"Beekeeping Bliss: A Season of Sweet Rewards for Local Enthusiasts"
In the heart of ranching country, where the fall season brings with it the hustle of livestock moving from the mountains and calves being shipped, local beekeepers are celebrating a season of abundant honey production.
The sweet clover has been exceptionally thick this year, and hobbyist beekeepers like Justin Robinson from Kaycee are reaping the benefits. "This year was a great year with the sweet clover so thick," Robinson exclaims. He and his wife, Cyndi, started keeping bees two years ago, and the experience has been nothing short of enchanting for them.
The key to this year's honey bounty has been the generous rainfall, providing a plethora of yellow clover for the bees to feast on, resulting in an abundance of honey.
But the hardworking nature of bees is truly awe-inspiring. "‘Busy as a bee’ is legit," shares Kassahn Mathson, another hobbyist beekeeper. "Every time I opened the hives, it was like Christmas. It was extraordinary to see the work bees could do in four weeks."
For Mathson, beekeeping was a long-cherished idea, primarily because her garden plants needed proper pollination, and there weren't enough bees around her home just west of Buffalo. Resorting to manual pollination with a Q-tip was no match for the efficiency of worker bees.
Worker bees, which are predominantly female and make up about 98% of the colony, visit up to 100 flowers on every journey outside the hive. They return only when their legs' special sacks are laden with pollen, and their second stomachs are brimming with nectar.
This highly organized society of bees is a marvel to behold. "It’s such an organized society, and everyone has a job," Mathson affirms. "They are just amazing creatures."
Upon returning to the hive, worker bees deposit both pollen and nectar. Pollen offers healthy fats and proteins to bees and is essential to nourishing non-foraging bees like young nurse bees and drones. The nectar is passed from bee to bee. An enzyme in the bee's stomach converts the sugar into diluted honey, which worker bees fan with their wings to reduce excess water until it becomes honey.
It's a demanding task. A single bee can carry only one one-hundredth of an ounce of nectar per trip. To make one teaspoon of honey, it will take 12 worker bees their entire lifetimes, as per the North Dakota Department of Agriculture.
Robinson anticipates his bees will produce several gallons of honey this year, making harvesting a significant endeavor for small hobbyists who lack specialized equipment.
The process involves stacking "honey supers" on top of the hives as the bees fill them with honey. These honey supers are what beekeepers like Robinson and Mathson ultimately harvest for themselves.
Harvesting is a careful operation, preferably done in the middle of the day when the bees are out foraging. While the honeybee breed Robinson keeps is not known for aggressiveness, bees become protective when their honey is at stake.
Once the honey-filled frames are removed, they are placed in an extractor, a large stainless steel vat. Mathson's family employs a hand-crank extractor, which efficiently extracts the honey.
The honey is then filtered twice before it's ready to be enjoyed. Mathson describes the process as surprisingly satisfying. "I thought it would be a lot harder, and I thought it would be a lot messier," she says. "It is a little sticky, but it’s so rewarding. And it’s amazing, it’s so delicious. It’s so satisfying — what a satisfying harvest."
#Beekeeping, #HoneyHarvest, #Beekeepers, #NatureLovers, #SweetRewards
