Last year, our family had the joy of beginning the wonderful responsibility of bee keeping. Over the last 16 months, we have begun to appreciate the remarkable process in which clip_image002[8]bees convert nectar from a variety of sources into honey. There is an abundance of remarkable lessons to be learned from this insect: their sensitivity to the needs of the hive, the instinctive disposition (swarming) of the bees to ‘go into all the world,’ their wholehearted work ethic (some bees only live 6 weeks), and their desire to follow only one leader (one queen).

There have been plenty of learning experiences, mistakes & mishaps, a few stings :-) , but much excitement and anticipation.

A couple weeks ago, we had the blessing of having a few Staddons join us for a work day at the property. Many memories were made working in the garden together, target practicing, exploring, and enjoying wholesome fellowship.

Everyone worked so hard and with such joy! Ready for a tour of the property!

A highlight of the day was having Michael inspect the hives. His expertise and advice from years of beekeeping were much appreciated. And as a result of the hive inspection, an unexpected 8 medium & 2 deep frames of honey were collected – Thank you Michael!

The process of extracting the honey was a memorable family event:

After being in the freezer for 48 hours to be sure any wax moths were dead, the honey was ready to be extracted. Mark selects a frame to be extracted. The caps were carefully cut off with a sharp knife, heated with boiling water and then quickly dried The cappings fell into a pan below and were collected with any honey that also accumulated to be later used as a delicious honey comb spread - yum!

Adam places a frame inside the 2 frame extractor which we were given the use of by some dear friends And the extracting begins...

Helping hold the extractor down as one person turns the handle - way to go team! Let's see if all the honey is extracted off the frame

After several frames are extracted, a bucket is positioned underneath and the honey is let out through the spout and filtered first through this screen After this first filter, we poured the honey through one more very fine screen to be sure small pieces of comb, bee parts, and crystals were removed.

We are thrilled over the harvest the Lord provided and look forward to the many more lessons that will come. And yet, as sweet as honey is to our taste, what does God say is even sweeter than honey? His Word.

"More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb (Ps. 19:10)."

"Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart (Jer. 15:16a)."

God created this world in such a way that it is constantly pointing us back to Him, the Creator. May we take the time to learn the lessons God has for us in the beautiful world of nature (Job 12:7-8)!

Deuteronomy 26:15  Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 22nd, 2009 at 11:40 am and is filed under Farming 101, Outdoor Adventures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.