The flower season is over...

When the summer turns to the side of the fall, the fruits of the fruit-trees are starting to ripe. This year, the harvest of apples and pears is going to be very abundant, as the branches of every tree are full of fruits. When the wind blows stronger, some of the fruits start falling down, so one of the daily duties of gardening becomes picking up those fallen fruits.

As we were picking up the fruits today, we heard a strange buzz around the pear-tree. Very many pears had fallend down, some of them even getting crushed by the fall, due to their ripeness and sweetness. When we went closer, it turned out that the buzz we heard was created by many honey-bees that were snacking on the fallen pears! What else left for the poor honey-bees to do, when the season of the flowers is getting over and they feel hungry? Since our garden neighbours, the honey-bee farmers, had taken out of their bee-hives all the honey they had so diligently collected throughout the summer, the bees looked for other options of filling their bellies.

When we showed to the honey-bee farmer these hungry bees, he said that it is usual for the bees to behave like this at this season. He said that just today he has filled into the bee-hives special sweet syrop, which is supposed to replace for the bees the honey during the winter season. In normal circumstances, during winter the bees feed on the honey they collect during summer, but if the honey gets removed from the bee-hives, it must be replaced by something else, which would keep the bees alive during the long winter season. Usually, the bees are running outside of their bee-hives up till the month of October. After that, they stay inside and feed on the sweet syrop the honey-bee farmer has palced in the bee-hive.

As we talked with the honey-bee farmer, we learned another interesting fact about the bees. It turns out that during the winter season, when the bees don't go outside from their bee-hives, they don't pass any... well... potty. Allah (swt) has created them in such a way that potty stays inside their bellies from October till March, which is the time, when they first come out of their bee-hives, Subhanallah!

As we watched the bees muching away on the pears, a hungry butterfly also joined the scene! Well, if the nectar of flowers is no longer available, then even the butterflies resort to fruits. :)

Honey-Bee Farming - Part 2

On another sunny day, when our garden neighbours were again working with their honey-bees, we asked them to tell us more about the work they are doing. This time, we had the chance to go closer to the open bee-hives and see, how the wodden frames, in which bees build the honey-combs and collect the honey, are placed inside the bee-hive.

In these pictures, you can see the one frame taken out from the bee-hive. The honey-combs in it are already sealed by the bees, which means that they have completed the work and this frame is 'ready' for taking out of the bee-hive. There are no bees on the frame, because uncle Valters has scared them away with that black smoke equipment he's holding in his hand.

The black smoke-box also has its own story to tell. The smoke in it comes from special burning material placed into it - the kind that the bees don't like. You can see the plastic bag of this special material in the picture. The black smoke-box has a hand-fan attached to it, with the help of which uncle Valters blows the smoke out of the box.

When the sealed honey-combs are successfully removed from the bee-hives, the bee-farmers get another set of equipment ready for removing the honey from the honey-combs. First of all, they use this special brush with iron teeth (the one with the red handle in the picture) for removing the seals from the honey combs. The seals are collected in a separate box, becoming a favourite treat of kids, who chew them to suck out of them the remains of honey.

When the seals are removed, they place the frames of honey-combs in a special round barrel-type of machine with the help of which the liquid honey gets removed from the frames. In the picture you can see that one frame is put along the side of this barrel. The barrel has the capacity of four frames alltogether.

In one of the pictures, Uzair is turning the handle, which is located at the side of the barrel. As Uzair turns the handle, the barrel starts spinning around, as a result of what the honey from the frames gets thrown out against the edges of the barrel and drips down to the bottom of it. If you turn the barrel long enough, all the honey will be thrown out of the frames (thanks to the centrifugal force), leaving the honey-combs completely empty.

Now, the barrel itself has a very special bottom part. It has a cone-like shape, which helps to direct and collect the honey to the very bottom of it. On the outer side of the barrel bottom, there is a small tap, through which the bee-farmers fill the liquid honey into containers, which have special steel nets on them for catching any remaining bits of honey-combs that might still be swimming in the honey. Thus, going through such procedure, the honey-bee farmers get clear and tasty liquid, which, as Allah (swt) says in the Quran, has in it healing for so many diseases. :)

A REAL honey-bee farm!

Vecmamma's (our grandmother's) neighbours in the garden have a number of bee-hives in their garden and are actively involved in honey-bee farming. Mom told us that they used to do this ever since she can remember. She told us about her earliest childhood memories of running around in the garden barefoot and stepping on a bee, which stung her foot.

Neighbouring lady was kind enough to pose for a picture of her honey-bee farming equipment. She is wearing a hat with broad edges, from which hangs down a net, covering her entire head from back and front. When she goes to check the bees, she has to wear long and heavy clothing, so that the bees don't get any place for reaching her skin and stinging her. In this photo, she is not wearing gloves, which also is part of her 'equipment'.

The bees of our neighbours live in these wodden bee-hives. The top of the wodden box can be removed, so that the bee-farmers can check the situation of the honey inside the bee-hive. Bees come out from their house through a little slot-type of opening right at the top of the little 'slide' attached to the bee-hive. The active working part of the day for the bees is during bright sunlight. You cannot see them running in the mornings and in the evenings. Bees are very hard-wroking insects! They spend all day flying from flower to flower and never get tired! In Latvian, there is even an expression, which people say, if somebody is working hard: "You are hard-working like a bee!"

We were lucky to observe from the distance, how our neighbours were checking the honey in the bee-hives to see, if it is 'ripe' enough for taking out. How do they know, if the honey is ripe? It turns out that the bees seal the honey-combs, when they are full of honey. In the below pictures, you can see that they have removed the tops of the bee-hives and are lifting out from the inside there wodden frames, in which bees build their honey-combs. Bees are not very happy about the intruders, of course, so the bee-farmers have with them a device, which produces smoke, for scaring away the bees, if necessary. If you look closely enough, you will see this black device attached to the side of the bee-hive and some smoke coming out of it.

Our vecmamma is always among the first to taste the first honey of the year! This time, we had the chance to taste it with her. It was so thick and so very delicious! We just kept putting our little spoons under the flowing honey again and again!


Allah (swt) says in the Quran: "And the lord inspired the bee, saying: Take your habitations in the mountains and in the trees and in what they erect. Then, eat of all fruits and follow the ways of your Lord made easy (for you)'. There comes forth from their bellies a drink of varying colour wherein is healing for men. Verily in this is indeed a sign for people who think." (16:68-69)