As I mentioned in my first post ,we will be harvesting Honey from our Bees soon . Unlike most commercial Bee keepers ,we don’t harvest Honey in the Summer . We harvest our Honey in October . I time my harvest to coincide with the last bit of nectar production (Asters). That is coming up soon ,as the Goldenrod is almost spent and the Asters are being worked hard by the Bees.
Unlike most commercial Bee keepers ,we also don’t use Langstroth hives to the exclusion of all others . This year is actually the first year we will harvest from Langstroth hives . For the past 4 years I have used Warre hives . Warre hives don’t produce as much Honey as a Langstroth hive as they are smaller and you harvest the comb as well as the Honey . This has the disadvantage of less Honey but the advantage of a large wax harvest that can be used for candles ,lip balm etc. We have also found we can get a premium price for our Honey from the Warres as it is more robust in flavor ,something our customers appreciate.
This year we have added 4 Langs to the mix and managed them in the same manner as the Warres ,fall harvest only . It will be interesting to see if the Honey will have different flavors coming from the different hive styles We will soon find out barring any Bear issues .
A farmers work is never done .