Spring Honey

-Posted by Isaac

A few days ago I started pulling the Spring honey off the hives and unfortunately I'm already done. After all that bragging about how great the bees looked building up this Spring, there was surprisingly little honey to be had. Though I did make about 100 splits from the strongest hives. Maybe that had a little something to do with the lack of early honey... fault of the beekeeper, not the bees? Possibly. 

Oh well. The bees are looking strong and active (especially the splits), primed for a great summer nectar flow if there is any at all to be had. The honey that did come off this Spring is beautiful, tasty and dry. Most frames were only partially capped:

Normally this would mean a while in the drying room, but even the completely uncapped frames were testing out at 16% moisture. I guess a dry Spring means dry honey.

The uncapper didn't get much of a workout with so many frames going straight into the extractor.

 We have a "Handyman" uncapper (from Dadant, I think). Although the uncapping knives are run with a motor, the frames are placed in by hand (endlessly) and then cranked down through the machine. This leaves you with tired shoulders in need of a Father's Day massage.

 I had to steal parts from a water pump in Jayne's greenhouse to fix the busted heater pump on the uncapper. (It saved about a hundred dollars and shipping time, but I may never see that massage.)

We didn't get around to snapping pictures until the very last extractor load. You can see the frames on this last round had to be spaced out to balance the machine.

Although the total amount of honey pulled was disappointing (about 700 lbs), it was still uplifting to see the first of this year's crop spilling into pails.

It takes such a short time, and there is so little of the Spring locust honey, I don't bother with tanks or in-line filters. It all goes straight into five-gallon pails.

Gorgeous, delicate water-white honey. And the taste, oh so special...

 You locust honey lovers know that we don't wholesale this. You can only find it by visiting us at a market (or buy it online). This gives me a chance to brag about it face to face.

Although most of the frames were partially or completely uncapped, we did find a few that can go to the Pickaway County Fair next week.

Now that's just showing off!

With the extracting done, today became a project day. First on the list (Jayne's list): a new sandbox.
Here are the kids "helping" me move about a ton of sand by way of wheelbarrow trips across the play-yard.

Next on the list: fix the holes in the chicken pen and move our soon-to-be egg layers.  And build a fire-pit.
Daylights a'burnin!

Balsamic Roasted Carrots - with honey!

We finally pulled up all the carrots in the greenhouse (which is working more like a hoophouse right now) and planted tomatoes in their place.  In celebration of this momentous occasion, I bring you a tasty little recipe that requires very little effort.  Go find some carrots at your local farmer's market and try it out!  I adapted this recipe from the Alaska from Scratch blog.  

Ingredients

• 8 medium carrots, sliced lengthwise down the center (I chose not to peel them, and sliced them into quarters for faster cooking)
• salt and pepper
• 1T balsamic vinegar
• 1t brown sugar
• 2T olive oil
• fresh rosemary, chopped
• honey, for drizzling

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Place carrots side-by-side on a baking sheet. Season with salt, pepper, and chopped rosemary.  Don't crowd the pan, to ensure that they roast instead of steam (I crowded mine a bit too much).
3. In a small bowl, stir together balsamic and brown sugar until combined. Add olive oil. Drizzle the whole mixture over carrots. Toss to coat.
4. Roast for 25-30 minutes, or until carrots are crisp-tender and caramelized (cooking times can vary depending on the thickness of your carrots). Drizzle with raw honey. Serve immediately.

I believe I photographed these carrots more than any other vegetable I've grown.  Why?  Because I was so very proud of them!  Carrots are hard to weed, and in our Ohio clay soil they have a hard time forcing their roots down, limiting their size potential.  But these carrots were kind to me, and grew beautiful and long.  The kids learned they could easily go out to the greenhouse and grab a carrot for a snack (much to my delight).  They fed the tops to the goats and munched on the bottoms while I worked.  

I also found it amusing that I planted the carrots while I was pregnant with Bridger back in October, and as I was harvesting them in May I noticed they were approximately the same length (although Bridger wins on weight).  So naturally, I photographed them side by side.

  

 And then my photographer friend Courtney caught this cute picture of Mason holding these carrots once again during our family picture photo shoot last month.

And sometimes the carrots did funny things like wrap around each other while growing, so naturally, another picture was in order.

