So Sweet!

This is our bee hive.  It sits tucked away behind the tennis courts at the Polo Club.  The Polo Club, where we live, is a beautiful community filled with lots of lovely flowers, plants, flowering trees and bushes…a perfect habitat for bees!  (You can read about how our hive was “swarmed” and how we moved it to the Polo club by clicking the links.)  All summer long we have seen the bees covering the different flowers and blooms, busily gathering nectar and pollinating their little wings off!  Earlier this summer Wally noticed one of the boxes on our hive was leaning.  When he called our friend and bee expert, Michael, we learned it was full of honey and we needed to add more boxes.  So we did.  Now we were ready to harvest that honey. 

I’m still very much a novice at this beekeeping and I’m not sure what this gadget is called.  But we needed to add it between the “super” box full of honey and the rest of the hive.  It allows the bees to come into the hive but not to go back out.  The idea is to keep them down inside while we removed the super box full of honey.  We did this a couple of day before honey harvest day. 

Wally, all screened in in his bee suit! 

On Saturday  we harvested the honey.  Michael and Gayle, our bee friends and guides, came to help. My Mom and Dad came to check it  all out.  We also discovered that one of the Polo Club residents had been a bee keeper in the past, and he came by to assist for a little bit.

The bees make a substance that seals the cracks between the boxes.   This is Wally and Michael separating the boxes by cutting that sealant apart.

Next we took the super box full of honey to the garage.  the box has several frames that hang inside it.  Here is one of the frames full of honey. 

Here was our process.  First, remove the caps off of the comb so that when we spin the honey, it will come off the frame.  . We used a heat gun to blow over the wax, then gently scraped it to open up the comb.

 

Then the frames are placed inside the extractor. It holds two frames. 

Then the spinning begins.  Wally laid on top of the extractor and we took turns standing on the feet to hold it in place while being churned.  My Dad did a lot of the churning.  This part of the process reminded me of when we would made apple butter with Wally’s Mom and Dad.  Everyone sat around the pot chatting and visiting while taking turns stirring the apples cooking over the open fire.  Saturday we sat around the garage and chatted and churned.  After spinning a bit we checked the frames to be sure all the honey was removed.  Then the frame was turned over, put back in the extractor and spun. 

Going through the process I thought there was no way we could get more than a jar or two.  But it wasn’t very long until this wonderful golden fluid began to run out the bottom of the extractor. 

ANTICIPATION!

Sweet!

It was interesting that the honey had a fragrance.  Everyone said how floral it was.  And it is just so good tasting!  By the time were done, our five gallon bucket was half full!  It filled eleven pint jars and eighteen half pints.

Guess what I read in my Bible reading on Monday?  

Proverbs 24:13
“My son, eat honey because it is good,
and the honeycomb which is sweet to your taste;”

I think I can do this!

Colorado Gold

I love when fall arrives and the days are cooler and the leaves change their color.  In Colorado we  have lots of yellows in our fall color but not much of the reds.  What gets us excited are the Aspens that turn to gold across the mountain ranges.  So Wally and I took off on the motorcycle this weekend to get excited! 

We headed up I-70 out of Denver so we could see the Vail Valley.  I’m not sure I remember ever seeing the aspens over Vail Pass.  The color was really gorgeous. All weekend long we kept saying we don’t ever remember seeing the aspen’s color so beautiful before!

Our destination was Ouray.  All along the way we had awesome displays of Colorado gold.  I think that this is McClure Pass.

Finally we made it to Ouray.  I would just like to take this moment to say, it takes a lot of you being on a motorcycle.  We had a lot of wind and it was warm air.  And I decided there’s also a lot of emotional stress…the thoughts that fill my mind~Did I lean the right direction on that curve, is the asphalt slippery, are the tires going to slip, isn’t this kind of fast for this curve, my head is itchy in this helmet…I’m telling you, it wears on a person….this person anyway  So I was glad to arrive.  We stayed at the Ouray Hotel, built in 1893! It has been renovated since then…running water and plumbing and all but still very charming! 

In the morning we headed out of town on the Million Dollar Highway toward Silverton.  I’m not sure why they call it that, but I felt very rich to see the views! It amazes me how on these high mountain cliffs, there would be a groups of aspens growing and their gold shining out amongst the evergreens and rock. 

