Thursday, November 20, 2014

Spinning honey

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There are some days where me and my farmer boy frantically rush through the farm jobs all day long hoping to have them done before school pick-up so we can slow down then and enjoy the afternoons with our girls. Then there are other times when we save jobs for when the girls get home. When we plan their after school activities carefully looking forward to sharing these special tasks with them.

Last week we had a few frames of honey to spin, it would have been quicker and easier to get the job done then and there, but there was no way we could resist the thought of the girls' excitement at watching the sticky frames become jars of delicious gold.

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The first step we took to extract the honey from the frames was to uncap the honeycomb.  Using a heated uncapping knife we carefully scraped the surface of the comb to remove the wax lid of each cell of honey.

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Then we placed the frames of uncapped honey in the extractor,

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and we cranked the handle which using centrifugal force spins the honey right out of the comb and onto the sides of the extractor.

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We took turns turning and spinning, and spinning and turning, until the frames were empty and the bottom of the extractor was full of honey which had dripped down the sides.

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Then we opened the valve at the bottom of the extractor, let the honey pour out into a honey strainer and then into a big bowl at the the bottom.

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After that all there was to do was wash all the sticky fingers and bits of equipment, pour all the honey into jars, eat spoonfuls straight from the jars and then some on toast.

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And then later on I baked this cake.

I know I'm writing this blog as if we did all the cool stuff but really we all know that we just took the baton on the last little leg of the honey journey. It's really the bees that live here at Daylesford Organics with us who do the real work pollinating our fruit and veggies, providing our spring soundtrack and not being too cranky when we take a tiny share of their honey now and then.

I feel so very fortunate to have cool activities like honey spinning to share with our girls, to watch their excited faces as they play their parts and to see how proud they are of themselves and how much more connected they are to their food source as they spoon big spoonfuls of golden honey into their porridge each morning.

What a fascinating, exciting, sticky, delicious, buzzy world.

Bee good my friends.

Big sweet love to you from me.

xx

40 comments:

  1. That was SO interesting. I've never seen this part of the honey process. It does look like liquid gold. How fun to share it with your girls.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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    1. Thanks Betsy, the girls love doing it which always makes it more fun for us too. x

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  2. Love everything about this Kate, beautiful stuff! x

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  3. Wonderful! You are doing everything right and I'm not just referring to the honey collecting :)

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    1. Thank you Carolyn, that's such a gorgeous thing to say. x

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  4. we are a bit obsessed with all things bees. this is so beautiful! thank you for sharing this with us.

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    1. I completely understand, we are bee obsessed here too. x

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  5. I've never seen this process before so thank you for sharing! I love honey!

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    1. You are so welcome! Thanks so much for popping in. x

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  6. That's so interesting I have never seen the actual process either. Wonderful memories for the kids growing up. Regards Kathy A, Brisbane

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  7. Very interesting post ~ I'd never given it a thought to how the honey was actually extracted so learnt something new this morning. Great that you can share these experiences with your girls too :O)xx

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    1. I hope the rest of your day was just as informative and fun too lovely Jackie xx

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  8. I love your farm live! I don't writ e a comment so often, but I read all your wonderfull little Histories. Thanks for sharing it! XXX Jutta

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    1. Thanks so much for popping in, lovely to have you here. x

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  9. Ooh beautiful! You know how I feel about bees and honey! x

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    1. I had a feeling you might like this one Zanni, you actually popped into my mind as I was writing it. xx

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  10. I would be so excited to have bees! What a wonderful learning experience.

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    1. Keeping bees is such an incredible adventure Clare, I can't wait for you to have your own. x

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  11. How great to wait and share the moment with the children. I do that too when I am making jam. Jo x

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    1. Making jam with the kids is such fun too, I can't wait. x

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  12. Nothing better than honey right off the frames. I just hope my bees survive this winter. Were already having freezing temperatures.

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  13. Oh that big jar of honey looks so delicious! What an interesting process, I can see why the girls would have been enthralled. I find everything to do with bees and honey so fascinating.

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  14. Beautiful honey! Nothing like knowing how it was made and what went into it (more important what didn't go into it).A wonderful thing to pass on to the next generation.

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  15. Thanks for sharing this Kate. Since we haven't been able to extract any honey for a couple of years now, this brings back good sticky memories! You didn't mention how much work it is though to spin the extractor. We did ours inside the kitchen and we have a dent on the linoleum as a reminder!

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  16. We don't have anyone else to share in the excitement of extracting our honey but we still love doing it. We do ours inside as it would never be warm enough outside. we have honey on our porridge every day!

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  17. This is so fantastic! I hope we can do this with our boys one day!

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  18. How fabulous! Your girls (and you!) live in a heavenly environment.

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  19. how amazing! your girls experience some wonderful things x

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  20. I want to get hubby a hive for his birthday next year - any advice?! x

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  21. Honey spinning is a really interesting process, I loved reading about the steps and seeing the process. What a great memory for your kids to cherish :)

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  22. The spinning was my favourite bit as a child - I bet they loved it!

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  23. Great post! I just finished reading an article this afternoon about the humble honey bee and how populations of them around the world are heading for big trouble with disease, chemical sprays etc etc but that more and more people are taking up bee keeping in their backyards, which is great news for the bee!

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  24. That honey looks so gorgeous - beautiful honey. Bees are amazing creatures, aren't they?

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  25. I absolutely LOVED this post! Thanks for sharing this with us!!!

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  26. Thanks from me too - loved seeing the process in your-as usual- gorgeous photos!
    I've sent the link to lots of family as know they'll enjoy it also.
    And I've copied the recipe. Win win!
    Happy Weekend to you Kate.

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  27. How nice for your girls to be involved in the honey collecting process and learning from the experience shared with family. Would love to dip my finger in and have a taste, it looks delish!! x Dre

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  28. Fascinating to see how the liquid gold goes from the hive to the porridge bowl. Your lives are so rich with learning and teaching and growing into the earth; thank you so much for sharing with us.

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Thanks so much for stopping by...

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Kate XX

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