Whoo Hoo! Spring Honey!

-Posted by Isaac

Happy Fourth of July! Hope you're having a wonderful holiday.

Even with the rain, we had some fun. We made it over to my brother's place and celebrated our independence with the fish.

But this has been one of the few slow days in quite a while. In fact, the last month has been a whirlwind. A flood of spring honey.

The bees did great!

Better than ever. Tons and tons of beautiful white spring goodness! The best honey you've ever tasted, and so much of it! This year the stars aligned perfectly. A warm March meant early splits and early splits meant big hives by mid-May. Mid-May here in central Ohio means honey production!

Yard after yard...   The truck filled...

The extractor filled...

The big new bulk tank filled...

The barn itself filled...

And filled....                      Wow!

The honey is gorgeous.  

Lighter than last year's spring crop. There was more of an influence from the black locust bloom this year. Still not quite as clear as a celebratory bottle of wine... but I'd take the honey any day!

It was such a great harvest, we've decided to go wholesale (at least in the smaller sizes.) A few groceries have already picked it up. I snapped a quick shot here at the Giant Eagle Market District in Grandview. What a contrast with the fall goldenrod...

And don't forget about the wonderful byproduct of all this honey making. Lots of honey means lots of wax.

Our wax wall grew and grew over the month of June. It will all be turned into candles by Christmas. (Thanks to Katie.)

About the middle of the month, we had three birthdays to celebrate. The honey work came to a stop for a few hours and we had ourselves a June Thanksgiving. Our little turkeys fought over the pop. (They're allowed a pop once in a blue moon.)

(Seth advertises constantly.)

There are presently 37 bee yards that produce this beautiful spring honey. But that's not all of the bees. As some of you know (you dark honey lovers) we have more bees down in the hills. About 50 more hives in three locations, produce the rich dark tulip poplar honey that some of you have come to love.

You never know how these bees are going to fare. It's a mystery down in the woods. Last year was pretty bad. Too much rain. This year I pulled into this pollination yard south of Bainbridge, lo and behold, I was greeted with a good sign:

Two of the pallets I placed the hives on had buckled! This could only mean one of two things-- crappy pallets... or... honey, honey, honey!

The bees did not disappoint. We have plenty of tulip poplar!

It was a shock and surprise to see the big honey hose turn dark after three weeks of see-through locust honey.

Still not enough to wholesale, but plenty by far to keep the farmstand shelves stocked for another year.

And enough to satisfy you farm market connoisseurs.

Enjoy the fireworks! Tomorrow the sun comes back, it's going to be 86 degrees, and it's back to work. (For all of us.)