Weekends in Dundee

Join us as we explore Willamette Valley Wine Country one weekend at a time!

We Labored on Labor Day, Processing the Honey

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It sure has been a buzzzzy summer…see what I did there? I’m starting to make honeybee humor, I think the bees are finally getting to me!

Over Labor Day Weekend we decided that it was time to remove the honey supers, move the honeybees, and process the honey. Wow that was short sentence, lets just say the process is much easier said than done.

Our first summer with honeybees was a total success! Each hive has two healthy brood boxes on the bottom, and the Noir Hive (left) came close to filling two honey supers, while the Gris Hive (right) completely filled one honey super.

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Checking the Health of the Honeybees

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I’ve mentioned this before, but for those of you who don’t know, The Renaissance Man is currently an apprentice in the Oregon Master Beekeeper Program. The program has been a great way to get started with beekeeping, and the best part is that they pair you with a bee mentor! Tom is our mentor, and he’s been an invaluable resource in our beekeeping journey. He’s come out to our house a couple of times to check on the honeybees, and he’s never farther away than a quick email when we’ve had questions. A few weekends back he came out to the house to do an “end of season” check-in on the honeybees.

We’ll be collecting honey from the bees over Labor Day weekend, so it’s important to make sure that the hives are strong so they make it through the winter.

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