The honey making season is drawing to a close. We see fewer bees swooping in and out of our yard and they're beginning their work day later and later, following the sun's lead.
We've been finding quite a few bees on their last legs (or worse) in the grass. Apparently the queen kicks the drones out for the winter. Too many mouths to feed and there's no baby-bee-making in the cold winter months.
Aaron and Annette came over and collected the last of the summer's honey, leaving two boxes for the bees to eat over the winter. They used their smoker, cleaned up the tray underneath that catches some sort of moth, I think, and pulled out trays and trays of dripping honey comb.
It's been such a treat hosting the hive and being able to observe how to care for it. Hansen Hives is thinking about offering bee keeping classes and hive maintenance services and I'm really excited about both ideas. I'm totally taking the class if they offer it and depending on whether or not I'm ready to add yet another project/hobby to my life I may consider the hive maintenance. Considering how much honey we use in cooking, tea and just eating off spoons, it would probably be worth it.
We tasted our first jar of backyard honey and it was mind blowing! I kid you not, it was the best honey I've ever tasted! And it made the Costco honey in my cupboard taste like corn syrup (actually, now I'm kind of worried that's what it is...). I'm excited to see if Clay's allergies are better in the spring if he's eating local honey. I've heard it helps. Sam has developed quite the honey addiction. Every time I open the cupboard and he sees the jar he says, " 'unny, spoon! 'unny, spoon!" And if I'm feeling indulgent he gets a nice, sticky spoonful of honey.
