Honey and My Sweeties

Last week, Lily, Marina and I were invited to my friend's home to watch honey being extracted from trays in their hive. Marina is learning to be calm around bees so we thought this would help her to see a bee and think of something other than its stinger!






After the bees fill the cells with honey, they seal the end with wax which must be removed from both sides of the frame before the honey can come out. Here you see Lydia melting the wax with a wonderful implement designed to do just this thing. It looks somewhat like a cake decorating knife crossed with an iron. Both of these pictures show the wax melting away because of the iron.


Once the wax is removed, the frames are inserted 3 at a time into the extractor. Centrifugal force causes the honey to move out and down into the bottom of the extractor.





It takes a lot of muscle power to get the extractor whipping around enough for centrifugal force to take over. Here is Lily trying her hand and muscle at the crank on the extractor. Alas, her city muscles were not developed enough to create the spin needed but she gave it a good try.



Farm women to the rescue!!! Liddy is spinning away and the honey begins to flow.







Even though we were not helpful other than cheering from the sidelines, our honey hosts graciously sent us home with some booty!



In addition, we were given some fresh turnips from their garden. I took them home, cooked them with some carrots and mashed it all together. Yummy!