A Second Harvest — Paler, Clearer, Sweeter 🍯🌼 

😲 A Surprise Super
While carrying out our Bailey comb change, we had to remove the other super. To our amazement, it was full again!

Considering the generous stores already tucked away in the brood box — and with the season in mind — we weren’t sure whether to leave it or harvest. After some thoughtful discussion (and guidance from our mentor Maria), we decided it was safe to take another crop.

🔧 Back to the Extractor
So, out came the electric extractor once more — kindly borrowed again from the Braintree Beekeepers Association. With floor protectors down, frames loaded, and double sieves ready, we repeated the process we’d learned during our first harvest.

💡 Did you know?
Honey colour and flavour vary depending on the flowers the bees forage on. Light honey (like borage or lime) tends to be paler, milder, and floral, while darker honey (like wildflower is richer and stronger. No two harvests are ever exactly the same — each is a snapshot of the local blooms at that moment in time.

✨ Liquid Sunshine, Take Two
This time, the honey flowed out clearer and paler than before — but with a beautifully distinct flavour of its own. It’s amazing to think that just a few weeks apart, the same colony can create such different honey, simply because the flowers around them have changed

🌼 What’s Next?
With our second harvest safely bottled, we’ll continue to keep an eye on brood stores to make sure the bees have more than enough for themselves.

Two harvests in our very first season feels like a gift — and a reminder of just how incredible these bees really are. Beryl and her workers have certainly been busy! 💛🐝