Honey Time!

Today was a big day! My husband came up to the hive to help. It was his first time there. The boxes are so heavy with honey now I can't lift them on my own. I guess I need to start lifting weights to get my strength up (I didn't think I was that weak but these puppies are heavy!)

With my husband there helping with the heavy lifting we also had extra hands for pictures. This allows for some peeks into what I do that I could not otherwise share.

Smoking the hive to calm the bees and send them down out of harms way.

I am standing uphill, I have already taken off 

the top cover, inner cover and 1 honey super... its still really tall!

Looking at the queen excluder, this is what keeps the queen 

in the lower part of the hive. It also keeps a separation from 

our honey and the bees honey.

I use a hive tool (pry bar) to take apart the hive. 

The bees super glue it together! Its hard to get apart.

Inspecting the frame for eggs and larve. 

This is how you know your queen is present and healthy.

A peek down.

The hive tool is also used to loosen the frames. 

Those are glued in too. The bees use more glue 

than a whole football stadium of kindergarteners.

More inspection.

Showing my husband some babies (larvae).

The boxes get stacked up on the side as we remove 

and check each box.

A capped frame of honey ready for harvest!

Scrapping the honeycomb from the frame.

I finished scrapping so my husband took
the opportunity to taste his first bit o' honey.

Let the straining begin!

So now the honey and the wax will separate. The honey will drip into the bucket and the wax will stay in the strainer. I will be checking on it tomorrow to see how the straining is going. I plan to return to the hive this weekend to get more frames and continue the gathering of the honey. It will be fun to see how much honey we get from that one honey super this week (one honey super holds ten frames of honey, today we removed two). Then we will be working on the next one and the next and the next. We have four honey supers to strain. Each super holds approximately 35 pounds of honey. Its looking to be a big year for honey!

So there it is, the start of something sweet. I hope you enjoyed your visit to the hive. The girls have been so busy this year.

Blessings!

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Empty bottles? Don't toss them! How to clean and reuse your essential oil bottles

Many times I have been asked, "What is the best roll on?" My personal favorite is to make your own with the Young Living bottle the oils came in and the roller fitments from Young Living. (My first roll on was born when I reached the bottom of my lavender bottle.) These bottles are free, they do not leak and the metal roller applies the oils perfectly.

Lets talk about some ways your can get every drop from your oils and how to clean the bottles to reuse them. I had several bottles which were empty. Here are some of the things I did:

When I have needed a roll on of the oil or a blend that included the essential oil I had just emptied I just used it as is. I remove the top add a carrier oil and the drops needed of essential oil. Then add my top.

The relaxing essential oils like stress away, peace and calming and lavender I take the tops off and bury them in epsom salts. The oils get absorbed into the salts. Those salts are used for baths for the family. Once I am done with them in the salts, I can then clean and resuse the bottles. You can also make other jars of bath salts for other purposes like for energizing or to alleviate aches and pains.

I decided to keep my empty peppermint for use at the gym. To give myself a boost I can open the bottle and breathe in the energizing goods.

I had several other bottles which I had previously removed the reducer to get the last drops out. (Yes there still is a few drops in there!)

The deep relief bottle was the messiest.

Once I have a bunch of bottles I need to clean, I remove the tops and reducers (for more on an easy way to do that see this post). Then remove the labels. They come off real easy. I use my homemade gunk remover to get the last of the sticker residue off. I put the gunk remover on and let it sit for a few minutes, then rub it off with a paper towel.

Once the outside is clean, it is time to clean the inside. Remove the rings and dropped them into hot water while I clean the rest of them. I let them soak a little, then rinse them. Finally, soak with hot water and all natural dish soap to remove the last of the oil. Rinse them well and let them air dry. Now they are ready to be reused.

So, what have you used your bottles for? I love to have these on hand to whip up a blend or roller bottle or to bless someone else with essential oils. A super simple way to share the love of good health.

Blessings!

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News from the hive

Before opening the hive for inspection.

 Went up to check on the girls today. They have filled the third deep hive body and both supers. I added another super and need to start working on plans for harvest and doing a check for mites.

The two honey supers(far) and two of the deep hive bodies(near) removed.

The boxes are now extremely heavy. The full honey supers are about 50 pounds each and the full deep hive bodies are at about 75 pounds each. I had to use my whole body to lift them. Sometimes it took a couple tries. Also the girls really love to glue everything together with super glue.  I have come to understand the real need for the hive tool.

Entrance with my sticky board.

I made a sticky board last night (you can see the blue in the picture above) to check for varroa mites but I did not like how much it covered the entrance so I am going to do a sugar roll test next week instead. If I can get some pictures of that I will certainly share. It will be cute.

Have you heard of the varroa mites? They are a huge problem with our honey bees. They are a parasite that weakens the bees. The equivalent on you or me would be a wood tick the size of your head feeding off of you. Here is some more indepth information on the mites life cycle on the bee.

I think they were ready for me to go...

The girls were definitely ready for me to be on my way today. So many of them now it is really amazing. The hive now has three full deep hive bodies and three supers (I added one today). Two of the honey supers are full. Each full honey super will give you about 35 pounds of honey. Wow!

Have a great week everyone!
Blessings!

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Making the best out of what you are given

I recently came across a bumble bee hive near my garden. It was a bird house that was old, it had been a home for birds for a couple seasons, pecked on by woodpeckers for awhile and now it looks like some bumble bees have decided to call it home for while. 

I do not know how long they will stay or who may decide to use this old bird house next. But for now it is the bumble bees home. They are making the best of what they have in an amazing way.

Life is funny. Things change, always and often. Even when it feels like you are stuck in a particular stage of life before you know it there will be a new and seemingly even more pressing problem. Making the best of what you are given seems like such a simple concept. Why is it so hard to do?

Over the years I have seen my share of change. But as always life continues on and there are new challenges ahead. There were times when I was utterly and completely devastated and saw no hope. Then I found hope. I found hope in God. I believe that God will never give me more than I can handle, or better said, more than what he can help me handle. 

I have been to the complete brink of financial ruin, over seen more funerals than I care to say and have felt on so many occasions... complete and udder weight of the world on me. Yet I will have people who know what I am going through say, "How is it you are doing so well?" All I can say is I have God. I make the best of what I am given. Knowing he is on my side and there for me every step of the way. It gives me strength. I know that I can take that next step- even if I do not know where my foot will land.

I am so grateful for all God has given me. Sometimes it may seem hard to know what to do or how to handle what you are going through but I think it is helpful to have a little perspective from around you.... these bumble bees are making a home from a discarded rotting bird house. Make the best of it. Bee amazing.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" ~Matthew 6:25-34 NIV

It is a beautiful day, find the beauty and enjoy.

Blessings!

If you enjoyed this post, I’d be very grateful if you’d help it spread by emailing it to a friend, or sharing it on Google+, Twitter or Facebook.