Monday, October 24, 2011

Bee Stings and Apple Harvests


I usually never write on the chalk board, but project my lecture notes
from pdf documents I post for students on my web site. I gave the
kids an activity one day and took a picture of my questions for my
own sanity (meaning: I didn't have to write them down...how cool is
the smart phone? Awesome, right?)

We've been busy bees lately. Pun not intended, I'm afraid. I've been pretty consumed by lecture prep and have also been grading papers until my eyes cross. With three sections with approximately 25 kids each, with an assignment in each class per week, the grading is an on-going event in the house. Michael's been putting the garden and the bees to bed. Here are some pics of the recent activity, kitchen and otherwise.....


Bun's putting out a dose of fall feeding for the top bar
in the garden. The fall syrup is composed of 2 parts
sugar to one part water--extra rich, to get the ladies
bulked up for the leaness that is winter.

What's this, you ask? Homemade apple butter, baby.
I had apples that we brought back from central PA, and
they were starting to be six kinds of sandy.
So, I sauced them.


What's the sweetner? Well, our own honey,
of course!

Some little boy didn't wear his bee suit when he went
to winterize the hives on the hill, and he got stung above his
eye. The poor thing swelled up so severely, he could not
open the lid. Within 48, however, Michael's eye was back
to normal. Scary stuff, though!

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Melting the Wax Caps...

Remember those wax caps? We've got plans for them!

In addition to what you see in the bin above, we harvested
wax caps from the screen through which
the honey strained. The lot of it appears in the
wax-designated saucepan in this image.

Heat and stir....

...and stir...

I'm melting!

I sprayed Pam inside a leftover container, and
the wax is now inside the container, cooling. Shortly, we'll
be able to make candles...more on this soon!
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