As you see, these carrots will forever be recorded in history in the Barnes family photo albums.  And so the season goes on, the carrots are gone, and I must find another crop to photograph.  Tomatoes?  Potatoes?  We'll see!

Have a wonderful weekend!

-Jayne

May Excitement

-posted by Isaac

A lot going on and much more still to come on the bee farm. Ah, Spring...
First, a bait hive update: we now have 26 hives in our yard that came from swarms.
19 of these were caught using the swarm traps. Unbelievable!
I'll be moving many of these to out-yards this week. Better forage elsewhere.

The days are numbered for our broilers.

This week we'll be taking them to be processed and making a day of it with the whole family. What a great excuse for a mini vacation (and celebration). No more broilers to worry about! As much as I drag my feet and grumble about Jayne's projects, I really do admire her ambition. She's got a willingness to try new things all the time and quite the pioneer spirit.

We've got the pollen traps on. 29 total for now. The stronger hives are really bringing it in, and after only ten days there are already two full buckets in the freezer ready to be cleaned. We'll have it at market this Saturday for you pollen lovers.

The kids really like to go on "pollen runs." Every other day we go in the morning or evening when not many bees are flying, and collect what amounts to about 3/4ths of a five gallon bucket. Sampling seems to be a must.

Mason can't hide his guilty pollen face

"You're eating the profits, Maizy and Mason!"

Of course we always take time for playing on the hay bales after the work is done.

On May 22nd, I had a chance to share some bee stories with the kids at Walnut Elementary near Ashville. It was a fun day. First through Fifth grade, a new group coming into my little shelter house every 20 minutes.

By the end the kids had me pretty worn out. It really brought back that old end-of-the-day feeling from my teaching past. What a hard job teachers have-- a continual performance all day long. They certainly deserve their summers off, and in my opinion, a raise!

Lots of interest at the honey sampling table

Looking for that elusive queen bee

"I found her!"

Isaac shows a piece of naturally drawn honeycomb to the students.

The latest honey house project has been a total revamp of the extractor room.  I've knocked a couple walls out and moved a door or two in able to fit the bigger equipment we'll need for extracting honey. I also added a drying room with a fan, dehumidifiers, and a heat source. Much more permanent than what we've been working with in other years.

Some of the extracting equipment going in is pictured here on the trailer. Jayne and I bought this stuff years ago before we even had a honey house. It was kind of a spontaneous purchase from the widow of a commercial beekeeper in Ross County. Now I'm sorting through it, not able to make heads or tails out of a lot of it. What fun.

On a final note, our old long-lost Montana friend, Scott Howard (green shirt) paid us a surprise visit. He brought his band with him-- The Dodgy Mountain Men.

These guys are on tour from Missoula and landed here by way of New York City and Columbus. We're just now recovering from two days and nights of music and Montana stories. The lead singer, Jed (white hat) spent yesterday helping me in the bee yards. It was his first close-up look at bee hives and I'm happy to report he didn't take a single sting. What a natural!

Pick-Your-Own in Pickaway County

I'm not exactly sure why our county is called "Pickaway" County, but I think it suits us well, because we have a great assortment of "Pick-Your-Own" farms.  Yesterday the kids and I were out and about, picking strawberries and flower bouquets, and I wanted to share our finds here.  For those of you that don't live in Pickaway County, this would be a great way to spend your next day off or weekend get-a-way.  The money saved on your "pickings" will greatly pay for the extra gas required to get you here.  

Mason and Maizy, with our pickings from yesterday's adventure

Pictured below is "Blossoms at the Bend" U-Pick flower farm.  For just $3.00, thats right... not a typo... you can pick your own flower bouquet, enough to fill a red solo cup as pictured above.  Right now they have a plethora of peonies in assorted colors, delphiniums, snapdragons, coreopsis, poppies, salvia, blue flax, love in a mist, baptisia (false indigo), blanket flower, and many more available for picking.  Everything was so gorgeous, I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  The little house you see in the distance holds the cups, scissors, and a guestbook.  There is a hose off to the side of the house where you can fill your cup with water, and pick to your heart's content.  They even have vases available for purchase for $1-$3.  It was so much fun!  This is clearly the best deal in Central Ohio, as a similar sized bouquet at the farmer's market in Columbus will run you at least $12.00, if not more.  You can find the farm at:  5564 Williamsport Pike, Williamsport, OH  43164.  Open dawn to dusk.

