Pulled five 8 frame mediums from two hives, Got between 9-11 gallons. Half very light (blackberry?). The other part dark (Big leaf maple ?).

Left two deeps on each hive.

First dent in bottling

Looks great.

Steve-
Do you over-winter your bees?

I do. This last Winter was long and cold and the Spring long and wet. They didn't really get to working until June. But the blackberries nectar crop was pretty good. All that early season moisture, then dry since then really put on the flowers.

If I did the math correctly I got 96 lbs. Quite a difference in color from the two hives.

Cool man!

I'm down to one hive...but it is extremely heavy! I'll wait until Sept to harvest, but it sure looks promising.

We haven't had bee hives in several years. Not since the brown bear destroyed two hives and my wife developed a severe reaction to bee stings.

I'm going to make some homesteader honey soon. Second-rate substitute, but better than store-bought stuff.

Interesting!

I never even heard of that until you mentioned it!

https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/sauce-spread/jam/homesteader-honey.html

You tried it before, I gather?

Does it last?

I made it once quite a few years ago. Certainly not as good as real honey but good. Seemed to last normal length of time before crystallizing.

There's a guy here, GregW...

He is in he bee removal business and also has hives and sells some honey. I've known Greg for years, he's a great guy to deal with. I got some excellent honey from him. Both cooked, and uncooked. The uncooked seems to have more natural flavor. His honey is AZ desert honey.

I'm sure he has enough honey for your needs. If you need his contact info, let me know.

Steve,

Way cool, thanks for the update. Interesting in the color differences. Interesting in that it was between the two hives and not within each hive (different frames/combs) from gathering at early and late dates.

96 pounds isn't anything to sneeze at. Nice job, for you and the little girls in the hives.

Geno

Thanks Geno! Just treated for mites. Between my stealing all their treasure, the dearth, and that, they're a little testy lately.