Well, after many many years of a bee-keeping break, the community in which I reside resumed bee keeping. While we have all kinds of wild bees hovering all around, this year we were gifted a hive by the area bee-keeper.
Not so long ago was my first harvest of honey. Delicious!
Here are a few photos showcasing the extraction.
First, this is what the extractor looks like. Once you get the frames with the honey out of the hive and you uncap them using for example a hot knife, you place the frames within the extractor. The one we have here can take up to four. We learned that is better though to do two at a time. Otherwise it's to difficult to spin. That thing rattles like everything when you crank the handle.
This is what the inside of the extractor looks like.You can see part of the wooden frames and drops of honey against the inner wall of the extractor which works by centrifugal force.
Uncapping the honeycomb so that the honey can be extracted is actually quite messy. At least for first timers. Here is what our table looked like after we processed four frames. The floor was another matter...
And finally here is a picture of the extracted honey flowing into the jar! Absolutely delicious. This honey happens to be mainly mesquite honey. Here in the desert is what was and still is in bloom around this time. The salt cedar is beginning to flower so pretty soon the honey will change its color and flavor.