Bee Keeping in the Okanagan

The owners of Lamont Pure Honey live a few km from the place I stay in the Okanagan. I got to tag along with Claudette Lamont on her bee ventures! It all appeared a simple project until I spent time in the beekeeper suit all day checking up on the bees at over 30C temps.

Impressed with the strength and endurance needed to be a bee-keeper. Claudette is 65 years old and is super strong to lug the honey laden boxes around.

In the beekeeper suit... found the bees friendly and not attacking.

Lovely echinacea fields that the hives are near

Claudette, prepping the smoker

Forager bees bringing home the honey!

Claudette, checking on the work in progress in the awesome scenery

Happy to see the whole process

Blowing out the bees of a honey laden tray. Their job is complete and this keeps them  back with their hive.

HONEY! Check out the height of the honeycomb. Tray weighs over 40 lbs

Using traditional extraction techniques, Claudette removes the cover beeswax layer to expose the honey. Eain then puts the tray into the huge centrifuge machine. Meanwhile, the odd bee that snuck in with the tray is hovering in the Honey Hut. They are basically homeless as it is unlikely any other hive will accept them.

The truly RAW honey after the honey laden trays have been spun about

Borage flowers are planned for next years honey bees. Borage flowers bloom late into the season providing opportunity for the foraging bees. The honey produced from borage flowers is exquisite with a high viscosity like oil.