Blog Archive

Friday, July 12, 2024

We Have Honey- Bee Freebies

 The buzz around the farm is it is time to harvest some honey!

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Welcome, Honey Pies and Happy Farm Friday! 

Mr. Pinker has been bustling about working with the honeymakers in hopes of keeping them happy. 

The other day he came back to the house with  a few  shallow  frames  filled to the brim with ooey gooey yummy to my tummy honey!



It was time for Mr. Pinker to go to work. 

With bees buzzing about , he  began by  cutting the wax caps off the combs to expose the honey in the cells.   Of course, we saved the wax to use later. 

Years ago we were gifted my uncle's vintage honey extractor.  It was time to put it to good use.   🍯🐝🍯🐝🍯🐝🍯🐝


One frame is loaded into the basket. 

Two  shallows were placed  into the vintage honey extractor . It has two baskets that holds the  shallow frames. 

The baskets hold the shallow frames. 

This honey extractor is  hand cranked. 

Once Mr. Pinker placed the two shallows (frames) into the baskets, he would crank the extractor and  spin the honey out of the combs onto the walls of the extractor. The frames were spun twice - once for each side of the frames . The honey then ooozed down the side of the extractor into the bottom . Do you see all the yummy honey? 

Once all of the frames were harvested,  the honey was drained from the bottom of the extractor into  a  food grade bucket. 

 Finally, the honey was placed in sterilized jars. Eeeeh!  We extracted three gallons of honey  this harvest. 

 It was not long afterwards that we were enjoying biscuits smothered with honey!  OH YUM! 😋

The shallow frames with honey combs were returned back to the bee boxes for my honey makers to fill again.  

Now how about some bee stitches!  🍯🐝🍯🐝🍯🐝🍯🐝

 In 2021, I stitched Busy Buzzing Bee. He is a plump little bee buzzing about - a real simple stitch. 

 You  may have seen him in my recent Bee Buffet tour

I finished it as a pillow using a bit of black and white gingham fabric. The yellow baker's twine was a Dollar Tree find. 

But wait! I have one more stitch to share! 

Skeps is another super quick stitch that I stitched in 2021. I love this one! Simple and cute as a honeybee! 🍯🐝🍯🐝🍯🐝🍯🐝


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If you are interested in stitching this piece,  just grab , the images. For printing tips, refer to the post Tips for Printing which has loads of tips from my sweet friends. 

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This is my newest quick stitch that I am working on. It is called Beeyard. 

Beeyard in the works! 

Well , Sweet friends that is the buzz around the  farm this week! Thank you so much for dropping by for a visit.



As always,

Happy Stitching and Quilting, ya'll

Melisa

"Any day spent with you is my favorite day. " - Winnie the Pooh

Hugs and Stitches!!! 🤗

Dedicated to my dear sister, Amy. I miss and love you so much.   ❤👼
















44 comments:

  1. oohh yummy, yummy. The honey looks tasty! I am not a big honey eater but in wintertime I eat my rolls with cinnamonhoney. Could die for, hahaha.
    Stitching looks lovely.
    Have a happy weekend, Gabi

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    1. Mmm Mmm Cinnamon Honey rolls sounds divine ; a great warm winter treat. Thank you for the sweet visit, Gabi. We are quite pleased with this honey harvest. Have a blessed and beautiful day. Hugs.

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  2. Mr Pinker has been buzzing about staying very busy with the bees. Looks amazing and yummy. Love all the x-stitch patterns and such. Darlene J

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    1. Oh yes, he loves tending to the bees and I like watching. I was surprised by how much honey we got this time. Thank you for the sweet visit, Darlene. Have a wonderful day. Hugs.

