.png)
As a brunette, I don't write this lightly. And it's only fair that blondes get some good PR since they also get their fair share of (unfair) dumb blonde jokes. Even Steven. Anyway, this spring we (you and I) are very lucky to be in the company beaucoup blondes -- super light, blonde honey, that is!
In mid July, I found that two of our supers (the box that holds the honey the bees make for us) were full to the brim and spilling over with gorgeous platinum blonde honey! So we took the supers off and my (blonde) daughter and I cut open the caps and manually spun out FIVE GALLONS of pure blonde honey. It's gorgeous!
Then I went to the beach to work on my own highlights and returned a few weeks later to bottle the honey for you (all of my CSB members**). For the first time since we started this CSB gig, you will get two installments of honey. This spring one and then a fall one later in the season. Every shareholder gets a full pound of this golden goodness per share. Some of you have received yours already and this is my notice to the rest of you that I have it bottled, tagged and bagged and ready for delivery. Help me out and let me know where you'd like to receive it, where I can drop it off or if you'd like to pick it up.
Now, as the days get a little darker, so does the honey. But there's summer honey news too. Our CSB hives -- twelve of them -- have a combined total of 22 supers on them. Honestly, it looks like a bunch of colorful skyscrapers in the bee yard. I can't even do the honey math on what that means for each shareholder, but I have a feeling that it's going to be enough for you to gobble down like Winnie-the-Pooh and to share with friends and family. Finally, your investment in the bees is paying dividends!
We will likely harvest the towers of honey in October -- taking advantage of the last of the fields of Goldenrod until then. While your spring honey is gorgeously styled, labeled, adorned, corked and sealed with our own beeswax, the summer honey that you will receive in the fall will likely be impressive for its quantity over its styling. If you would like to help bottle the honey, let me know. I do plan to have a honey pick up party and will hold some frames for kids to spin out and some honey for cocktails for the supervisors! I fear that having a spinning party with my 3-frame manual centrifuge will be too sticky and, no offense, but I don't think you have the biceps to spin out that much honey. I will be working with the bee team to harvest the honey in their 15-frame electric spinner this year! Don't judge!
More honey news to come, but congratulations to you on your first spring honey and thank you for supporting the bees and our natural environment through the CSB!
Just wait until you get it and you will agree -- blonde is definitely super FUN!
XOXO Farm Girl
** CSB stands for Community Supported Bees and much like a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) that delivers vegetables, the CSB works to deliver a honey harvest to its shareholders. Shares in the CSB are $175 per year and 100% of fees are used to pay for bee infrastructure (hive parts, equipment, sugar water supplements), mite treatments and beekeeping services. More information about the CSB can be found at catskillmountainhoney.com. Gift shares are available and have been very popular this season. Catskill Mountain Honey advocates on behalf of bees and its members on the political stage and grassroots levels, sharing important information about bees, why they are important and the various challenges they face.