It's almost fall equinox--the perfect time for a good old-fashion extraction. Not the dental kind, thank god, but the opposite--that of the sweet viscous bee-made kind. Saturday morning I headed up to the market at UBC farm and arrived before it was open. I like chatting to the people in line--we talked about raising chickens in the city. Seattlites can have chickens in their back yards, so why can't we? Once the market opened, I was thrilled to see that UBC Farm honey was for sale, so I bought a jar. It has got a beautiful rich golden hue. I can't wait to taste it!
I also bought some red beans from the Mayan gardeners. Oooh I'm a little bit crazy about their beans! This year I'm going to ask for some seeds from them. Maybe they should package and sell their seeds. Maybe we could help them do that. I checked on the prayer flags, sorted them out, untwisted them, and then I bought a big fat piece of bannock and slathered it with with butter and jam. As I drank a cup of herbal tea and chomped on my bannock I watched the volunteers pick flowers and unload tubs of just-picked produce. The Beekeeper arrived and we loaded the extractor into the back seat of the car.
(Photo above by Jean.) I had cleaned off the counter tops in the kitchen to create room for the extractor, jars, and bowls for wax. I phoned neighbors to come and give us a hand with the cranking. We open the rubber maid tubs full of honey-laden frames and prepare to rob the combs. I talked to The Beekeeper about how easy it would be just to sell the comb--it's a novelty that kids and adults love. He said you can buy rounds that fit into frames that you can pop out when they're full and then just pop a top on to sell. Cool! There's also the option of putting a chunk of comb in a jar and then filling it up with honey, which is also very pretty. Some people don't like wax in their honey--chacun son gout and all that.
The first step of the extraction process is to scrape the caps off the top of the wax. There is an electric tool that makes this go faster, which we agreed would be an asset, or just a number of scrapers, so more than one person can do this at once. The first side is easy to do because you can lay it flat on the table, but to keep the honey from running out, you have to hold the frame vertical when you do the other side--it would be helpful to have a stand to do this.
The extractor holds three frames and having nine, we did three extractions, flipping the frame once one side had been emptied. We put a spaghetti pot on a chair under the extractor, with a sieve covered in four layers of wet cheesecloth. You could use one layer of finer cheesecloth, I suppose, or a fine strainer which means you can do away with the cheesecloth all together. Once it's been strained of hive detritus, you just put it into clean jars. We used a ladle and a funnel, but it's better if you can use a pail with a spout. If we are going to have a hive in the neighbourhood, I think it's very worthwhile to invest in some of this equipment.
We tried the method of separating out the cap wax from the honey by heating the mixture until it's all melted in a double boiler. When you let the mixture cool, you the wax rises to the top. The cooked honey on the bottom can be used for baking, and has a "burnt honey" taste. Well, there was still lots of honey in the wax when I lifted it off the top--so I guess this is a process that takes more than one go to make it work. Also, I'd advise you not to use your good pots to do it--get one from the thrift shop.
The smell of warm wax and honey is comforting, but it does become cloying after a while. It wasn't until the next morning that I tasted it on toast. It's generally a medium-bodied mid-summer honey and some frames had darker honey than others. The beekeeper also told me about the hygroscopic quality of honey--on damp days it can absorb moisture and weigh more than on dry days--so you can have the same-size jar containing the same weight of honey and one may have less honey than the other. Cleaning the extractor was a bit of an adventure--lots of hot water in the bath tub and I literally used a toothbrush to clean the wax off the frame-holders.
And today I cleaned honey off the floor, the pots and pans and shelves, and socks. Honey everywhere! It was a good excuse to give the floor a good scrub and rearrange the feng shui in the kitchen. Blessed by honey, the energy flows much better there now. Tonight Pierre used the honey mixed with soya sauce to make a "jus" for our ling cod. We had rice and beans and carrots from the garden--one of my favourite meals. Happy fall equinox everyone!
The Van Dusen's party's almost over, but those late late blossoms, the bosomy divas and sensual concubines who've had too much wine, show off their sumptuous jewels just before the frost comes to shut it all down. (The light turns Nicole Dextras's leaf letters into stained glass.)
Japanese Maples show off their highlights.
The heritage sweet peas are still pumping out their glorious perfume.
The Stink Iris puts on a burlesque act.
Sedum proves irresistible to the 2 o'clock bees.
Dahilias and amaranth--spiky and bloody.
Hand-tinted echinacea and more of the delicate stonecrop.
I can almost deceive myself into thinking winter will not come this year, that we will enter a loop that preserves this enchanted, bejeweled time. One more day of this, and then they say the rain will begin again. A boy throws a penny into the pond and I make a wish.
