Homegrown honey
Rookie beekeeper Orren Fox shares the pleasures of harvesting your own honey
‘There are certain pursuits which, if not wholly poetic and true, do at least suggest a nobler and finer relation to nature than we know. The keeping of bees, for instance.’
Henry David Thoreau
Some beekeepers keep hives because they love the process of beekeeping, others do it for the pollination and the ecosystem, and some do it for the honey.
Whatever the motivation, the first honey harvest is one of the most satisfying moments any beekeeper will ever experience. I can clearly remember uncapping honey for the first time and seeing liquid gold spill out of a few cells and onto my fingers. As I lifted my hand to my mouth and tasted honey from my hives for the first time, it tasted far better than any honey I had ever had before.
Honey is a powerful substance; for centuries it has been used as both a sweetener and for its medicinal properties. The ancient Egyptians baked honey cakes that were offered to the gods to placate them. The Greeks used honey as a medicine; among other things, honey is said to be good for suppressing coughs, soothing burns, boosting immunity, and aiding those with seasonal allergies.
The thing that makes honey useful in the healing of wounds — its antimicrobial properties — also prevents the honey itself from going bad. As honey ages it crystallises, changing its physical properties while remaining perfectly fit to consume.
Honey comes in all different colours, viscosities, flavours, and scents. In some cases, it is possible to taste the different types of flowers that your bees have collected from when making their honey. For example, the flavour of orange blossom is quite strong in the honey from hives located near orange groves in California.
The honey from my hives in Massachusetts is said to taste like apples, peaches and the Atlantic Ocean. I love that description — even though the bees wouldn’t be collecting anything from the ocean, it just sounds delicious.
The first year of beekeeping: at a glance
Spring: Now is the time for hive maintenance after the winter and reversing hive bodies.
Summer: Keep hives cool and ensure bees have access to water.
Autumn: Time to extract some honey! Be sure to leave enough to take your bees through the winter. Also consider feeding your bees a sugar solution.
Winter: Take steps to prepare your bees for cold weather by wrapping your hives.
Adapted from Do Beekeeping: The secret to happy honeybees by Orren Fox. Copyright © 2015 Orren Fox. Published by The Do Book Co.
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