Pick Your Own Flowers at Blossoms at the Bend, south of Williamsport 

We picked the strawberries at Wright's Pickaway Farm, located at 7884 Darby Rd, Circleville, OH  43113.  Their website has a phone number you can call to get the most up to date info on availability and times.  He was charging just $1.35 a pound, and we picked about 9 lbs. in under an hour.  It sure beats the $6.00 a quart price at the farmer's market right now!  

And finally, why not come on by our farmstand (pictured below).  We use the honor system, and are open dawn to dusk.  We also offer price discounts (a dollar off our farm market prices) when you come to the farmstand and use the honor system.  We keep it stocked with honey and soap at all times.  

What else is new?  We've been planting flowers around the house.  I can't think of anything cuter than a chubby little hand placing a flower in a carefully dug hole, filled with dark brown earth:

Pictured below is the 2012 Barnes Family Planting Crew:

 New Labels!  As much as we loved our old labels, it was time for a change.  If you purchase our honey online or at the market, you'll notice a new look (same great taste!).  This project has been 2 years in the making (I'm not even joking).  The wheels of change move slowly when you're raising a family and running a family business.  But now you'll be able to tell which season of honey you have, in case you forget when you come home from market.  We also added the state of Ohio outline to accentuate the locality of the honey.  What do you think?  Leave us a comment!

The Runnin' Beekeeper

-posted by Jayne

Did you know your local honey man Isaac is a marathon runner?  And not just a marathon runner, but a good marathon runner... as in... he's even won marathons before.  I think as his wife I have a right to brag a bit, because if you've met Isaac you know he is a pretty modest person and won't admit it himself.  Sunday, May 5th, Isaac took 5th in the Cincinnati marathon, with a time of 2:43:04.  Because I was stuck in the crowd with a baby strapped to my chest, I didn't get any great pictures, so I must leave you with a few older pictures:   

Isaac at the 2007 Cincinnati Marathon, when he took 1st place.

Isaac has run a total of 27 marathons and placed first in Cincinnati in 2007 with a time of 2:33:36 and also placed first in the God's Country marathon in Pennsylvania.  His fastest time is 2:25.

Here he is at the Saint George Marathon (Utah) from some years ago.  He tried several years at an attempt to make an Olympic Trial Time, but never quite made it.  It was definitely a good excuse for me to take a vacation to the Southwest, though!

I know I know... many of you don't know or care much about marathon running.  I know I didn't before I married a runner.  So what is Isaac's secret?   Well, honey and pollen of course!  At least this is what we like to believe.

We have had customers who marvel at the health benefits of pollen, then say things like, "You guys must be the healthiest people around!"  Isaac was talking to a customer on the phone last week who claimed "I can feel the energy from you, man.  This pollen is good stuff."  We always chuckle at this, but I think if there ever was to be a poster boy for bee pollen, it would be Isaac.  

Thanks for letting me take up a blog post to brag on my husband.  Next time you see Isaac make sure you congratulate him!  

The Pleasures of Eating

-posted by Jayne

What is new on the farm?  We've been tending to our chickens; there's the new batch of laying hens, still in their "teenage years" as I like to think of it.

And then there are the broilers...

Not so cute.  White Mountain Broilers - bred to eat and grow large breasts... and not very smart.  We started with 35 and are now down to 22.  Possums, fox, weasels, mink... who knows what else, have gotten into the pen and steadily decreased our number.  Pretty sad, and my own fault for not doing a better job at securing the fences.  But these birds are pretty easy targets.  They grow very rapidly, producing large breasts which make them sort of front and top heavy.  This makes it hard for them to walk up and down the little ramp leading in and out of the chicken coop.  Even a slow, lumbering possum can snatch up one of these chickens in a matter of minutes.  As much as I love raising good quality meat for our familiy, I am tempted to give up on raising broilers.  I'm not very good at shooting possum (yuck), and it isn't really fair of me to ask Isaac to do this for me everytime one gets into the chicken house.  Okay, I admit, I've never tried to shoot a possum, so I don't know if I'm good at it or not.  But I don't want to try.  If I could only convince Isaac to build me a chicken tractor...

