Uncapped

When the bees produce honey, they seal it off in the comb with a wax capping. The first step in harvesting the honey is to remove the wax cappings. Until this year, we have used a hot electric knife to uncap the honey. Everyone that does this for any length of time gets burned. We have never had a serious injury from the uncapping knife but it is so hot that it was always a concern.

In April, Bob and I marveled at the scenery . . .

The twists and turns, as we made our way

up the mountains of North Carolina . . .

to the Beekeepers Candy Shop.


We had been looking for an affordable uncapper for quite awhile.

We even hauled my sisters and brother-in-law into a
Vermont entrepreneur’s shop
last November during our quest.

Meanwhile, back at Brushy Mountain, I loved browsing
through all of the interesting items.


But it took Hubby’s breath away
as he entered this stainless steel sanctuary.

He had eyes for only one item.
When I finally convinced him that it was time to go,
this was in the back of our car.

I recognize that the novelty of helping Grandpa during extraction day will and in some cases is wearing off. We love when our grandkids help us and it certainly lightens our work.

It is good to know though, that Grandpa and I are able to extract by ourselves when the need arises. We will work at a slower pace but the process is not so strenuous and tiring anymore with our new machine.


This year though, we had lots of super help. You can watch Jessica and Morgan demonstrate our new uncapper but listen to Seamus on the ladder.

Seamus took it upon himself to be Captain of our ship. If you listened closely you might have heard him explain in the video the duties of the captain: “I’m the Captain so nobody stops until I tell them. If something is overflowing, I’ll tell them to stop or if, if something is overflowing and I saw it, I will gather up the sauce.”

Seamus also helped Grandpa with the extractor speedometer.

Steven found a way to make himself particularly useful.

This year we had two bottling stations.

And if you find yourself standing around without much to do . . .

You could join the tasting crew.

Even a tiny baby squirrel was treated to a taste as we were cleaning the garage.

Ain't life grand.