The Negrete Honey Harvest Party B-Haven 2012

On Saturday, August 4, B-Haven was graced by Pastor George and Edeen Negrete and two of their sons: George Jr. and Eddie.  In total, they have three sons, but Gabriel was visiting his grandparents.  Ah, a proper male-dominated household! I wonder if the Negretes have three sons because they are fans of the TV show “My Three Sons“, which aired from 1960 to 1972.

So, the Negretes were kind enough to help me harvest hive number 2 for honey products.  Pastor, George, and Eddie suited up with me to perform the manly work. Edeen and Evelyn supervised of course and regaled us with constant verbiage and encouragement. Nicely done ladies!

It became readily obvious that honey production is definitely down from last year by over 50 percent. I suspect the cool summer is largely responsible.

Pastor and sons did a great job pulling the honey from the hive. And everyone did real well removing honey and honeycomb from the frames. The boys are especially talented in that they are able to harvest honey and eat honeycomb at the same time!

So last week, hive number 1 resulted in just over 8 gallons of honey products. And this week, it looks like hive number 2 will result in about 8 gallons. To put this into perspective, last year B-Haven got 15 gallons of honey product per hive.

To celebrate the harvest we decided to kick back and enjoy a meal:  prosciutto, smoked turkey, gluten-free crackers (some with my chili powder), and fresh bread. We did of course server cheeses: Big John’s Cajun Rubbed Cheddar Beehive (a pasteurized cow’s milk cheese), Cacio Di Bosco Il Forteto (an Italian cheese made with truffles), El Trigal Mancho (a sheep’s milk cheese from Spain), and Brillat Savarin Delin (a tipple cream from France).  I was impressed with how much the boys ate.  They never seem to stop eating.  Which is fine with me, bring it.

After dinner, the adults relaxed and enjoyed the nice weather, the flowers, and the birds.  The boys decided to spend quality time with the bees. They got up close and personal to the hives with no protective coverings. Timid at first but they soon relaxed and found that listening to the bees is very relaxing. Quite right! I try to listen to the bees at least once a day.

We greatly enjoyed the Negrete’s company and for their help.  It is good to have good teenage testosterone at B-Haven. God bless them.