Friday, August 15, 2008

Honey Honey Honey


Is there anything more emblematic of the abundance and sensuality of summer, than a hive overflowing with honey?

This past week I went into the hive for the first time in a month. In June I was going in pretty much every week, and there was very little progress on the honey-making, although everyone seemed very busy and happy in the hive. But we have gotten so much rain in July, everything is just growing like crazy. I saw the bees buzzing at the top of my golden rain tree, among the yellow flowers there, on the sunflowers, in the clover--just everywhere. Sure enough when I went to open the hive, they had filled every bar with comb--the hive was bursting at the seams! I had some messes to clean up--combs formed slightly diagonally between two bars, or one comb that had a little hole in the top, and the neighboring comb had a little extension that fit right into that hole, like an architectural puzzle. Very pleasing. I cut off enough honey-filled comb to fill three large bowls on the counter of my kitchen--luscious, light-colored and warm, straight from the hive. Hopefully I've given the bees some more space to make more comb and honey, and this time, I'll check in on them sooner!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.