Sweet Nectar
Aug 05, 2011
Its been a while since my last post as we were away on a family camping trip. The weather was crappy when we left and wasn't much better up in the center of BC. We had to wear our winter jackets in the day and gloves and toques during the night, but the sun did show up occassionly throughout the day to warm our mosquito bitten bodies.
[caption id="attachment_395" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="BARKERVILLE BC"][/caption]
I did ask if there was any of the settlers that had apiarys in the town but they didn't have any answers. I know there was a lot of wild flowers and bumble bees but I didn't see any honey bees.
[caption id="attachment_407" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Wells Gray Provincial Park"][/caption]
When we returned I did a quick inspection and when I pulled the top box it was attached to the one below and there was an abundance of capped honey between the frames(upper and lower) I scrapped it off and placed it in a canning jar to see if there was some honey for me! Here is some pics of the process.
[caption id="attachment_397" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="crush and strain"][/caption]
The comb was crushed with a wooden spoon in the jar.
[caption id="attachment_404" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="jar covered"][/caption]
Duct tape was used to tape 2 jars together, then flipped over to let the honey strain through overnight.
[caption id="attachment_405" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="imagining all that honey!"][/caption]
The next day there is was, our first real HONEY! it tastes quite exceptional, very floral and light. I thought it might have more of a blackberry honey flavor (one of my favs) but it did not. Looking forward to possibly harvesting more if the bees can come through.
[caption id="attachment_406" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="First Honey!"][/caption]