Sunday 12 October 2014

Spinning the Honey.

So I have been back to the allotment and got a little more done but I figured there are only so many times you want to hear me say 'I weeded' and only so many photos of dirt you want to look at so instead I will transport you back to May!!

So back on the 30th May I removed my first 'super' from the hive to be able to get some honey.

It was quite an exciting thing to be doing and I also had some help from my friend Kate and my nephew James.

Kate was shocked to find that she was scared of the hives last year when I first got them but really wanted to help with the honey spinning.

James my middle nephew bless him was my muscle and carried the honey laden supers home for me to start spinning.

Now for the fun pictures to show you how it's done!!!


Frames from the supers, uncapped and ready for the spinner.
Frames from the supers, uncapped and ready for the spinner.
 
Uncapping knife and wax cappings ready to go back to the hive to be cleaned up.
Uncapping knife and wax cappings ready to go back to the hive to be cleaned up.

Frames loaded into the spinner, (4 will fit in), ready to be spun.
Frames loaded into the spinner, (4 will fit in), ready to be spun.
 
Then turn the handle and watch gravity do it's thing and spin the honey out of the frames and into the drum.
Then turn the handle and watch gravity do it's thing and spin the honey out of the frames and into the drum.
 
Then open the tap and watch the liquid gold pour out of the tap into the filters!!
Then open the tap and watch the liquid gold pour out of the tap into the filters!!
So that's all there is to it...easy right?? Well not as such. I got 28 12 ounce jars out of one super so you can imagine how incredibly heavy they are to carry initially and when you first load them into the spinner it is hard work starting to spin but gets easier as the honey comes out.

also it is vitally important to check that the tap is sealed tightly before you start to spin as otherwise it starts pouring honey out straight away...and yes you have probably guessed right in the fact that I didn't check this so I did lose some honey on the chair and the floor, Trojan didn't seem to mind one bit though and thoroughly enjoyed trying to clean it u before me!!

As you take the cappings off you obviously get little bits of wax left behind and this ends up in the honey spinner, this is where the filtering comes in. This mean after you have done all this you then need to leave it to filter over night before you put it into your jars.

My first spinning took about four hours which I didn't think was too bad but I managed to shave an hour off this the second time round when I had more confidence, had got a knack for removing the cappings, oh and didn't have to stop to clean honey off the furniture and floors because I remembered to check the tap first!!
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Friday 10 October 2014

I am such a wally!!!!!!!

Why am I a wally?? Well because I just sat down to write an update post to only realise that I didn't actually publish the last post that I wrote....so you are going to get two for one here. It makes it a little lengthy but I hope you enjoy!!

I Finally got to the allotment!!


So at the weekend...Saturday to be precise, I finally got down the allotment. It has been so long since I managed to get down there that shamefully it looks like this....

a VERY weedy allotment
a VERY weedy allotment

and believe me when I say it looks like that EVERYWHERE!!!!

Because I knew I had so much to do I got up well I would like to say bright and early but we have got to the time of year where it's now dark again at 5am!! So anyway I was up early to get a few things sorted at home, get some washing done and then by 7am I was across the fields with a very happy Trojan. We had a lovely walk and when I got home my first load of washing was about dry. BONUS!!

So as I was saying I got up the allotment quite early but I hadn't been there 5 minutes when I encountered this.....

heavy rain showers
heavy rain showers
 Needless to say I sheltered in the greenhouse for a while as it was pretty heavy for a time.

It did ease off eventually and I did get a little of the weeding done but not nearly as much as I would have liked.

So that was Saturday done and dusted with very little in the way of work done but I did get to spend some time curled up with my book so it wasn't all bad.

Well that's it for now...but I have plans to catch up with everyone this week and try and get you all caught up on what's been happening my end so watch this space!!!

Two hours well spent!!


So this was going to be todays post...I have decided under the circumstances to keep it brief and to the point!!

It was a beautiful day today....quite warm. very little wind, blues skies.
The weather for the weekend looks pretty grim so I took advantage of a couple of spare hours and got stuck into this...



more and more weeds
more and more weeds
and yet a couple of hours later I was proudly looking at.....

freshly dug soil
freshly dug soil
Now don't get me wrong there is still LOTS more to be done but I made a nice dent it in today and though tired and a little achy I am very satisfied with todays achievement!!

Here's hooping the weather men have got the forecast for the weekend wrong whilst I'm on a roll!!
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