A honey of a summertime field trip

Last night our friend Meredith invited us to go out to a local beekeeper's home to see how honey is processed.  As if you couldn't tell by the other things we do, we are all about our boys having as many experiences we can give them.  So of course we joined right in!  Between Meredith and I we had 5 boys, under the age of 7, but better kiddos you couldn't ask for.  JM is one of Brant's baseball buddies, so they were like two peas in a pod, pretending to be fighter jets, and then getting into the honey process. 

The man in the blue suit (as opposed to the Man in the Yellow Hat! :-) ), was the beekeeper.  He's been keeping bees for 30 + years, and is the president of the local beekeeping association.  He gave us a walk through of what they do, and then fielded questions from the moms and boys. 

These guys were his former students from the beekeeping class.  They were there to help him process his honey.
Don't know why it surprised me, but there were a few bees flying around the basement. 

The honey, dripping out of the centrifuge.  It took all my self control to not stick my finger in it.  The boys didn't either.

Explaining that there has to be at least 75% of the cells capped to process.  The wax is the white part, and it was suprisingly hard. 

Yum!  He said this was how he got paid!

This tool took off the rest of the wax that the knife didn't get.  It's how the honey is released.
The honey you buy at the store has been strained through what is essentially coffee filters, so there is no
pollen in it.  We were told that you could take local honey, spin it and extract the pollen and tell what plants the bees went to.  It's why it recommended to eat local honey, it helps your body not react to the allergens in your area. 

Yum!  we all got to chew on some honeycomb and beeswax, still dripping with honey!

The bucket filled up while we were there, so he got a new one ready.

The boys were mesmerized by the golden goodness. 

Such fun!  Meredith and I want to find some more local places to show our boys...any suggestions?