Mid-summer…these early harvest days have a busyness to them that begins early and ends late. There are gardens to tend, beans to snap, and corn to shuck. Weeds need pulling, grass needs mowing, and hay needs stacking. July days are hot and sun-soaked, and by day’s end, often come with rumblings of thunder bringing much-needed rain.
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If you’ve read my blog for a long time, you KNOW I have on my “bucket list” to someday be a backyard beekeeper. I recently got to find out first-hand what it takes to keep bees, and what an amazing time it was!
I’ve always been fascinated by bees (bees, not wasps. Even though wasps are beneficial insects, I have had too many run-ins with them, and have a hearty fear of getting too close to the little spawns of Satan). Bees, on the other hand, are so much more docile, and won’t bother you if you don’t mean them harm. They are Mother Nature’s little angels. Without bees, we would not have food, or most plants, for that matter.
Just the fact that bees can fly is a miracle in itself. Their wings, in proportion to their bodies, would make it improbable that they could have flight, yet they are amazing and fast flyers. The honey they make is also a miracle. Honey is not only delicious, but has antioxidants, antibacterial properties, and can even heal wounds. It’s better for blood sugar than eating refined sugar, and I’m convinced that because I eat a bit of local honey everyday, I no longer suffer from seasonal allergies.
As a tried-and-true farmgirl, I keep chickens, have a veggie garden, and love to can and preserve. Beekeeping seems like a natural step in being more self-sufficient.
A family that lives down the street knows that I love honey, and hope to someday be a beekeeper myself, so they recently invited us to join their family in harvesting spring honey, so we could get a taste of what it takes to keep hives. My daughter and I were so excited!
The first thing we did when we arrived was to make sure that we were protected. Though it was a hot July day, we wore long pants and long sleeves.
Randa loaned me a beekeeper’s suit (it was a coincidence that she loaned me one in my favorite shade of pink)!
Mohamed has several hives. He says when I decide to have bees, it’s good to start with at least two hives, to keep the hives strong and healthy. The hive boxes he has are insulated, a better choice for our very cold winters than traditional wooden hives.
First, smoke from a smoker was used to help calm and disorient the bees, so they would be less likely to sting. The smoke wasn’t irritating; it reminded me of a campfire.
As we helped lift the trays of honey from the hives to the cart that would carry them to the next step, Audrey and I were surprised just how heavy the trays of honey were! Each tray contained honey, honeycomb and wax where the bees had closed the “cells”, behind which the delicious honey was found. You need some upper body strength to be a beekeeper!
The bees were not really aggressive. Mohamed told us that they would first “warn” us by buzzing into us. It was at first a bit unnerving when a few bees “buzzed” and flicked the screen covering my face. We moved slowly so as to not upset them, but also to be careful not to hurt any of the bees by stepping on them, as a few landed on the ground. The buzzing sound of the bees was harmonious.
A second hive was housed in a different type of box, where jars could be filled right at the hive. On the side, one could view the hive of bees as they worked. Mohamed filled a large jar of honey for us to take home.
After we filled the cart, we moved indoors to where the spinner was.
Using a large heated knife, Mohamed taught us how to slice the wax off the trays. It was not as easy as it looked, and was more difficult if the wax was thinner, as opposed to thick.
The spinner would spin the trays, collecting the honey at the bottom. The empty trays were considerably lighter in weight than before. Mohamed says when he first had bees, he used a manual spinner for the honey, as opposed to the large electric one.
I could not believe how much honey was harvested from one hive! We filled a large bucket of beautiful, golden honey. (Honey, if stored properly, doesn’t go bad. It’s Nature’s perfect food).
“Spring” honey is lighter in color and tastes different than “fall”, which is darker. Taste depends on what flowers are available for the bees, and where they are. Mohamed also had us taste honey harvested from where they used to live in New York state; it had a different taste than what is harvested in Connecticut. We got to try it, along with Randa’s amazing homemade cheese.
We always love seeing bees in our yard. We have noticed more honeybees in the grass on the clover; when we see them we smile and think they must be visiting from Mohamed’s house! Their hives are very healthy; some beekeepers take all the fall honey from their bees and replace it with sugar water; Mohamed does not do that.
Before we realized, we had been visiting for several hours! We had the best time, and appreciated all of their amazing hospitality! It was so much fun getting to know our neighbors, and was a wonderful learning experience, as well. Harvesting honey was an event, and I loved that their whole family joined in. Harvesting honey is a lengthy process, and keeping bees is definitely not an easy task. I certainly have a deeper appreciation for the amount of time, expense and hard work that goes into beekeeping, but it is a such wonderful, rewarding thing to do!
