Honey Bees.....
We started growing honey bees on our small farm about 5 years ago. Just like everything new we try, it is a learning curve. We have lost several hives to wax moths and some from colony calpse. We learned that we need to check our hives more often and not just see if bees are flying in and out.
We had a great harvest last year, but we learned several things about harvesting and storing our honey. First of all, we figured out the hard way that you should not fill your honey container all the way to the top because when it crystallizes, it starts to ooze out of the top all over. You then a big sticky mess to clean up.
Second of all, storing the containers full of honey. We learned that it needs to be a dark place but it should be warm. We stored ours in our cold storage. Bad move. It crystalized is just a matter of a few months. It makes it harder to sell. People think that it is not good any more. I will also be storing our honey upstairs from now on where it is warmer and won't crystalize as fast.
I did harvest the bees wax and made candles and lip balm out of it for Christmas gifts. I'm looking forward to doing that again this year. Everyone really liked it.
I also have been cooking more with honey. I have been substituting honey for white sugar. It has been working out pretty good except for canning peaches. It didn't set. I think maybe it was to much liquid.
Let me know what you have tried?
We started growing honey bees on our small farm about 5 years ago. Just like everything new we try, it is a learning curve. We have lost several hives to wax moths and some from colony calpse. We learned that we need to check our hives more often and not just see if bees are flying in and out.
We had a great harvest last year, but we learned several things about harvesting and storing our honey. First of all, we figured out the hard way that you should not fill your honey container all the way to the top because when it crystallizes, it starts to ooze out of the top all over. You then a big sticky mess to clean up.
Second of all, storing the containers full of honey. We learned that it needs to be a dark place but it should be warm. We stored ours in our cold storage. Bad move. It crystalized is just a matter of a few months. It makes it harder to sell. People think that it is not good any more. I will also be storing our honey upstairs from now on where it is warmer and won't crystalize as fast.
I did harvest the bees wax and made candles and lip balm out of it for Christmas gifts. I'm looking forward to doing that again this year. Everyone really liked it.
I also have been cooking more with honey. I have been substituting honey for white sugar. It has been working out pretty good except for canning peaches. It didn't set. I think maybe it was to much liquid.
Let me know what you have tried?
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