My wife and my middle two kids (ages 16 and 13) are certified North Carolina beekeepers. They have several hives out in the garden, and every year in the May and June time frame is when we harvest the honey.

I say "we" because even though I am not a beekeeper, I help with the process. I carry in the hives and help with the spinning, which can be a very tiring job. But I'm getting ahead of myself a bit.

A bee hive can contain tens of thousands of honey bees, and the bees produce honey and store it in the hive as part of their food supply. Beekeepers typically put frames in the hive so that the bees have a structure on which to build their comb and store their honey. The bees deposit the honey in the cells of the comb and then seal the cells with a wax capping. The frames slide in and out of the hive, making it fairly easy when it comes time to harvest the honey.

Some beekeepers will harvest all the honey made for a hive, and then feed the bees sugar water throughout the year. My wife, and many of her beekeeper friends around here, try to leave enough honey in each hive so that the bees don't need much (or any) sugar water. That's a more natural approach that seems as though it should be healthier for the bees and the bee population.

When we extract, the steps are basically as follows:

1. Remove a frame from the hive.
2. Using a hot knife, cut off the capping on each side of the frame.
3. We have a two frame extractor, so when two frames are ready, put them both in the extractor.
4. Spin the extractor. This forces the honey out of the cells, and it collects in the bottom of the extractor.
5. Empty the extractor into a bucket lined with a fabric filter.
6. The filtered honey ends up in a second bucket.
7. Pour the filtered honey into sterilized jars.
8. Also, drain and filter the capping; quite a bit of honey ends up with the capping, and this stuff is delicious.
9. Of course, throughout the first 8 steps, occasionally (with a clean spoon each time) dip into the box of capping and get a mouthful of honey drenched comb. Oh is it good!

Honey has already been extracted from the two frames in the foreground of the picture. On the third frame, you can see the white capping that seals the honey in the honey comb.

The hot knife (it plugs into an outlet) easily cuts through the wax capping and exposes the honey. As the capping comes off, the honey will drip. Be sure to do this over a large container.

After the capping is cut off each side of the frame, we set the frame in the extractor or in the box of capping, if the extractor is full.

I love the rich dark color of the honey in the comb! We typically do this in the kitchen, and the whole house smells of honey afterwards.

If you choose to extract outside (in the garage or a shed, for example), you need to make sure that the bees will not be able to get to you. If the bees find you, they'll come in a hurry to try to reclaim their honey.

Our spinner extractor holds two frames at a time. Typically you want to start spinning slowly, because the weight of the honey might force the comb to break off the frame if you spin too hard too quickly.

Usually I'll work up to a medium speed, and then I'll stop, remove the frames, turn them around, and insert them back into the extractor. This allows the honey to come out both sides of the comb and will help prevent the comb from totally collapsing in one direction. After rotating, then start spinning again, and this time you can spin for all you're worth, getting every last drop of honey out of the comb.

My wife was surprised to find that only a few frames were fully capped.  This means that the hives are not quite ready to have the honey extracted. 

Last summer, we extracted in mid May, end of May, and mid June.  Why is it not ready now, at the very end of May?  Our winter was much colder this year, which may have caused the bees to start their honey production later.  I don't know.

I do know that the honey I sampled was absolutely delicious, and I can't wait to get some more!

Until then ...