Mmmmm, honey!!

I just had a spoonful of 17A honey from Virt's Hives. Mmmmmmm... it reminds me of the honey I had as a kid, when we kept our own bees. What a mess it was to harvest! I wonder if the process has changed much? My mother used to slice the caps off the combs, then quickly drop them into a hand-cranked centrifuge device. We turned the handle, and honey came out of the spigot at the bottom where we caught it in jars. It tended to get everywhere, and I seem to remember my mother newspapering the entire kitchen.
One of the reasons I like living out here is the proximity to people who are raising food and selling it directly, often as a way to provide their own and offset the cost a bit or just because not too many families can consume an entire steer in one year. I know without a bit of doubt exactly how that food was produced, and what isn't in it, and it passes through very few hands before it gets to me. It isn't the least bit anonymous, and there's no marketing. Just "Hi, our steers are ready to go, do you want a quarter or half this year?"
I see the propietor of Virt's Hives once a year at a local craft show. I need to find his contact information and arrange to get all our honey from him. One of the risks of buying commercial honey is the presence of American Foulbrood, which won't hurt us but will kill wild bees if they take any of the honey back to their hives. And honeybees don't need anything else doing them in.
I can't remember what's in 17A (the proprietor rattled off lists of flowering plants for every code on a jar lid, he knew them all) but apparently many people don't like it. I love it.
When you think about it, honeybees are completely amazing. They make this stuff that is sweet and tasty and requires no processing, doesn't spoil, and they make extra so we can have some. Plus they help flowers procreate. What sort of miracle is that?

-P