Holidays are upon us.

Honey production is over for the season.  The bees are still out foraging while the weather is warmish, but we've removed the honey supers and what they are collecting will provide for them and allow them to keep their own stores of honey until it is cold enough that they are forced to remain in the hive, clustering to keep warm and protect the queen.  Then, they will depend on their honey stores for sustenance until spring.

Because they seem to have less problems with invasive pests this year, they should have a good head start when spring arrives because they won't have to repair the wax comb as much or do as much cleaning. Once they can forage for nectar, that can go directly to honey production rather than wax production.

We will also be hunkering down for the rainy season and relying on our own canning for the winter, keeping soul and sprit warm by celebrating the holidays: Thanksgiving, Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year.... reminding ourselves that the blossoms will return in time.

One of my very favorite holiday traditions is fruitcake.  Mock it all you wish, but a good fruitcake--well spiced; with dried apricot, figs, dates, candied citron and cherries mingled with hazelnuts, walnuts and/or almonds; rum soaked and aged slightly to allow the flavors to develop--is a delight. Italy has their own take on fruitcake, from Siena: a dried fruit, nut tart robustly spiced with ginger, clove, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, coriander and a little black pepper, and of course, honey--named panforte, "strong bread".

It starts with honey and sugar, boiled gently together until they reach a soft-ball stage.  This syrup is poured over a mix of dried and candied fruits, citron, cherries, and maybe some candied ginger, blanched almonds and hazelnuts that have been dusted with all the dried spices, a little flour, and just enough cocoa powder to add a rich depth to the flavors.

The mixture is pressed into a round pan and baked at a medium temperature for 20 minutes to bring everything together into a nougat-like consistency. The flour merely helps everything adhere and prevents the caramel from becoming too sticky.  If you are gluten sensitive, any gluten free blend works just as well since the flour doesn't provide the structure.

There are multitudes of recipes out there, but once you have the basic proportions of nut, fruit, and honey syrup to flour, you can use whatever fruit and nuts make you the most happy and spice it up to your heart's content -- lemon zest? cardamom? a little chile? more cocoa? Dust with generous confectioners sugar and let the celebrations commence.

Winterizing

Now that we have extracted the final super of honey from the hive for the year, it's time to consider setting up the hive for success in overwintering.  We have had less of a mite problem this year, thanks in no small part to investing a few more dollars in a mite-resistant queen.  This colony has consequently been VERY fastidious about hygiene, sealing off everything that could be a potential entrance for pests with propolis, and disposing of debris (and infested brood) diligently.
Last year, I think the mites reached a level where they compromised the strength of the hive and we lost to colony to a host of pests including wax moths and hive beetles.
There is evidence this year of wax moths trying to make their presence felt, and we've seen several hive beetles scurrying around, but--from what information we can find--so long as the colony isn't being overwhelmed by mites, they should be able to keep the beetles and moths at bay.
However, we want to make sure the hive cover is well sealed, reduce the front entrance opening and we'll probably want to put the hive bodies on a solid bottom board in place of the screened bottom board we have now.  That will minimize the ability of pests to enter, and interrupt the reproduction of the hive beetles (whose larvae leave the hive to mature in the ground under the hive and then climb back inside).
The bees are still pretty active right now, but shortly after Halloween we'll make one last check, dust with powdered sugar to help disperse any stray mites and minimize entrances.
In the temperate climate here in Sacramento, the bees won't have to expend too much energy keeping warm, and will still be able to get out and forage on the nicer days, so I have high hopes that they will weather this winter better than last year's colony.

New, and final extraction of the year

Last weekend we were able to get into the hive and remove the last honey super for the year.  This involves removing each frame of honey one by one, brushing the bees off and back into the hive and removing the frame to a new box away from the bees.

Brushing bees from a frame of honey to be extracted.

We were able to extract the honey this weekend, and ended up with just exactly 2.5 gallons, 30lbs.  This batch is really fun.  Very dark in color, it's moderately sweet with a somewhat bitter finish -- very autumnal.  What makes it exciting though is it has a cedar-y sort of nose and a decidedly toffee (coffee?) taste with woodsy notes.

Wax comb emptied of the honey.

We have let it filter through a paint bag (bought fresh for this purpose) to remove the bits of wax that inevitably end up in the centrifugal extractor.  And will put it in jars soon, so look for it in our little stand sometime in the next week or so. Then you can try it for yourself.

