Bees knees

Bees in CairnsIt was time to extract honey again on the weekend and Jack and I had a little help. One of my colleagues has just purchased a hive so he was keen to check out how we rob ours. Cam brought his young daughter, Holly, along for the morning.

It brought back some very strong memories for me of our first hive. I was only a little older than Holly when 40 odd years ago Dad came home with a box of bees, but I can remember the same sense of wonderment that something so sweet could miraculously appear inside a white box full on insects. (I still think of honeycomb as nature’s own chewing gum.)

Holly stood on a box in the garage with Jack’s wife, Bev, and watched through the window as we pulled the top super apart. She was there examining the frames as her dad removed the capping and then spun the liquid gold onto the sides of the extractor. She helped strain the honey through the filters and into the bucket, and sighed with delight as she licked her fingers clean.

Holly was an enthusiastic helper with a shy smile and and it made me misty-eyed with the memories. I hope there’s another young apiarist in the making 🙂

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