Harvest season.

[Helen Heil]

Late summer or early fall is harvest time for beekeepers. It's also time to think about preparing the hives for winter. After the honey is removed and only the hive bodies are left some will medicate, others may not. Medication takes several weeks. By November 1st, or first frost, the hives should be sealed for the winter with enough stores to last until April. Over the winter the bees will maintain an internal hive temperature of about 90 degrees F. Amazing!

Today Mark and I have removed about 40 frames of honey from our 4 hives. Afterward, we didn't have the energy to go through the extraction process, so the frames are sealed in Tupperware containers and we'll get to that next week.

[kim bennett]

wow ive always wanted to do that