We set out early this morning for Wewahitchka, FL to visit a bee farm called Smiley Apiaries. I just love the name of the town! Wewahitchka, Wewahitchka... It must be Indian. It took about 45minutes for us to arrive there. We had to wait a bit while the owner Donald Smiley was conducting another tour for the first group of homeschool students. The kids started getting pretty itchy waiting around and then Stephen and Matthew started the "pee dance", so we had to sneak off behind a bush and take care of that! Never a dull moment.
The talk Donald gave was very interesting. He said, "Everyone has heard of Tupelo honey before!" I sure hadn't, but am very glad I got introduced to it. It isn't cheap, but it is SO good. When Dave had some tonight, he described it as having almost a kick to it, as if there was some spice. It comes from Tupelo trees, which only grow in that area.
As Donald opened the door to the first room of our tour, I struggled to get the double stroller in. Someone shut the door right as I looked up at a window and saw the biggest "ball" of bees I had ever seen! What is it southerners say? "Well, I just about lay me down and die!" It was all I could do to take a photo for documentation that I survived. I am not a big bee fan, you can see! I am, however, starting to appreciate honeybees a lot more. I never realized just how many crops they pollinate. They are very important to our survival, although I think I will let other people tend the hives!
We went into another room where we could see the process of extraction. The boys loved to see the pool of honey in a large tray underneath. A layer of honeycomb covered the top (it rises to the top as the honey cools), but the owner brushed it away so we could see the thick honey underneath. The honey they sell is 100% raw, which means it isn't heated above 86F, in order to not kill the pollen.
We finished off the tour in another section of the warehouse, where they handed out free honeysticks and another man showed large photos of the bees while he gave more information on the whole process. We had a good time there, even though I think if the kids were just a bit older they would've appreciated it even more.
Part of the beehive, where the honeycomb is.
Mr. Smiley, showing the honeycomb to us.
One of the kids showing off a "tulle hat".
Now this is more like it! Full body armor!
Tell me you wouldn't want to run, too??
How can they just stand still?!
Inside honey extracting room.
Man loading honeycomb to be pushed through extractor.
They recycle the beeswax here to sell for candles, etc.
Honeycomb being pushed through machine.
Extractor. It reminded me of a huge barbeque grill.
Pool of honey under extractor. Can you see it coming out a tube on each end?
Liquid gold!
3 comments:
That looks really fascinating! And a bit scary.
Thanks so much for coming by my blogs. I am so awful that I haven't posted in so long. I hope to get to it soon. I just seem to be so busy. :-)
The reason I am so encouraged by Timothy loving school is that during school he often acts like he hates it. He drags his feet. He whines and complains. He stares off into space. In fact, I would think I were torturing him were it not for the fact that the weeks he are on "vacation" he always say, "Mommy, why aren't we having school? I need to learn!"
So...I wouldn't worry that Matthew is not always angelically enthusiastic about school. Timothy isn't either. But at least I don't worry (much) that I am working him too hard.
What kinds of books is Matthew reading? Timothy is much happier to read certain books than others. He particularly lie Dr. Suess, Little Bear, and Frog and Toad.
What a wonderful field trip! I would love to do that with my kiddos, thanks for sharing all the pictures and "sweet" details! :)
ENVY!!!!
What a cool opportunity! Thank you for sharing it here! I'm going to show it to the girls tomorrow.
Susannah reacts strongly to bites and stings, so perhaps it's for the best that we have a virtual tour, but still....ENVY!
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