September 13th found us back at the process we’ve come to know so well 🙂 Hard to believe it’s been 10 years since this web site went operational and we were spinning out our first OBA season – that was actually our 4th year of keeping bees (but the first year with more than 2 hives).

First, let’s look back at that 2015 honey day spin-out 🙂 Yes, this is Sadie girl!

Explaining the process – of the bees and what we are doing…

Our younger selves…

Well, on to the fun of this year! First, the scraping and the cutting. We use uncapping planers (instead of the hot knife above) to remove wax cappings from the frames.

2025 was a down season for honey, especially when we compare to last year. 2024 was a record year, with a calculated honey extraction of over 1600 lbs. This year, we could not even must half the honey with a calculated poundage of 793. I’ve chalked it up to the colonies getting unhealthy earlier in the season and all the rain this year washing out the blooms. Other beekeepers are reporting less honey as ell. That’s OK, we could get through it somewhat quicker, but it’s still a whole day of activity. So, it’s nice to have some live piano music to spin to!

For two consecutive years, Deidre Cullen wins the golden honey bear trophy for guessing the closest to the actual calculated amount! We had lots of help that is so appreciated! We were joined this year for the first time by the Quelles. Labeling and boxing up the honey are the final steps in the process…

Well, the bees get the last buzz, so to speak. Here is a cloud of them trying to get into the extractor after it was taken outside. They found it quick the next morning.