Some of you readers may be wondering how and why we raise our own meat birds.  I'm often asked, "Isn't it so hard to raise something you will eventually slaughter and eat?"  My answer has always been that I'd rather eat an animal that was humanely raised and had a good life, than one that lived in confinement and was treated poorly, not to mention washed in a bleach bath during butchering.  We do our best to eat responsibly.  I love the Wendell Berry essay "The Pleasures of Eating" where he explains how eating is an agricultural act, and that how we eat determines how the world is used.  He says on the topic of eating animals one has raised, "Some, I know, will think of it as bloodthirsty or worse to eat a fellow creature you have known all its life. On the contrary, I think it means that you eat with understanding and with gratitude.  A significant part of the pleasure of eating is in one's accurate consciousness of the lives and the world from which food comes."  

It is important to me that my kids fully know and understand where their food comes from, and how it is grown/raised.  I imagine many of you reading this feel the same way about your food, since you are reading a blog from a small family farm.  You want to know a little more about how and why a family would choose to make a living raising honey bees, and how that honey was produced.  We are glad there are others out there like us who see the important connection between the land, the food we eat, and the importance of how the animals and plants are raised.  If you have a few minutes, you should visit the link above and take the time to read Wendell Berry's essay.  Not only will you be inspired to do even more to take part in your own food production, but you will also learn a little more about the philosophy that guides our own beliefs; who we are and why we do what we do.  

I leave you with a few more sentences from Berry's essay:


Eating with the fullest pleasure — pleasure, that is, that does not depend on ignorance — is perhaps the profoundest enactment of our connection with the world. In this pleasure we experience and celebrate our dependence and our gratitude, for we are living from mystery, from creatures we did not make and powers we cannot comprehend.

Blooms and Bait Hives

-Posted by Isaac

The bees are back!

 Four late nights got them all out of the apples and back home to make some spring honey. I increased the size of the 'good' locations this year, putting upwards of twenty hives in some.

Here's "Johnny's Yard", about three miles away.   

A few of the bee yards which were surrounded by nothing but corn fields, I took out altogether. No more 'honey rent' for those folks. Sorry.

Here's "Ann's Yard." 

These girls get the royal treatment: an old hog barn.

A good location is one with plenty of forage. Meaning somewhere away from the hundreds of acres of row crops, preferably set-aside land where the bees can find a diverse diet of whatever is blooming. When I brought them out of the orchards 10 days ago, the russian olive was in full bloom. 

Most people around here hate this bush because it's so invasive. I love it for obvious reasons: bee food. After the small bit of nectar the bees can gather on dandelions and apples, this is the first real honey flow. Plus you can smell it a mile away. Walk through a pasture filled with it, and it's like you're walking through cotton candy.

Next came my favorite- the black locust trees.

Not a great picture of this grove, but you can see the large white blooms on these somewhat young trees. I've planted some 700 black locust over the last five years. Why? Future honey, of course! This nectar makes the most delicate and beautiful honey. A distinct floral taste.

Shortly after the black locust bloomed, the bush honeysuckle came on strong.

People share the same dislike for this as they do the russian olive. Very invasive plant covering our forest floors. But again, I can find it in my heart to love it at least a couple weeks a year.

With the bees back home and supered up, I found a little time to try something new this year-- bait hives. These are old busted out-of-commission boxes with a couple old frames and a lemongrass 'swarm lure'.

After a good solid afternoon I had 23 swarm catchers ready to go. This is a little like fishing for bees.

Actually, I've fooled around with this a little in the past, but I didn't know what I was doing.  Dan Williams, our bee club president gave a talk about catching swarms at the last meeting. I gained several useful pointers. The size of box and internal cavity is important, and so is the height of placement. Oh, and a little something called "queen juice." This is a jar of rubbing alcohol and the bits and pieces of old dead queens. You put a little of the 'juice' on the bait hive frames and as the alcohol evaporates, the scent of queen pheromone remains. What a great idea.

 Success! This morning, only two days after putting the bait hives out, I was able to check about ten of them. Four had swarms! Four! And not only that, every trap had plenty of bee interest... foragers pecking around the entrance hole, hopefully telling everyone about the sweet new pad with vacancy signs flashing.

 I wouldn't have believed it. Either this is the biggest swarming week of the year, or Dan Williams is simply a genius. I'm inclined to think it's a little of both.