Comments on: Summers Sweetest Harvest

By: Canning Tomato Sauce

Canning Tomato Sauce — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:10:09 +0000

[...] for eating local produce. I was perusing one night since my friend Justine wrote a post on her prolific honey bees which are in next year’s plans for me. I scanned the recipes and the Red Gravy one caught my [...]

By: cigale bichard

cigale bichard — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 10:59:22 +0000

I am a huge fan of organic food. Congratulation on a beautiful and sucessful bee hive. Where I live we have lost the bees. When we first moved here there so many and now we may have a few bumble bees. Bye the way do you ever ship your honey?

By: Sustainable Eats

Sustainable Eats — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 06:24:54 +0000

Wow! This year we put in the garden and got chickens so next year my plan is to get bees. I can’t believe how much honey you got! Did you get all that honey from those 4 boxes? Or does having two hives mean you have two of those? And how close can they be to each other?

I have small kids who play in the backyard and a neighbor with an in-ground pool who wasn’t crazy about me mentioning bees but I’m going to make this work somehow…

By: Justine

Justine — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 05:45:00 +0000

Hi Amanda,

That’s a great question. I always avoid pesticides/fungicides in my garden and would like to avoid them on my bees as well! We do our best to keep our hives healthy without the use of any chemicals and so far we haven’t had to use them. That being said, I’m a new beekeeper and standard beekeeping tends to involve chemicals so most of the information I’ve come across recommends treating bees with various chemicals for different reasons. We’re still learning about this in general, but are definitely interested in taking a more natural approach.

As for the extractor, it depends somewhat on what type of hive you have. It would be difficult to extract honey without one with a standard Langstroth hive (like I have – we reuse the frames), however there may be foundations that simplify this that I’m not familiar with. I do know there are other types of hives that are more suited to harvesting honey without an extractor, like top bar hives. Hope this helps!

By: Amanda

Amanda — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 03:48:02 +0000

And do you need an extractor? Or is it more a matter of ease?

By: Amanda

Amanda — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 03:47:35 +0000

I dream of raising bees but have yet to jump in. What are your thoughts on mitecides?

By: MA

MA — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:46:36 +0000

WOW!~THat is fantastic. I am going to have to do this. My 5 foot in diameter lavender plants are covered with honey bees. I keep thinking I should get a part of their action: lavender honey.

So, where do I get a hive or two, and then an extractor?

By: Erica

Erica — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:30:17 +0000

Wow…that is so cool! That’s a ton of honey.

By: Justine

Justine — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:49:49 +0000

Hi Heather, It really depends on your site and where you live. For example, in Seattle there are some restrictions about how close the hive can be to a property line, and a limit to how many hives you can have. As long as you meet the legal requirements it doesn’t matter if your lot is small as long as there is nectar flow within 2/3 mile radius and you have the time to care for them.

If you’re in Washington, check out the link below to Puget Sound Beekeepers Association, they list beekeeping laws city…

http://www.pugetsoundbees.org/lawscity.htm

Good Luck, your bread sounds delicious!

By: Heather

Heather — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:36:28 +0000

Oh, and Daphne, I could use it all up just making bread! I’ve started a homemade bread kick lately and hardly buy any from the store anymore. But my favorite recipes use lots of honey – expensive if you buy local!! I’d love to have my own from the backyard!