Summer Harvest, Here we go!
Jayne Barnes
-Posted by Isaac
One last round of protein, this time much faster with Mr. Blair tipping brood boxes.
And into the summer honey. Here we go!
Not that I've ever considered this job a burden, but this summer it does feel more akin to real work . Most of the supers look like this:
Dry, dry, dry... the cupboards are bare. Why? Because of the wet, wet, wet back in July. It's hard to make honey with nine inches of rain during your prime season. Not that I have room to complain. Complaining seems a bit facetious after hearing about what they're going through in Texas.
And anyway, it's not a total zero. We at least have enough summer crop to satisfy the boss.
There are even a few surprises. Here's a hive that filled three supers! I couldn't not take a picture.
Last year they all looked like that. Once again, where the summer crop is concerned, the western bee yards did the best. Everybody west of Mt. Sterling actually did ok- One or two, sometimes three filled supers. Why is that? I've got some ideas... I'll share with you on a future blog.
Overall, I'm guessing we'll end up with about 30% of our normal. But that's ok. Hey, it's agriculture... I'll just wait on that government subsidy check. Or the insurance to kick in.
Oh, no wait a minute, I'm a beekeeper...
Ain't I rough enough?
So we're 10 days in, and we'll probably have another week before we wrap up the summer. Which is perfect timing. Soon the goldenrod will be flowing. Below you can see what the hives look like after pulling the summer supers. I leave one hopeful super behind to collect that rich fall honey. Most yards could actually bring in more than a single super of goldenrod, but we've got to think about the coming winter. The rest goes to the bees.
On a few of the strongest hives, I've been known to get greedy.
Ain't I rich enough?
The boxes are not quite as heavy as they should be. We're flying through the harvest.
Which is a given, considering the millions I've invested in harvest equipment, and drying facilities, and storage facilities, and crop transport, and market analysis.
Oh, no wait a minute, I'm a beekeeper...
Here is our million dollar drying facility- a hot room with a fan.
You do have to hustle. I swear, the bees here at home must watch for the bee truck. I'll back in with another load of supers, and within five minutes it looks like this outside:
But inside on the extracting line it's pretty nice. Music, AC, and three ceiling fans make it livable.
Still, without the combines and grain buggies, and tractors, and semi trucks, our harvest is a bit more hands-on. In fact, what with the short crop this year, we've been forced to resort to child labor.
I'm not too blind to see...
Bridger knows his way around the honey house, I'm happy to report. He likes to take a quick moisture check before the kindergarten bus comes. If everything is running smooth and we're holding firm below 18.5%, I'm allowed to start filling buckets
Next week, we'll move on to the barrels.
With Bridger's permission.