Roasted Honey Mead - AWESOME!

Christmas Day 2016, we tasted my first mead... and it was bad. So while I am an amateur (for now) I am determined to get it right.

"The secrete to doing anything is believing that you can do it," - Bob Ross.

If you have followed any of my Mead blogs, then you know that this year I made all of my mead with roasted honey (or the honey that is rendered after I heat my wax to 160͒F). It worked GREAT!

In two previous blog entries: Mead: Mastering the Basics & Beetles, Chickens, and Mead, I explained my process and mead recipes. However, I failed to report what happened when I bottled it.

On the first racking, it tasted a little dry, so I back sweetened one bottle and left the other as is. Once again, in the words of Bob Ross, "We don't make mistakes. We just make happy accidents." So by back sweetening I inadvertently made Campaign - thankfully the bottle didn't blow up.

So at the five month aging marker, on Christmas Day 2017, we tasted it. The Campaign (or sparkling mead) was very sweet with 12% alcohol and had wonderfully delightful bubbles that seemed to go on forever. We didn't let it breathe at all, yet it was delicious with no odd tastes from the roasted mead.

The second bottle, I let breathe for exactly 20 minutes. It too was delicious. Still a little sweeter than I would have normally drank but I think a lot of people would have enjoyed this as a desert wine. It had 8% alcohol.

I am so excited and I am invigorated by the prospect of mastering the craft as I progress.

On a separate note: after two years of blogging, I finally got my first comment:

toptan bal fiyatları 
koyu renk petek bal 
süzme çiçek balının faydaları
çam balı teneke fiyatları
petek balın rengi nasıl olmalı

I like to think it says:
I love America
I love your blog
You are hilarious
I look forward 
to your next adventure

Happy New Year to All!

Linda Passed Away

"A year from now you may wish you had started today," Karen Lamb

I have been overwhelmed as of late. I can't put my finger on the exact cause of this feeling but it is there just the same and it has been crushing my productivity.

Nonetheless, Monday (12/4/17) I finally managed to winterize my hives. It went very well despite working in a light misty rain. However, it was warm and the bees were agreeable.

I did not merge hives B.1.1 and VSH as planned. I made all the preparations - I reduced B.1.1 to one single super and placed paper over it. However, when I opened the VSH hive it was full of both bees and beetles.

B.1.1 is small and should make it through the winter but I doubted it could survive another beetle attack. So I closed up both hives and left them separated.

Only time will tell if this was the right decision.

On a personal note: My mother-in-law past away on Tuesday (12/5/17). She has been sick for years with a mental condition that mimics dementia and over the past couple of years she had required full-time care. The task was divided amongst my mother, nephew, daughter, son, paid sitters, me, and my wife (the order of those names gives the magnitude of contribution with about 90% of it falling on me and my wife).

It has been exhausting. Her passing feels like a blessing but saying that feels selfish and cold. My wife has now lost both of her parents in the past 18 months and that breaks my heart for her. Just the same, I am sure that the reduced stress of caring for her mom will actually make her life infinitely better - once she has finished grieving of course.

I don't know if my feelings of being overwhelmed are significantly linked to my mother-in-law or if I am just lazy. The weeks to come will answer that question. Either way, 2017 is coming to an end and Spring will be here before you know it.

I have two goals for next year: 100 hives and mastering queen rearing. I think I'll make a chart to hang in the shop and mark off each hive as I build it - then do the same in the spring and mark them off as I fill them with bees.

BTW: My chickens started laying eggs the day before Thanksgiving and I am getting an egg every day now.