Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Honey, Onions and Garlic


We have been busy little farmers! After collecting and assembling flowers on Thursday, Sue and I spent the first part of Friday selling bouquets at the Charlestown Farmers Market for our friends George and Cathy. Lucky Cathy was dancing her way around England with "The Ladies of the Rolling Pin". Always a pleasurable place to hang out, we indulged in fresh pastries, bought peaches, apples, steamers and fresh cheese, met new folks, got invited to some end of summer parties, and had a very relaxing, perfect weather summer morning!

George and Sue with Fresh Eggs!

Sue was up and working in the garage on Saturday AM before my eyes even thought about opening. It was shortly after 6 and she had already cleaned up 37 lbs of onions and was on her way to completing 11 lbs of garlic. We started picking blueberries about 9 and it took us about an hour to collect 8 lbs!

The next task on the list took us to the towers of bee power to extract what turned out to be 70 lbs of honey! It is truly a remarkable, miraculous substance...amazing to spend just a few moments watching the bees arrive with their little legs packed with pollen, or watching them at the pond gather up minute amounts of water, building cone, attending to eggs and the queen, filling in little spaces with propolis, jetting around their territory, chewing, building, storing...
Then get the frames, brush off the bees, haul them home to the extractor, cut the comb, hand crank the extractor, honey into the bucket through two filters, clean the jars and tops, fill 'em up, print and stick the labels...beautiful!!!


Now off to make yogurt and scarves!
What are you making with zucchini???


Chickens like zucchini!!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

You are amazing -- your own little farm! Honey, onions and garlic...

suz said...

that's all? LOL I love buying honey from stands and farms... often they can tell you where the bees collect pollen, so you can try different flavors. Looks like you have had a productive summer. I love to steam zucchini, summer squash, broccoli and baby carrots ... the best dinner there is - sometimes I add some baked chicken and/or rice to the dish, but the fresh veggies from a farm one town over - can't be beat!