Honey harvest 2022

This year's hive was in the Mission District of San Francisco. Here's what it took to get that sweet, sweet honey into that jar you're holding.

Setting up the hive (May)

We insufficiently treated for mites last year causing our hive to perish 😭 so we needed to establish a new hive this year and do better by our bees. We received ~10,000 worker bees and one queen from the SFBA, which we placed in a new hive on a rooftop in the Mission.

Ryan with the new bees

Luke with the hive boxes

Just literally dumping the bees into the hive

The established hive

Honey harvest (August)

Our new bees got to work right away and in just a few months they produced enough honey to harvest. The harvesting process is rough on the bees (we are stealing their hard work and prized possession!) but we took a conservative amount of honey, leaving them plenty for the winter. Still, we harvested 20 pounds!

Bees "bearding" on the hive (it was hot)

Collecting honey frames

Smoking the bees to get them disoriented / "calm"

A honey frame covered with bees

Zack showing off a fully capped honey frame

De-capping the frames

Harvesting the honey

This year's harvest... 9 giant jars!

"Cleanup"

Moving the hive (October)

We were generously offered space on a rooftop this year. But in September the owner of the building expressed concern about the bees—he was going to be a dad and he was worried about their proximity to his newborn child. While we don't think the hive would have been an issue, we agreed to move the bees to a new location in Bernal Heights. Moving an 80lb, 30,000+ bee hive is no small feat. Our journey below:

The Bee Team, showing up for work

Getting suited up

Preparing the hive for lowering

"How to move a beehive"

Loading the hive for transport

Moving the hive to its new location

Re-installing the honey super

Post-move success brunch!

Wintering

Our bees are thriving at their new location in Bernal Heights, yay! We've treated them for mites and they look healthy entering the winter. We hope they make it and that we can begin a new chapter next year. Stay tuned.