Does not concern the bee;
A clover anytime to him
is aristocracy.
Emily Dickinson
We had a great trip to the University Apiary today. Beekeeping is something the kids and I have been talking about for a few months now, our interest is both fascination and practical. Today gave us both increased awareness and intrigue into the possibilities.
The morning began with a short talk about bees, their life cycle, different types and roles they have. We have been reading a few books about just this over the last few days. Before leaving the room the safety precautions were reviewed.
We then went to watch the process of honey being extracted from the comb. Each of the racks were placed on the machine, slowly moving past a hot metal bar which both scraped and melted off the wax caps that cover the combs. The wax and honey they came off dripped into a basin to be separated later. Once the tray was filled with about 20 racks they moved on a another shelf. Here the racks were spun in a closed container, shaking the honey out to drip out of the bottom into a pan. Each small rack contained enough honey for five jars, I would have guessed maybe a quarter of a jar (the amount was definitely deceiving!). We ended this portion sticking a finger into a honeycomb.....Yummy yummy!
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