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  3. So fascinating to read about the honey process, I had to show my hubbie cos I knew he’d be interested too! First thing he said was “Where does the wax come from?” and I have to say I’m wondering too. I’ve never heard have you? Just found an interesting article talking about bees and how they make wax at a site called beebeewraps.com.
    Thank you so much for these lovely patterns. I must tea dye some more fabric and then I can’t wait to stitch Busy Buzzing Bee - she’s so cute! Is that a new stitch to come on the left of “Beeyard”? Tantalising! Thank you, Melisa, dear friend.
    Happy Stitching and Quilting. ☺️🙋‍♀️👋💜💜💜xx

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    1. Eeeh I am so glad that you liked Busy Buzzing Bee. I hope you enjoy every stitch, sweet friend. Oooh thank you so much for sharing the website, Barbara. I love reading about the bees. Hubby knows a lot more about them than I do and I am always learning something new. Beekeeping is so fascinating. They are wonderful little creatures. Have a blessed and wonderful day. Happy Stitching . Hugs.

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  4. Oops that was me talking about wax - Barbara @flashinscissors 🥴🙋‍♀️😘xx

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  5. The honey on biscuits sounds delicious! I like to add some whole wheat flour to my biscuit recipe, delicious! Will you have another honey harvest this summer or will it be too late in the season? Happy stitching!

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    1. I am going to have to try adding whole wheat flour to my biscuits - great tip. I am not sure if there will be another harvest or not. Hubby monitors the hives and this one was overflowing. Thank you so much, Gretchen for the sweet visit. Hugs.

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  6. WOW! 3 gallons! Amazing. I know basically nothing about bees so I'm living vicariously through you. My middle daughter was thinking of getting some bees for honey, etc. She and wife work full time tho - sounds like bee keeping is a lot of work! And what do you use the wax for? Cute new patterns - thank you. Blessings!

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    1. I am learning something new all of the time about beekeeping. Hubby is really into it. The bees are fascinating; it would be a great hobby for your daughter. Hubby cleaned some of the wax and put it in molds. Those small bits of wax I use for waxing my floss and threads. Hubby will use most of the excess wax to coat and preserve the bee boxes. Thank you for the sweet visit, Donna. I hope you are having a lovely weekend. Hugs.

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  7. What a fascinating process. Looks like a lot of work, but wow on the 3 gallons of honey! Looks absolutely delicious, and you enjoyed it in my favorite way - biscuits!

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    1. It was fascinating for me to watch the process too ; I am learning something new all the time about beekeeping. The honey was so yummy too. Thank you so much, Linda for the sweet visit.

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  8. Love those two pretty golden goblets in your vignette.....Good deal harvesting all that honey!! I have been searching here for local honey as I hear if is good for allergies...
    Have a wonderful weekend, hugs, Julierose

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    1. Oh yes, local honey is good for allergies. I hope you are able to locate some in your area, Julierose. Those little goblets are some of my favorite thrifty finds. Thank you for the sweet visit. Hugs.

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  9. Hold the honey I'll be right over!! I enjoyed watching the process. I remember having one hive on the farm we lived on when I was really little. I thought I remembered we even ate the comb?

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    1. I remember eating honeycomb when we were little too. I would love to have honey in the comb. What a sweet memory; I am so touched that this post brought back such a fond memory .Thank you , Vicki for dropping by to visit me. Hugs.

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  10. Thanks to this blog post Melissa and Barbara’s comment, I just disappeared down the “honey hole”(aka bunny hole) to learn about bee wax making.Wow….just WOWThen on to what it takes to make the honey, the wax, raise the baby bees…..amazing. Tell your sweet husband thanks for all his love and care for your bees

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    1. Isn't that fascinating, Maureen? I am so grateful Barbara left the website. I am learning something new all the time about bees. We enjoy working with our little bees; our hives are slowly growing. Thank you so much for the sweet visit. Hugs.

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  11. What an awesome honey harvest! Sweet designs, Melisa! Happy Friday!

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    1. It was Robin. We were so happy ; I couldn't believe that we harvested that much. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend. Hugs

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  12. The extraction process is very interesting. I never knew how that worked. I'd love to see what you do with the wax caps. Your bee stitches are darling! I'm still working away on my display and hope to have it complete by August. I'm a slow stitcher.

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    1. This was the first time I had watched hubby extract the honey. It was fascinating. Hubby melted the wax and cleaned it. He placed some in small molds and made me some wax cubes to use for waxing my embroidery floss. The rest he will use to preserve the bee boxes. I look forward to seeing your bee display. I know it will be beeautiful. Hugs.

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  13. Thank you for the honey harvesting info and the charts.

