The Root Farm is home to tens of thousands of honeybees who spend the spring, summer, and fall months collecting pollen and nectar to produce honey. This honey is a food source for the bees during colder seasons, but it can also be enjoyed in a variety of ways by people, too.
Nine to ten “frames” sit inside of one “super”, with each frame holding honeycomb that was carefully crafted by the bees. After bees fill the honeycomb with pollen and nectar , they then create wax to seal the honey in place for storage. When the frames are full and almost 100% capped with wax, The Root Farm harvests a portion of the honey to sell at the farm and in the community. Root Farm employees, program participants and volunteers carefully remove the honey-filled frames, making sure to leave enough behind for the bees to feast on during the winter months.
We were able to document one of these extractions to better understand all of the time and hard work that goes into creating honey.
After the frames have been collected, a heated knife is used to break open the wax coating, exposing the delicious honey inside.
This wax is collected for future use, and the now unsealed frames are loaded into a motor-driven extractor. The extractor uses centrifugal force to spin out the honey from the frames, up to 18 at once. An area at the bottom of the extractor collects the honey which is then drained and filtered through a valve, saving any leftover wax for other uses such as candles, etc.
What’s left is the delicious honey you see for sale at The Root Farm!