Honey Harvest Helpful Hint from oops Linda, not Heloise

[tillie]

Many members of this forum have small numbers of hives and harvest honey in the kitchen - this is a helpful hint that I have discovered:

Know all those huge cardboard boxes that bee stuff comes in?  I keep them and flatten them.  When it's time for honey harvest, I use them in three ways:

1.  On the floor to cover the floor in the area where I am working

2.  Under the super with the frames in it to catch the drips from the harvested frames - this makes it easy to take the super back to the beeyard for the bees to clean it - no drips in passage from kitchen to outdoors

3.  Under the straining/bottling bucket to catch the drips when I close the gate.

Clean up in my kitchen is then minimal - clean the faucet where it is always sticky after harvest and clean my knife and the pan I cut the comb into....not even a counter to be wiped down!

At the end I take the cardboard out to my carport and the ants have a field day (or you can throw it in the recycle bin.....where the ants will have a field day :-D )

Linda T a happy honey harvester in Atlanta

[doak]

I use a telescoping top cover with the metal on it, "upside down" for the supers. Prevents oosing.
doak

[trapperbob]

 The cardboard sounds better than news paper at least card board won't glue itself toevery thing.

[JP]

I have learned that better than any material or gadget for keeping areas clean when uncapping, and bottling honey, that a Chooch, a Minnie and a Sophie are very handy to have around. There is never any clean up and never ants to contend with. Of course Minnie always seems to have a certain spot on top of her head where the honey always drips from the honey gate. In case you haven't guessed, Sophie, Minnie and Chooch are my dogs. :-D

[tillie]

I know that story!

I was keeping my daughter's dog until yesterday while they were out of town - and I harvested one super on Saturday.  My dogs as well as her dog got little treats off of the cardboard.  When I took Charlie home, my son-in-law wanted to know if he had been in the honey because he had sticky fur under his chin!

Linda T trying not to get too sticky in Atlanta

[annette]

Oh my gosh!! I cannot wait to have some honey to  harvest. I have gotten a little from my hives, here and there, but nothing major yet. I will be patient, I will be patient, I will be patient!!!!

Have great fun Linda, and keep us posted.

Annette

[Brian D. Bray]

The pleasures of honey harvest far outweigh the hard work.  It's like getting to lick the beaters after making a cake or frosting. 

[Understudy]

wax tube fastners
soldering irons
drop cloths
frustration on actual wood dimensions
I think I see a future for you in construction. Maybe an episode of monster house.

Learn this, architects and engineers are the only profession where someone can go to college for four years and come out dumber than they went in.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[tillie]

See, Brendhan, the real moment will come when I decide to build my own honey harvesting house....Then you'll have to get a contract in Atlanta again so you can give me helpful Understudy overseeing advice - but no ladders on pick-up trucks - and I'll make you lunch!

Linda T amused in Atlanta

[Understudy]

Sounds like a great plan to me.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[Brian D. Bray]

Brandhen,

You left out lawyers (oh, and journalists).  Please see the post that KathyP placed in the Humor section.  Just an old cop letting off a little steam.

[trapperbob]

 Also a few politicians

[Understudy]

Brandhen,

You left out lawyers (oh, and journalists).  Please see the post that KathyP placed in the Humor section.  Just an old cop letting off a little steam.

I might be inclined to disagree a bit. Lawyers are actually smart enough to make things so complicated in such a way that everyone is afraid to do anything without a lawyer. Journalists are usually extremely good at social engineering. Granted there are some idiots in any profession. However Brian as an ex police officer you may have some insight I do not receive on a regular basis. Lets ask Konasdad.

I just happen to have enough experience that I view architects and engineers as job security. A profession where math is a vital skill gets left at the door. Simple science laws like "no two objects may occupy the same space at the same time" are simply disregarded as the fire sprinkler and light fixture are inevetablty given the same measurments. Which leads to the next issue a supreme lack of communication. The electrical engineer doesn't talk to the mechanical engineer and no one talks to the architect. never mind what the owner actually wanted. So as mass gathering of mental vacuums, nothing comes close to the wind tunnel created by having architects and engineers in the same room.

Politicans do not have to go to college. They tend to be the embodiment of "The Peter Principle."


Sincerely,
Brendhan

[Cindi]

Linda, you have some brilliant ideas, keep 'em comin' on.  Have a wonderful day, great life.  Cindi