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    1. You are so welcome, Rita ; you are so very kind. Thank you for the sweet visit. I hope you have a great weekend. Hugs.

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  14. What a delicious post, Melisa! Mouth watering. Such an interesting way to extract the honey...who knew and how neat to use a family heirloom for the process. And you continue to be so generous to offer such perfectly match little stitcheries too. Adorable!

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    1. Aaaw thank you so much , Jocelyn. I was fascinated to watch hubby extract the honey and it was so wonderful to put my uncle's bee equipment to use. Have a blessedday. Hugs.

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  15. You're making me hungry, Melisa!!! How interesting to see how it's done, from honeycomb with wax to honey in neat jars!!! And of course I love all your bee related stitchery!💛💛💛

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    1. LOL , thank you, Nancy. I have to admit that I was dipping my fingers into the fresh honey and sneaking a taste- oh yum! I wish you a fabulous weekend. Hugs.

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  16. What beautiful honey! How delicious it must be on warm biscuits! Thank you for sharing the spinning process. . .that was super interesting!--TerryK@OnGoingProjects

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    1. Oh thank you so much, Terry . The extractor certainly made the process a lot quicker. We were so pleased with the harvest. Have a blessed day. Hugs.

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  17. Great honey harvest walk-through! Those filled jars are so lovely. The color seems darker. I love how the color and even the flavor can vary by the bee's diet. Do you have a certain field crop nearby that the bees feed in or do they wander at will? Thank you so much for new bee stitches. I will definitely be saving those. I remember my mom had some of those clear gold grape cluster goblets when I was young. Wonder where they went. So pretty!

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    1. The honey was so so yummy, Ginny. There is lots of clover in the fields nearby as well as thistle and pear trees. Sometimes hubby plants buckwheat nearby for them as well. Every time I visit the bees, they are so busy. Aren't those goblets gorgeous? I have always had an affection for amber glass. Hope your are having a good weekend and it is not too hot. Thank you for the sweet visit. Hugs.

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  18. What an interesting post, Melisa! And it looks like you got a wonderful supply of honey. Would you believe I'm not really a honey lover? I do use it in baking/cooking, but am just not crazy about it by itself for some reason. I guess I have strange tastebuds :) Such cute bee designs--thank you so much! Hope you have a relaxing weekend! ♥

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    1. Oh thank you so much, Carol. We enjoy working with the bees. Hopefully , we are keeping them happy. LOL. Honey is wonderful to use in baking ; we often use it in cooking as well though mostly we eat it on biscuits and toast. I can only eat a small teaspoon at a time though. Hope you are having a great weekend. Hugs.

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  19. What a delight, Melisa!
    I had never seen honey collected directly from the honeycomb...I'm a city girl, you know, one of those who think that honey "is born in glass jars"...hahahaha.
    Seriously, I really enjoyed the post.
    Have a happy weekend
    Hugs

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    1. Oh thank you so much, Isabel. I enjoyed watching hubby extract the honey; I was surprised how much honey we were able to harvest. The honey looks so pretty in the jars and tastes so yummy. Wishing you a blessed day. Hugs.

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  20. Thank you for the tour of your honey harvest! What a cool process!

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    1. Aaah you are so welcome and thank you for taking the time to visit me . I am so very honored. Have a blessed day. Hugs.

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  21. Such pretty patterns. I do envy you for all the honey. My big brother's favorite lunch was peanut butter on bread with honey. So tasty. Honey in tea...honey cookies, yum yum

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  22. That honey looks wonderful!! And is even more special right from your own hives! Have a great weekend, Melisa and enjoy a biscuit and honey for me!

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    1. I always think local honey is the best! I am so happy that we are now harvesting our own. I was a bit surprised by how much we got just out of a few frames. Thank you so much, Brenda for the sweet visit. I hope you have been having a wonderful weekend. Hugs.

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  23. Thank you for sharing your bee stitches Melisa, they're so sweet and pretty! It was also interesting to see the process of honey harvesting.
    Have a great weekend!
    Hugs

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    1. Aah you are so very welcome, Diana and thank you for taking the time to visit me on the farm. I wish you a lovely day . Hugs.

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