Duration: 2 Hours | Format: Hands-On Workshop | Experience Level: Beginner to Intermediate Ever wondered how to get sweet, liquid gold out of the beehive and into a jar? Join us for a fast-paced, fully immersive, 2-hour workshop where you will dive headfirst into the honey-harvesting process. You’ll be rolling up your sleeves to scratch, spin, crush, and bottle honey yourself. Whether you are a backyard hobbyist ready for your first harvest or a bee enthusiast curious about the process, you will walk away with the practical skills and confidence needed to process your own hive products. What You’ll Do Our time is split into four highly practical modules, focusing on clean, efficient, and bee-friendly techniques: 1. Clearing the Hive & Preparing the Supers The Escape Plan: Learn how to safely and gently remove bees from your honey supers (the boxes where bees store extra honey) using escape boards, fume boards, and bee brushes without agitating the colony. Frame Assessment: Identify capped vs. uncapped honey and learn how to check moisture levels so your honey never spoils or ferments. 2. Processing Extracted Honey & Comb The Uncapping Station: Master the art of using hot knives, uncapping forks, and rollers to slice away the wax caps cleanly. Spinning Liquid Gold: Load up and operate both manual and motorized centrifugal extractors to spin the honey out of the frames. The Pure Comb Experience: Learn how to carefully harvest, cut, and drain pristine section comb honey directly from the hive. 3. Filtration & Bottling Clearing the Cloudiness: Understand the difference between filtering and straining, and how to settle honey to remove air bubbles and tiny wax bits. The Perfect Pour: Get hands-on with bottling gates and valves to fill jars efficiently without creating a sticky mess. 4. Packaging, Selling, and Best Practices The Business of Bees: Learn how to properly label your honey to comply with local cottage food laws (including weight declarations and nutritional rules). Premium Presentation: Discover the best jars, containers, and branding tricks to make your honey and comb look beautiful on a farm stand or market shelf. Sanitation & Cleanup: Sticky tools are inevitable! We will share the ultimate pro-tips for quick cleanup and how to safely store your empty frames (drawn comb) so pests like wax moths don't destroy them over the winter. What to Bring: Please wear closed-toe shoes and clothes you don’t mind getting a little sticky. You may wish to wear an apron. Bonus: Every participant will take home a complimentary jar of fresh honey bottled during the class
