the weather was good, and we had enough time. With bees, it takes that trifecta of perfect circumstances to get the job done.
As our homestead has gotten slightly more sophisticated (or maybe we’re getting tired of doing all the backbreaking work without the help of machinery), we’ve learned to utilize what we have. Jack got me a tow-behind, dumpable wagon for me for Mother’s Day (that’s true love right there!), and we use it for everything from cleaning stalls to towing heavy stuff. When harvesting the bees, it helped not to have to drag everything out there by hand. Lazy? Maybe. Or smart.
The larger hive had a couple boxes of honey stored away, so we left one for them, added a sugar board in case they run out of honey this winter, and took one box of honey for ourselves. Gotta salute those girls for valiantly defending their hard-earned honey, but they really are no match for the smoker. A couple puffs of smoke, and they forget all about why they’re mad.
We’ve learned from past experience not to harvest the honey too close to the hives, because other greedy insects (I’m looking at you, wasps), will go into a feeding frenzy and can kill a compromised hive. We’ve also learned not to do it near the house. The scent of honey is so strong that the bees sniff it out, and until every last drop is cleaned up, they’ve everywhere. Try having your back porch crawling with bees. Pretty cool, but also a bit scary, especially when the youngest kids let themselves outside, and might wander down the stairs to find themselves in the thick of bees.
The best part? The bees always find their way to the honey extractor, and clean up every last drop. Like me, they hate waste, and are hard workers. I’d say I missed my calling as a queen bee, but I’m definitely queen of our hive. Just ask Jack and the kids, ha!