New bees are still orienting themselves

We're about ready to extract the final super of the year.  I'll post that once we have started.  We have removed the super, but have not had time to take care of the frames much so we wrapped them to protect them from wax moths and hope to start extracting this afternoon or tomorrow.    

Meanwhile, I captured this pretty dramatic orientation flight.

One can tell that it is an orientation flight by watching the bees circling in figure-8 type patterns around the entrance.  They are checking for landmarks to ensure that once they venture out foraging, they will be able to recognize the way home.

Updating Some Branding

Since we are in a new town and new neighborhood, of course we want to label our honey appropriately.  I had just decided that I would keep our original logo and font for the jar labels, and simply change the text to the East Sacramento origin of the nectar.

However, it occurred to me (if a bit late) that East Sacramento actually has its own branding from 2009.  The McKinley East Sacramento Neighborhood Association and the East Sacramento Improvement Association joined forces with the East Sacramento Chamber of Commerce and commissioned 7 Welcome to East Sacramento Signs.

From the East Sacramento Community Assn.

The outline and frame of the signs echoes the shape of the East Lawn Cemetery clock.

Eastlawn Clock, SacramentoRevealed.com

It has since become popular for homes to display replicas of the signs in yard or on house-fronts.

A little searching for a decent imitation of the typeface and adapting the scale to fit a label and I present:

What do you think?

We'll keep the original for the shop branding, but this will go on the local honey jars.

Orientation

Bees spend the first few weeks after emerging from the brood cells working inside the hive caring for other brood, managing the food supply, guarding the entrance from intruders, cleaning.  After about three weeks the venture into the outside world and become foragers.

In the days leading up to this change in responsibility, they begin making forays outside: orientation flights around the hive and surroundings, so they can recognize home and the landmarks that will lead them back. For whatever reason, the bees often choose to do this activity in the mid-late afternoon, all at the same time. This can often look like the bees are planning to swarm, as I thought a few days ago.  There was a particularly large orientation flight happening, and bees began clustering on the front of the hive, not normal bearding to keep cool, but clumping in the middle of the top hive body.  The airborne bees were making the distinctive 8-shaped patterns of an orientation flight, though; and sure enough--within about 5 minutes of me convincing my partner we needed to try and capture the swarm--the bees began to flood back down and into the hive entrance. 

While the prospective foragers are exploring, some of their sisters will gather outside the entrance and fan the hive scent outward with their wings, nature's air traffic control signaling the path to the runway.

New extraction today

Last week, we were able to remove one of the two supers from the hive.  The other super (put on about two weeks ago, when the existing super was about 85% full) has most of the wax drawn out by the bees, but they have only just started adding nectar to the cells so it might be another two to three weeks before we will consider adding another super, or just letting them fill that second super and leave them to prepare for autumn.

It is a not too sweet and rather dark honey, much darker than our first extractions last year.  Sadly, we had a little wax moth damage in part of one frame so we didn't extract that frame.  We set it in the freezer to kill any remaining wax moth remnants and will return the frame to the hive for the bees to clean out, along with the empty comb.

We're filtering the resulting 2 gallons of honey as we speak (type...read...?) and will be ready to put in in jars by this coming weekend, so then we will have 6 variations on offer in our little stand.  Though we are down to less than half a gallon of two of those variations.

[The little stand has received a few visitors already.  Thank you if you were one of them.  We're working on getting some signs up to direct traffic our way, and maybe a few little jars with samples and some coffee stirrers for tasting...?]

And we're stocked!

We have our honor stand up and available!

Stand stocked and ready to sell

Come get some to take home yourself!

Almost Ready to Sell Again

This weekend we were able to remove a super for extraction.  We have another super on top, but it did not have comb built out, so the bees had to take the time to draw the wax and it has very little honey added to it yet.

The weekend also sees us almost ready to start selling our honey again.

I ordered new jars a few weeks ago, and we filled them and labelled them.

We have just about finished a little cabinet where we can put the jars for sale near our sidewalk.

I've made a little poster/price list with a QR code to accept payments, and there is a cash slot in the cabinet as well.

The honor system honey cabinet

I've printed up the descriptions of each harvest to hang on the shelves by the jars.

The cabinet still needs a couple shelves, and I should find a way to put a little color code sticker on the jars to distinguish the different harvests.

I have sold ~15 jars to staff at school already, but now we can reach more of the local residents.

I'll put up a new post once we have the stand set up and ready.

Find us in East Sacramento.

