Oh how sweet it is!

It has been a very sweet summer here at Slide Ranch, thanks to our hard working honeybees! In June, our Ranch team spent the day harvesting and processing honey from our hives.

The process began with removing two very heavy boxes of honey filled frames from the hives and transporting them to our creamery. As each frame was removed, we used a heated knife to uncap the honey. In the hive, bees will cap full honey cells to keep out moisture or prevent fermentation within the cells. This is often our signal that the honey is ready to be harvested.

After our frames are uncapped, we place them in the honey extractor. The device fits three frames at a time and spins rapidly, using centrifugal force to remove honey from the comb. The honey slowly drains to the bottom and flows to a spout at the base of the extractor. The final step is to put the honey through two filters to ensure it is clean and free of comb wax!

Throughout the day, each of our camper groups were able to experience the process for themselves by helping uncap the honey, spin the extractor, and of course taste our very own Slide Ranch Honey! It was amazing to see how many groups were able to make connections from their pollinator learning to the honey processing. In the end, we harvested roughly 2 gallons of honey! It was a wonderful experience to harvest honey at Slide Ranch and we look forward to many more opportunities to do so in the future!