How to Know When to Harvest Honey from Your Beehive

How to Know When to Harvest Honey from Your Beehive

By Howland Blackiston

Generally speaking, beekeepers harvest their honey at the conclusion of a substantial nectar flow and when the beehive is filled with cured and capped honey. Conditions and circumstances vary greatly across the country. First-year beekeepers are lucky if they get a small harvest of honey by late summer. That’s because a new colony needs a full season to build up a large enough population to gather a surplus of honey.

Take a peek under the hive cover every couple of weeks during summer. Note what kind of progress your bees are making and find out how many of the frames are filled with capped honey.

When a shallow frame contains 80 percent or more of sealed, capped honey, you’re welcome to remove and harvest this frame. Or, you can practice patience, leave your frames on and wait until one of the following is true:

The bees have filled all the frames with capped honey.

The last major nectar flow of the season is complete.

Honey in open cells (not capped with wax) can be extracted if it is cured. To see if it’s cured, turn the frame with the cells facing the ground. Give the frame a gentle shake. If honey leaks from the cells, it isn’t cured and shouldn’t be extracted. This stuff is not even honey. It’s nectar that hasn’t been cured. The water content is too high for it to be considered honey. Attempting to bottle the nectar results in watery syrup that is likely to ferment and spoil.

You want to wait until the bees have gathered all the honey they can, so be patient. That’s a virtue. However, don’t leave the honey supers on the hive too long! Things tend to get busy around Labor Day. Besides spending a weekend harvesting your honey, you probably have plenty of other things to do. But don’t put off what must be done. If you wait too long, one of the following two undesirable situations can occur:

After the last major nectar flow and winter looms on the distant horizon, bees begin consuming the honey they’ve made. If you leave supers on the hive long enough, the bees will eat much of the honey you’d hoped to harvest. Or they will start moving it to open cells in the lower deep hive bodies. Either way, you have lost the honey that should have been yours. Get those supers off the hive before that happens!

If you wait too long to remove your supers, the weather turns too cold to harvest your honey. In cool weather, honey can thicken or even granulate, which makes it impossible to extract from the comb. Remember that honey is easiest to harvest when it still holds the warmth of summer and can flow easily.

Read more: http://www.dummies.com/

Oats

I taught a class on oats the other day. Here is my handout. ~Karin

Oats

An oat groat (same as a wheat kernel) contains several layers:

1) Bran - outer layer, consists of insoluble fiber.

2) Endosperm - middle layer, makes up about 80% of the kernel.

3) Germ - inner layer, is the part that would grow if planted.

Health - Why eat oats?

Soluble fiber - Its consumption is believed to lower LDL ("bad") cholesterol, and possibly to reduce the risk of heart disease. Oats contain more soluble fiber than any other grain, resulting in slower digestion and an extended sensation of fullness.

Celiac disease - Although oats do contain avenin, there are several studies suggesting that this may not be problematic for all celiacs. The first such study was published in 1995. Oats are part of a gluten-free diet in, for example, Finland and Sweden where there are "pure oat" (no cross pollination) products on the market.

Types of Oats

Oat Groats - Oat groats can be cooked and served as cereal, or prepared in the same manner as rice and used as a side dish or in a dish such as a salad or stuffing. Whole Grain Oats are an excellent source of soluble fiber.

Steamtable Oats - Steamed and flaked or rolled from whole oat groats. Thickest of the rolled oats. Often used in granola.

Regular (also called old-fashioned oats) - Flaked or rolled from whole oat groats They take about 15 minutes to cook.

Steel Cut Oats (also known as Pinhead Oatmeal) - The term steel cut is referred to all sized or cut goats. Steel cut oats are the best choice in terms of nutrition, they maintain all of the nutrients from the whole grain oat as they are simply whole oat groats that have been cut into small pieces. Steel Cut Oats are a rich source of soluble fiber, protein, and vitamins, as well as other nutrients like selenium, thiamin, phosphorous, and manganese.

Quick Oats - Flaked or rolled from the steel cut oats. As a thin flake it permits quick cooking qualities. Product application:

What to do with oats?

      Oats have numerous uses in food; most commonly, they are rolled or crushed into oatmeal, or ground into fine oat flour. Oatmeal is chiefly eaten as porridge, but may also be used in a variety of baked goods, such as oatcakes, oatmeal cookies, and oat bread. Oats are also an ingredient in many cold cereals, in particular muesli and granola. Oats may also be consumed raw, and cookies with raw oats are becoming popular.

• Granola (oats, honey (or syrup made from sugar and water) and oil. 
• Add chia seed, coconut oil, shredded coconut and hone and its just like a cookie. 
• Diaper rash- put oatmeal in a tub, also for dry skin 
• For a family breakfast I put oat groats (whole hulled oats) in a slow cooker on low overnight (nice if raisins or diced apples and cinnamon are added, and we have them for breakfast. Healthy and yummy! Wake up to a ready breakfast! (use at least double the amount of water to oats or it gets too dry) For a single serving I do it in one of those mini slow cooker looking appliances they use to keep sauces or fondue dips warm. Works great! 
• In Ethiopian, atmit means "thin, nourishing porridge." The LDS Church began using Atmit as a life-saving food supplement during the Ethiopian famine of 2003. It is an easily assimilated food made especially for children and the elderly-and it has saved tens of thousands of lives. It contains 50 percent fine oatmeal flour, 25 percent nonfat milk, 20 percent sugar, and 5 percent vitamins and minerals. 
• Use in meatloaf and meatballs instead of cracker and bread crumbs.

Granola

9 c. rolled oats

11/2 c. whole wheat flour

11/2 c. wheat germ

11/2 c. coconut

11/2 c. powdered milk

11/2 c. sunflower seeds

11/2 c. almonds (sliced or slivered)

11/2 c. honey

11/2 c. oil

1 T. vanilla extract

11/2 c. raisins or assorted dried fruit

Mix all dry ingredients (except for dried fruit) together in a very large bowl. Form a well in the middle of the dry ingredients. Heat oil, honey, and vanilla in a small sauce pan until honey is soft enough to be able to mix will with the dry ingredients (do not cook the honey -it will change the flavor). Pour the honey mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix together the dry and wet ingredients. Bake in two 9x13 pans at 250 degrees for 45 minutes. After granola is cooked add raisins(or other dried fruit). Note: Raisins are good in the granola as well as dried mixed berries or even dried pineapple pieces. Walnuts can be substituted for the almonds.

Banana Oat Muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

3/4 cup milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup mashed bananas

 

1.    Combine flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, soda, and salt.

2.    In a large bowl, beat the egg lightly. Stir in the milk, oil, and vanilla. Add the mashed banana, and combine thoroughly. Stir the flour mixture into the banana mixture until just combined. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper bake cups, and divide the batter among them.

3.    Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 18 to 20 minutes.

Original Recipe Yield 12 muffins

Bottle Tops to Seal a Bag? Ummm.

A new and creative way of storing items. What will someone think of next?

What a great idea. No more twist ties or rubber bands. This is water proof and air tight. Consider the millions of water bottles that are used and tossed every day. Why not make use of at least 1 or 2.

Cut up a disposable water bottle and keep the neck and top.

Insert the plastic bag through the neck and screw the top to seal.

All you need to do is cut off the top of the bottle and take off the cap. Push the bag through the bottle neck, fold it over the edges, and twist the cap back on. Now, your bag has an air and water tight seal, and you didn't have to waste the bag.

This was just unique enough I had to share.