The Journal

Notes from the apiary

A season-by-season look at the hives — the buildup, the harvest, and every jar in between. New entries land here as the year unfolds.

  1. The first jars of the season

    We pulled the first full frames this week and the extractor has been spinning all weekend. The color came out a deep amber — darker than last year, with a wildflower finish from the clover field down the road.

    Every jar is hand-filled, hand-labeled, and dated. If you're on the waitlist, this is the honey you'll be getting.

    Freshly filled jars of golden honey on the counter
    Batch no. 1 — straight off the extractor.

  2. Capped and ready

    A good sign the honey is ready: the bees cap the cells with a thin layer of wax once the moisture is just right. Most of this frame is capped end to end.

    We wait for the majority of a frame to be capped before we even think about harvesting — it's how we know the honey will keep.

    A frame of capped honeycomb
    Wax-capped cells across a deep frame.
    Inspecting a frame in the spring sun
    Lifting a frame to check the brood pattern.

  3. Spring buildup begins

    The hives came through winter strong. As the first blooms opened, the colony exploded with new brood and the foragers started bringing in pale, early-season nectar.

    This is the quiet, hopeful part of the year — months before a single jar is filled.

    Backyard hives in early spring
    The apiary waking up in March.