This was the first year for Papa K’s honeybees, so we weren’t really expecting to harvest much honey. We were pleasantly surprised with 5 full quart jars and lots of smaller jars full of the rich golden liquid.
To harvest the honey you have to basically take apart the hive, which understandably upsets the bees. I think my favorite part was watching them brush the bees off of the comb and watching the chunks of bees just fall away.
To extract the honey we borrowed a separator from the local honey bee association, and it was nice! Just have to spin the crank and the honey comes flying out. While everyone was inside taking their turns at the crank, I snuck back outside with the smoke in one hand and camera in the other. I had to stick my lens in that hive and get a close-up.