The Most Gorgeous Honeys: Black Locust and My Old Lady

-Posted by Isaac

Jayne turns a happy birthday 33 years old today.

Can I now safely call her "My old lady?"

No, I don't think so.

We're taking the day off. The sitter is coming, we're heading south for some quite kid-free hiking. Maybe the Hocking Hills; some fine dining in Laurelville. Maybe somewhere else. Who knows what the day will bring? We'll finish it out by grabbing the kids again and watching the county fair combine derby (Which unfortunately seems to be a highlight in Mason and Maizy's summer.)

If someone had told me ten years ago we'd be this cultured just by living here, I would never have believed it.

Speaking of cultured, I thought at some point today Jayne and I could partake in some grapes:

Breakfast?

No, she won't go for that.

Jayne's a fan of riesling. This one happens to be from Ohio. Oooh, local!   Blah...

I'm going for whatever's in that other bottle.

A more refined pallet like mine requires something expensive. Imported. Maybe aged a bit longer...

Anyway, the real reason for this post:

(And another reason for the day off!) We've been so busy.

I finished up with the Spring honey last week. And as you can see, it's beautiful.

I just love this stuff. We had a decent locust flow this year, the hives are strong, and they sure made a lot of spring honey.

If you've never had black locust honey, come on out to a market (Worthington and the North Market) and pick some up. It's got a wonderful, delicate, light-on-the-tongue taste. Very unique. Hard to find. In fact, I've never seen it on a store shelf anywhere. In the past we've never harvested enough to wholesale. This year may be different but we're still talking that one out.
It's important to take the Spring honey supers off the hives  early because the clovers and thistles come on soon. The bees mix the nectars, diluting that pure and wonderful black locust.

Canadian Thistle

So it's been a busy two weeks.

One reason this honey is so hard to find is that many beekeepers don't bother messing around with extraction this early. Much of the honey is still uncapped, meaning it needs dried down a bit before it can be extracted and bottled. Our drying room works just fine for this. 

"Don't mind if I do!"

To me, the extra time and energy put into Spring honey is definitely worth it!