September arrives and its time to harvest the honey. My girls have been hard at work all summer and this bit is so exciting.
First I must use a blower to remove the bees from the frames, before lifting out the first frame of capped honey. When the honey is just right the bees will cover the cells with a thin layer of wax. To extract the honey we must first decap it.
From here it goes into the honey extractor, all except for the cut comb produced on shallower frames which can be eaten whole and is exquisite. This we pack into cases ready to be eaten as it is.
The extracted honey is then collected, filtered and settled before being poured into jars – a total of 80 jars in year 1! It is now ready to sell or be enjoyed on some homemade bread!