Extracting Honey

We thought that a few quotes from 'Pooh's Little Instruction Book' might be appropriate:
"When you go after honey with a balloon, the great thing is not to let the bees know you're coming"
"When carrying a jar of honey to give to a friend, don't stop and eat it along the way."

We have been keeping bees now for about 5 years. It has been a very steep learning curve and indeed would not have been possible without the help of the Midland Beekeepers Association and Jim Donohoe in particular. Disease, weather conditions and man have all conspired to make it very difficult to keep bees. For the past number of years it has been a case of trying to keep colony numbers up, rather than trying to produce honey.
This year, however, we had about 2 'supers' of honey to extract. It is mostly clover honey, which would be our favourite!

A frame of honey ready for extraction. We uncap the frames using an electric paint stripper! sounds a bit vicious but it works and is much less messy than uncapping with a knife.

It works because our native bees leave an air space between the honey in the cell and the wax cap, so you can melt the cap off without damaging the honey!

We use National Supers which contain 10 frames. When the Super is on the hive there is a queen excluder underneath so that the queen cannot get in to lay, so that only honey is stored.

The extractor takes 3 frames which are spun around, in this case manually,

and centrifugal force flings the honey out of the cells.

The honey is then drawn off through the tap at the bottom.

It really should go though a strainer and be allowed to settle before being put into jars, but this is for our own consumption, and is delicious just as it is!

The colour and consistency of this honey would suggest to me that it is clover.

I'm sure Winnie-the-Pooh would approve. An essential part of anything to do with honey is regular sampling, just in case... and because...

"Always be aware of how many pots of honey you have in the cupboard; it's nice to be able to say, "I've got fourteen pots of honey left." Or fifteen as the case may be."

Clipping Clorin

We had the first decent frost last night with the temperature dropping to -0.4ºC. The first picture which has nothing to do with clipping, was taken this morning just before sunrise and Christopher thought it was worth including!

So...over to Helen, and Clorin, and clipping:

Early morning mist over Bishop's Lough with Knock Eyon in the backround.

As autumn progresses the horses all change their summer coats for something more substantial to see them through the winter.

Clorin was starting to get too hot for comfort when we were out, so here she is clean and fully coated ready for a change.

Starting to clip.

The clippers are electric and not too noisy, but some horses are not keen on the whole operation. Clorin, true to her Irish Draught pedigree was calm throughout.

Nearly finished.

Clorin, cool and composed ready for off.

Georgina Campbell Awards 2011

We got an email from Georgina Campbell Guides a couple of weeks ago inviting us to attend their 2011 Awards event at Bord Bia's Headquarters in Dublin on Tuesday 12 October. Being slightly innocent and because Christopher was going to be away and Helen would be holding the fort on her own, we emailed back and said we were really sorry but we wouldn't be able to make it! They replied that they completely understood, but it might be in our interest if we could arrange for somebody to be there! Suitably intrigued, and wondering what on earth was going on Helen agreed to go.

And so it was, on Tuesday morning, armed with Morag, Helen set forth for Dublin!

We were absolutely thrilled to be presented with not one but two awards!

Irish Breakfast Award (FarmHouse Category) and Farmhouse of the Year 2011. click on the links to read the citations

Helen being presented with the Farmhouse of the Year Award by Georgina Campbell

Georgina Campbell:

Georgina Campbell is one of Ireland’s leading food and hospitality writers. Her practical and down-to-earth approach has earned many fans for her cookery columns and cookbooks, and the same honesty has applied to her comprehensive and critically acclaimed, independently assessed guides to Ireland’s best places to eat, drink and stay.

Commenting on this year’s winners, Georgina said; “Excellence is always the top priority, of course, but our award winners this year share a quality which goes beyond that. Given the difficulties posed by the current economic situation, it takes a very special kind of determination and skill to confront the situation head-on, take control and come up with innovative ways to attract customers. Today’s winners represent those people in the hospitality industry who have got real grit and, by putting customer requirements first - and keeping up their marketing - can continue to provide a combination of excellence and value for money that brings in business, even at this dire time for the industry.”

Sponsors include: Bord Bia, BIM, Fáilte Ireland, and Waterways Ireland.

Winter Barley

I have been away in the Highlands of Scotland for the past week and so have got a bit behind with updates to the blog! (I will post some photos later.)

Time keeps moving on, as they say, and the field beside our farm where we got straw for the winter has been ploughed and sown with winter barley for next years harvest.

Two tractors pulling 9 furrows between them make short work of the field.

The forecast is for rain, so the seed is sown directly after the plough, and the ploughs will never get more than about 4 passes ahead of the seeder, so that even if it rains there is always dry soil to sow into.

Just to prove that it is a neighbouring field!

The weather has been so mild this autumn, that within a week the barley was through, and well on it's way to being a good crop for next year.

Irish Independent, Weekend Supplement

We were delighted when, following an overnight stay, Gemma O'Doherty, Irish Independent Travel Editor, wrote the following piece which appeared in the Weekend supplement on Saturday 25th September:

Derrynagarra Clorin

After eight Irish Draught foals, and about ten years since she was broken, Derrynagarra Clorin is back under saddle. It's early days yet, but we are both really enjoying it.

I don't remember it being such a long way down from 17 hands, or indeed up for that matter! And so we have ordered a mounting block, and Christopher has made a start putting riding latchs on some of the gates as you will see later.

We decided not to put either of the mares back in foal this year as the market is so flat, so Clorin and I thought it would be a good chance to get fitter!

not as graceful as I might be!

'Super Clorin' surveying the surroundings

Off up the drive

Checking the lambs as we go

the new gate latch makes exit much easier

A blustery saturday afternoon, but we are very happy to be out and about again.