Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Saturday at the Farmers Market

A few pics from the market we have been going to on Saturdays this Summer. The regular market ended in August, but they had a special "Fall Market" Saturday. There was actually very little fresh produce available. There were some tomatoes, okra, pumpkins, etc. A lot of craft vendors showed as well. We still had a good supply of honey for our booth.

I love trying raw honey from different parts of the USA. Would you ship to Tx?

BP...

Sell me some honey? My grandpa's is long gone. His was fairly dark blackcaps and wildflower. A couple quarts shipped to Montana.

I love the raw honey too. That's what really got me into beekeeping to start with. Now we have over 30 hives.

We do ship honey. Shipping usually runs around $12-$13 though. PM me and I will send a link to our web site. It has our contact info, and you can check the the different size jars we have available.

Thanks and TTT

My wife is getting into selling cut flowers. We spent a lot of Saturday mornings at the local market t his summer. I peddled some excess cukes and cantaloupe since we were already there. I'm not crazy about being there. I have lots of other things I'd rather be doing.

I'm honey ignorant. Why do you put the comb material in the jar?

We get lots of request for comb honey. Folks like to chew it like chewing gum.

Some of the appeal is nostalgic. Back in the day honey was usually harvested and sold in the comb, and that's the way they remember Dad's and Grandpa's honey.

Now most beekeepers cut the cap off the comb, extract the honey in an extractor (a big centrifuge), and reuse the comb. Reusing the comb saves the bees the trouble of rebuilding the comb, and increases our honey output. It takes several pounds of honey for the bees to produce one pound of comb. For this reason, and because of the extra labor involved, the comb honey is more expensive.

Here are some pics showing how we harvest honey:

Pulling the honey supers off of the hive:


Loading up the truck:


Capped comb straight from the honey super:


Removing the capping from the comb:



Loading the extractor:


Continued...

Spinning out the honey:



Through a strainer, and into the bucket for storage:

My son in law has bees now, we haven’t been given any honey yet!

Making me hungry.

Very nice.

That stainless equipment looks like something that might come with "financing available"..

Buy once, cry once. MAXANT makes top quality, made in the USA equipment at a surprisingly reasonable price. I also have two of their 16 gal. bottling tanks. Producing 160+ gal. of honey a year requires something more than a plastic, two frame, hand cranked extractor.

Beoceorl, thanks for posting this. Very interesting pictures. From what I understand, honey never goes bad. Is that right?

As long as it is kept in a closed container. Honey in an open container can absorb enough moisture to allow fermentation. Otherwise, it will pretty much last forever. The sugar in honey will crystallize over time, but gentle warming (110-115 deg. F) will liquefy it.

Back when times were much tougher, I worked for one day as a temp extracting honey on a farm just west of Billings. That was back-breaking work!

Beoceorl, how long can honey be heated at those temps without degrading its quality?

As long as you keep the temps below 115 you can warm the honey for a couple of days or more. Usually it doesn't take that long to liquefy it. Temps over 115 will accelerate the breakdown of the Fructose into HMF. Temps above 122 def. F will start denaturing the proteins and enzymes in the honey. You also start driving off some of the essential oils and other volatiles that give the honey its flavor.

So keep the honey container closed, and the temps below 115 deg. F, and the honey will be fine.

No kidding!

Hang in there. I'll be boxing up your honey this afternoon.