I don’t know how many Sunday nights I watched Jackie Gleason strut across the stage on our black and white TV declaring those words in his booming voice; that phrase would come back to haunt me tonight.
I have extracted and bottled my first honey. I set out on this journey thinking this was something I would cross off my bucket list. A year and many months later it has led to a job, a lively hood, friendships and a change in lifestyle I never could have imaged.
The small fruits of these labor have garnered me just over 13 pounds of liquid gold. The learning and relationships that have flourished from this small step are life changing. I don’t know how to neatly package the people and connections that I have made, small threads that helped me continue on, pursue a path, set out on a journey of epic proportions and believe in the power of a bee.
Wilson arrived with the spun frames and the bucket of honey. We wheeled the wood-cart out to the hive with all the equipment ready. I knew if the bees got a whiff of the honey-laden frames he had spun, they would start to swam. I worked quickly to replace their empty honey frames with the still dripping frames we had stolen. Next was to install the top feeders and fill them with the sugar syrup I made the night before. The first hive was fine The bees became agitated but we moved quickly and efficiently, closing it up as the breeze stiffened. The second hive was a challenge. The wind kicked up and suddenly the rain began to spatter in huge, drenching drops. I closed it up hastily and shed the stragglers out of the top feeder as best I could.
Next, we moved inside to bottle the honey. It was settled in the bucket and had very few bubbles.
As we worked, I looked up to see dozens of angry bees bumping against the screen door. They had braved the rain to follow the scent of their perfect product. We poured off 13.5 pounds into clean jars.
I know it is not a lot of honey for all the work, worry and expense but it is such a good feeling, such a good taste, to dip a silver spoon and say, ” How Sweet It Is!”
Therapeutic Misadventures 
What an amazing accomplishment. You rock!
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Thank you Aline. You well know the journey I have been on that has brought me to the ‘sweet’ life…
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Who knows? Canning and hunting my own dinner may be next, right?
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I’m SO very proud of you!!!! Honey-Girl!
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That looks like a lot of honey to me! That’s great that it has led you down so many roads. That’s the way life should work, in my opinion.
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Thank you Allen! Making it work is work, enjoying the fruits of your labor is key in my book…
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Awesome! It’s the doing and what you learned and best of all the satisfaction that YOU accomplished this while licking that delicious ‘liquid gold’ off your fingers. I’m so impressed. How much? ‘To the moon, Martha. To the moon!’
Kudos!
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Thanks Julie! Love this comment!!
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Liquid gold indeed. You have enough honey to see you through the cold winter, like jars of golden sun. Beautiful.
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Thanks Marie. This should definitely get me through the winter. Every morning I will have a little sun and warmth in my tea!
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What a “sweet” victory. Worth all the work you put into it!
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Thanks Laura, one jar has your name on it!!
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This is one honey of a post Martha! I love the photos and details of your personal encounter. Thirteen lbs seems like lots of honey to me. Ever since our encounter with the Nuremberg beehive, I’m into bees. As you may have figured out by now, at Gallivance, anything is grist for the ol’ blogging mill, so we’ll be doing a post on it. The expert info you provided will be a big part of this post, and we’ll give you a shout out and link to your blog. It will be published on Thursday, Oct 2, so keep an eye out. Thanks again for the interesting and bee-u-tiful info. ~James
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Thank you James and I will be excited to see the follow-up post on the 2nd. I really appreciate the link too. I don’t know how you and Terri keep up with all your comments and followers and STILL manage to travel and write!
I was hoping for tons of honey. I wanted to sell it in the store. But with this precious little bit, I will have holiday presents for all those close by.
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I don’t know how you take your honey Martha, but I’m thinking a big ol’ fluffy biscuit (from south of the Mason-Dixon Line of course) with lots of butter. ~James
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Thanks James! Wish we had fluffy biscuits here, an english muffin works and of course in my tea every morning.
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