Tell me, are you a beekeeper, as well? What is your favorite way to consume honey? Drop me a line and say “hello” in the comments below so I know you dropped by!
is a certified farmgirl at heart. She’s happily married to her beach bum Yankee husband of 20 years. She went from career gal to being a creative homeschooling mom for two of her biggest blessings and hasn’t looked back since. Debbie left her lifelong home in the high desert of Northern Nevada 10 years ago and washed up on the shore of America’s hometown, Plymouth, MA, where she and her family are now firmly planted. They spend part of each summer in a tiny, off–grid beach cottage named “The Sea Horse.”
“I found a piece of my farmgirl heart when I discovered MaryJanesFarm. Suddenly, everything I loved just made more sense! I enjoy unwinding at the beach, writing, gardening, and turning yard-sale furniture into ‘Painted Ladies’ I’m passionate about living a creative life and encouraging others to ‘make each day their masterpiece.’”
is a “MaryJane Farmgirl” who lives in a large metropolitan area. She is a lawyer who has worked in both criminal defense and prosecution. She has been a judge, a business woman and a stay-at-home mom. In addition to her law degree, she has a Masters of Theological Studies.
“Mustering up the courage to do the things you dream about,” she says, “is the essence of being a MaryJane Farmgirl.” Learning to live more organically and closer to nature is Rebekah’s current pursuit. She finds strength and encouragement through MaryJane’s writings, life, and products. And MaryJane’s Farmgirl Connection provides her a wealth of knowledge from true-blue farmgirls.
an old-fashioned farmgirl with a pioneer spirit, lives in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. As a “lifelong learner” in the “Live-Free-or-Die” state, she fiercely values self-reliance, independence, freedom, and fresh mountain air. Married to her childhood sweetheart of 40+ years (a few of them “uphill climbs”), she’s had plenty of time to reinvent herself. From museum curator, restaurant owner, homeschool mom/conference speaker, to post-and-beam house builder and entrepreneur, she’s also a multi-media artist, with an obsession for off-grid living and alternative housing. Cathi owns and operates a 32-room mountain lodge. Her specialty has evolved to include “hermit hospitality” at her rustic cabin in the mountains, where she offers weekend workshops of special interest to women.
“Mountains speak to my soul, and farming is an important part of my heritage. I want to pass on my love of these things to others through my writing. Living in the mountains has its own particular challenges, but I delight in turning them into opportunities from which we can all learn and grow.”
Dori Troutman is the daughter of second generation cattle ranchers in New Mexico. She grew up working and playing on the ranch that her grandparents homesteaded in 1928. That ranch, with the old adobe home, is still in the family today. Dori and her husband always yearned for a ranch of their own. That dream came true when they retired to the beautiful green rolling hills of Tennessee. Truly a cattleman’s paradise!
Dori loves all things farmgirl and actually has known no other life but that. She loves to cook, craft, garden, and help with any and all things on their cattle farm.
describes herself as a goat charmer, chicken whisperer, bee maven, and farmers’ market baker renovating an 1864 farmhouse on an Ohio farm. With a degree in Design, Mary says small-town auctions and country road barn sales "always make my heart skip a beat thinking about what I could create or design out of what I’ve seen.”
Rooted in the countryside, she likes simple things and old ways … gardening, preserving the harvest, cooking, baking, and all things home. While you might find her selling baked goods from the farm’s milkhouse, teaching herself to play the fiddle, or sprucing up a vintage camper named Maizy, you will always find her in an apron!
Mary says, “I’m happiest with the simple country pleasures … an old farmhouse, too many animals, a crackling fire, books to read, and the sound of laughter … these make life just perfect.”
is a budding rural farmgirl living in Palmer, the agricultural seat of Alaska. Alex is a graduate student at Alaska Pacific University pursuing an M.S. in Outdoor and Environmental Education. She lives and works on the university’s 700 acre environmental education center, Spring Creek Farm. When Alex has time outside of school, she loves to rock climb, repurpose found objects, cross-country ski on the hay fields, travel, practice yoga, and cook with new-fangled ingredients.
Alex grew up near the Twin Cities and went to college in Madison, Wisconsin—both places where perfectly painted barns and rolling green farmland are just a short drive away. After college, she taught at a rural middle school in South Korea where she biked past verdant rice paddies and old women selling home-grown produce from sidewalk stoops. She was introduced to MaryJanesFarm after returning, and found in it what she’d been searching for—a group of incredible women living their lives in ways that benefit their families, their communities, and the greater environment. What an amazing group of farmgirls to be a part of!
Suburban Farmgirl Nicole Christensen calls herself a “vintage enthusiast”. Born and raised in Texas, she has lived most of her life in the picturesque New England suburbs of Connecticut, just a stone’s throw from New York State. An Advanced Master Gardener, she has gardened since childhood, in several states and across numerous planting zones. In addition, she teaches knitting classes, loves to preserve, and raises backyard chickens.
Married over thirty years to her Danish-born sweetheart, Nicole has worked in various fields, been a world-traveler, an entrepreneur and a homemaker, but considers being mom to her now-adult daughter her greatest accomplishment. Loving all things creative, Nicole considers her life’s motto to be “Bloom where you are planted”.
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