Grape Harvest

In non-bee news, we just harvested our syrah grapes.

Syrah bunch going into the colander

When first we moved into our home in East Sacramento, a good friend was helping us move some furniture with her truck.  She looked at out porch and said: that's going to get hot in afternoons; you should put a grape vine on the corner to shade it.

She was very right.  The porch did get hot in the summer and the grape vine has provided enough shade to make a marked difference.

Veraison last year

Next stop: attempted rosé of syrah.

New Bottling - Updated

New jars arrived.  I have dug up the old labelling materials.  Spent a little time this morning bottling some of the honey that we harvested last year.  There is one more batch of honey from the year prior that can be bottled, once we have warmed it slightly; it has crystallized in the intervening year and I want to gently re-liquify it. [Update -- I have bottled a few jars of this now too!]

I've updated the labels to reflect our new location.

The artists and their work.

We have four different harvests from last year ready to go: 

top: Spring 2024
bottom left to right: early and mid-summer, and early fall

Summer 2023

This light amber honey, harvested in 2023 from our East Sacramento garden, is bursting with the taste of summer. It has a beautiful fruity essence, evoking notes of stonefruit (almond, peach and apricot). The finish is a beautiful combination of a soft, floral undertone and a unique marshmallow-like sweetness. (not pictured)

Late spring 

A delicate and light amber honey harvested from the early spring blossoms of East Sacramento. Bees forage on blooming early almond,  fruit trees and local wildflowers, creating a mild, floral flavor with subtle notes of almond blossoms subtle herbs and a nice floral finish.

Early summer

Crafted from the rich, summer bloom of East Sacramento, this honey is a bolder expression of the season. Our bees collect nectar from hearty plants like sages, mock orange, and lavender, giving the honey a distinct golden color and a complex, aromatic sweetness with distinct herbal notes and amazing orange blossom inspired finish. 

Mid summer

A robust, deep amber honey harvested from East Sacramento's mid-summer bloom. Bees forage on late-season wildflowers and tenacious urban flora like star thistle, sunflower and summer herbs like basil, oregano and thyme. The result is a viscous, crystalline, honey with a complex, herbal and earthy sweetness with a somewhat bitter finish.

Fall

A silky, deep amber honey, capturing the last blooms of an East Sacramento fall. Bees forage on late-season flowers like allium, goldenrod and herbs. The result brings a lovely clean sweetness with light hints of clay and spice. 

Now for marketing. I am disenchanted with Etsy, where we used to sell, and we don't have a relationship with any local market yet like we did with Bi-Rite in San Francisco. I am half-tempted to just create a little honor-system stand in the front yard with a little cash box, or a QR code to my square....

I have only bottled less than half so far; I want to see what sizes sell in which harvest before I commit all of the jars.  I'd rather sell out of a particular harvest than have to backorder while I get more jars.

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Trying to get back in the routine

It has been a decade since we have had the capacity to keep bees in the City. However, in 2021 we took advantage of the housing sales slump to relocate to Sacramento. Having our own house with our own yard means we get to have our own hives again and so we have started beekeeping once more.

Over the intervening decade, it has become more challenging to maintain a healthy hive; the increase in types and tenacity of various parasitic pests in the hive means that the colony is now contending with hive beetles and wax moths while still battling mites. The mites are now spreading deformed wing virus which adds a new layer of challenge. But at the same time, mite treatments are more varied with simple things to keep the mite population down such as managing drone brood and periodic dusting with sugar coupled with more aggressive miticide treatments when mite counts start to rise.

Keeping the mites at bay allows the bees to focus on keeping the other pests at bay and gives them a decent chance at survival. This year we replaced our queen with a new variety that shows promise in mite resistance (Olivarez Golden West). So far, it seems to be working, I have seen very few mites on our bottom board and though there have been a few beetle sightings, there doesn't seem to be significant interference from them in the hive activity.

Last summer (with our nephew's help), we were able to extract a little over 12 gallons of honey. We like to extract the supers individually to get the character of the nectar as the season progresses.

The earlier extractions were very light in color and fragrantly sweet. The later season supers were substantially darker in color, but somewhat less viscous, less sweet and much more herbal in character. I've ordered a batch of jars and updated our labels so hopefully we will be ready to sell again in the very near future.

For this year, we have one super nearing 80% capped. We added a second super recently and the colony population seems very robust. I anticipate at least 5 gallons of harvest by the autumn.