Honey Harvest

My father-in-law let me tag along to extract some of the honey from his hives again this year.  The whole process is pretty neat.  He did the hard part before I ever got there- getting the boxes without getting attacked by bees!  He built a screened in "honey room" for convenience, and I'd say it worked out very well. 
He used his heated knife to cut off the caps.

Put the frames into the electric extractor (it takes a special touch to get that machine balanced.)

The honey that was spun off the frames poured out of the spout below.

The cappings had plenty of honey in them, too.  We squeezed is out, mmmmmmmmm yummy job. 

It wasn't one of his biggest harvests, but very good, none-the-less.  We didn't get to all of it that day. I'm not sure I'd ever be up for handling those bees, I know they're protective of their honey.  I did enjoy helping out with this part of it though- not to mention the honey they shared with us!

All I'm saying is...I Can Breathe!

I guess I had allergies last week. I believe I’ve gotten them with each pregnancy- yuk! It was miserable. My father in law took the time to put some (fresh raw, still-on-the-comb, from his hives) honey in a jar for me to chew on. Have you heard that it is supposed to help with allergies? I don’t especially enjoy chewing it (some people do), but I thought I’d give it a try since he went to the trouble. A few hours later, my congestion and itchy eyes were cleared up after 3 nights of restless sleep. I still have a little scratchiness in my throat and “stuff”, but I sure can breath and I’m not miserable. It is almost all gone. Now, MAYBE it was already clearing up on its own. I have no way of conducting scientific research on it. However, if you have allergies, its at lest worth a try. It is pretty yummy- at least while there’s still honey in it. After you suck out all the honey, its like chewing crumbly gum. It won’t hurt to swallow the comb, in fact, its said to be healthy. I chewed it for a few minutes and spit it out. Ahhh! Fresh air!