Honey, I Love You

Who would think that Valentine's weekend would best be spent processing honey? Well, it was! The room we were in was heated to about 75 or 80 degrees to start with while it was maybe 50 outside. Then add the heady scent of fresh hot honey and wax and well, I was in nirvana. Taking the hot knife to gently cut off the sheets of wax caps, watching them slowly peel away and fall into the bucket below, was sensual. Cutting like smooth sheets of butter. The honey would sometimes gush out of the comb once these seals were undone. By the end of the afternoon, I was covered in honey and all the happier for it. It was like I'd spent the day at a spa I was so relaxed. I would do this over and over again. 

This is urban homesteading at it's best. We don't have our own hives, but we have friends that do. After an afternoon of playing with the stuff, we got to take home a gallon of it! Well worth the trade in labor. In fact, I think we got the better end of the deal when you consider we were even fed lunch! 

Pictured above: Me cutting the caps away from the comb. Then Jovi and I at the extractor - Jovi would place the comb in the barrel and then spin it. The heated sides would help the honey to be viscous enough to run down the walls after being pulled from the comb by the spinning. Then we drained the extractor (which had a filter in it) through another few layers of filtration. We also had a little bat friend in the room with us - happy little warm bat.