The tide has turned. In spite of this most English of summers our little friends have been working their stripey socks off. While we’ve all been off on our holidays by some kind of magical alchemy the bees have created a remarkable thing. “Pourable Sunshine (tm)” has been bagged by Heinz Salad Cream (which is almost as bad as the labels on commercial honeys which say “A blend of EC and non-EC honeys”) but we’ve discovered our own Pourable Sunshine, and it tastes a whole lot better than salad cream.
As we arrive the hive entrance is abuzz with bees coming and going. Lots of pollen arriving on back legs - mainly yellow pollen, but some red too. The new queen has obviously settled in well.
John lifts the lid and scrapes off some propolis from the inside roof. He hands me the scraper.
Clear liquid oozes onto my hand. I can’t quite believe it. After all these months, all these visits, this is what we’ve been waiting for. I look at him and he gestures towards it.
I dip a finger in and take a taste. It’s sticky and warm and very sweet and tastes of....hmmm...oranges??!! It really does. It tastes of orange blossom...and real summer. It’s just amazing.
I am so excited. This is our first honey, almost a year to the day since the bees moved in.
So while John inspects the hive I take lots of pictures of honey on my fingers with him in the background.
John takes out some frames. The first one is about half full (the whiter cells in the top half) with honey. The sheer perfection of each cell is just an amazing sight. “Pure energy from the sun!” says John as he holds it up to the light.
The next frame he pulls out is absolutely full to the brim.
John decides to take away two frames (two full frames!)
I help him lift them in to his bag (his usual yellow Netto carrier has been replaced by a sturdier Lakeland number). He estimates 8 pounds of honey per frame. We’re going to have jars of the stuff! We really didn’t know whether we’d get any honey at all, but here were are with two full frames which John takes home on the tube to extract.
I’m pleased to report that the bees remained calm throughout this potentially traumatic episode. Thank you bees!
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