Here are the mountain passes we rode this weekend…

• Loveland             elev. 11,990
• Vail                      elev. 10,666
• McClure              elev. 8,753
• Red Mountain      elev. 11,075
• Monarch              elev. 11,312
• Trout Creek         elev.9,487
• Red Hill                elev. 9,986
• Kenosha              elev.1,001

Autumn, the year’s last loveliest smile

~William Cullen Bryant

Blackwood Canyon of the Gunnison

Early in August Wally and I  took a weekend and headed to the Western Slope of Colorado.  It was sort of our Anniversary get away.  Our original intent was to ride the motorcycle and kind of prep me for a longer ride  that is yet to come in October.  I’m not really “motorcycle mama” material, but I’m trying!  Wally had ordered a trailer and we were hoping to try it out.  But  there were issues with the order and it did not arrive in time.  Since I am not the motorcycle mama, I was planning to take a curling iron along, and a few other things that just were not going to fit in the saddlebags.  So we trailered the bike and I packed to my heart’s content and off we went.  We had reservations for a new Bread and Breakfast in Paonia.  It was recommended by a couple here in the Polo Club.  But you know, Paonia is kind of a depressing town.  Everyone there was big into vegan.  And there was a lot more green in their lifestyle than their scenery.  We backed out on our second night’s reservation and headed to Montrose.

On the way there, we stopped in Hotchkiss…which was more of what I was expecting Paonia to be.  We have old friends who bought a cherry orchard there about ten years ago.  We had a delightful time catching up with them.  I came home with a big bucket of their cherries and peaches that Don had picked just the night before. 

Later in the day we set out on the bike.  Wally has this idea he wants to ride all the mountain passes in Colorado.  We did three; Red Mountain, Molas, and Cole Bank.   We rode through Ouray and the mountains were gorgeous.  I think The last time I had been in this part of Colorado, our youth group took an eight day backpacking trip in those mountains!  

A scenic overlook on the way to Ouray~

This is Silverton and I took the picture while we were passing by…pretty good don’t you think?

On our second day we took in the south rim of the Blackwood Canyon of the Gunnison.  It was beautiful!  The canyon is narrow and steep and the
Gunnison River runs at the bottom. 

We started by riding the bottom of the canyon.  It is a 16%grade.  I’m not sure what that means exactly, except that it was really, really curvy.  Wally said we dropped about 2,500 feet in elevation in about three miles. 

Our shadow!

Back on top we took in several of the overlooks to view the canyon~

Running below is the Gunnison River~

Kayaking…for experts only. The info said “Kayakers run the river at their own risk…Class V rapids and some sections are unrunnable.” 

The Painted Wall section of the canyon~

Have to have shot of the bike~

and bikers~

This week we had our first lesson at Bible Study in Genesis 1. Looking at these photos again I am overwhelmed with God’s amazing creative power. I love what God spoke to Job in Job 38:3-7~

“Now prepare yourself like a man;
I will question you and you shall answer Me.
Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding.
Who determines its measurements?
Surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
To what were its foundations fastened?
Or who laid its cornerstones, when the morning stars sang together…”

Amazing Beauty, Amazing Creator!

Farm Report

We’ve been pickin’ and grinnin' around here…not on a banjo but from the garden!  Lots of picking!  I get so excited and then I remember as I bring the goodies into the house,  “this is a lot of work!”. And my grinnin’ kind of disappears….until I see all those filled jars setting on my counter! 

Here’s my beans, in the garden and in the sink!  I actually got Wally to help me snap them.  I wish I had thought to take his picture so you’d believe me!

And here’s the grinnin’ part, eleven quarts and 22 pints worth.

I also did peaches both before and after the beans.  Early in August Wally and I took a weekend for our anniversary over on the western slope.  We have friends who bought a cherry orchard in Hotchkiss, CO.  We dropped in on them and had a great time catching up.  We bought a big bucket cherries from them and put 13 bags in the freezer…ready for some great cherry pies!  Don had just picked peaches the night before and we bought 31 pounds from them.  I canned those up and made some jam.  Then Wally decided we should get another box of peaches, just to be sure!  So we have 20 quarts of peaches and 20 jars of jam. 

Now the tomatoes are coming on, these are my first two romas.  The plants are loaded.  Salsa to come. 

And I can’t get enough of these grape tomatoes…they are so sweet!

They go great in a salad with fresh lettuce and spinach…if they make it that long!  I ate about half the bowl just popping them into my mouth throughout the day!

And what garden is complete without the squash?  Acorn and zucchini! 

So we have had some good eating, and we will have more to come!