First Honey Harvest!

So the world has been going crazy lately, and I've started about 20 different blog posts the last 6 weeks, which I just haven't been able to find the words to finish. Rape culture, homophobia, mass shootings, racism, police brutality, murder of police officers... gah. Seriously, life is really hard for much of America right now, and like most people, I feel helpless and frightened, and I really don't know what to say. I'm trying, instead, to keep listening, to speak up when needed, and to try to keep my kids feeling safe and happy in an unsafe world. That's pretty much the best I can do at the moment.

So I'm not going to write about the troubles in the world. Instead, I'm going to focus on my own little cocoon, my wee little Suburban Farm, and I'm going to tell you all about getting our first Honey Harvest from our hive! Minding my bees has been a wonderful escape for me, and getting to harvest a whole mess of delicious, sticky-sweet honey has been such a treat.

I put the honey super on the end of May, and when I took a peek mid-June, I was impressed to see that they'd made amazing progress!

By the beginning of July, the whole super was filled with capped honey! I couldn't believe how quickly my ladies worked! And I couldn't believe that after a little over a year as a beekeeper (and after a few setbacks!) I was finally getting to harvest my first batch of honey. 

Capped honey, ready to harvest!

Scraping off the comb and honey

Yum!

We put all the comb and honey into a cheesecloth-lined colander
over a big pot. The honey drips down, and the wax stays behind. 

Ladling the fresh, raw honey into jars

Honey!

I'm so grateful for this little bit of joy and normalcy in my life... more grateful now than ever. I hope that you're also able to find a small amount of peace as we make our way in this crazy world.