Our 4th of July celebration included harvesting honey from our bee hives. We do this by minimally smoking the bees, prying off the top and inner lids, and then removing the honey supers.
(Beekeepers use smoke to keep bees calm during hive inspections. When bees sense danger, they release an alarm pheromone called isopentyl acetate from a gland near their stingers..... Smoking a beehive masks this pheromone, allowing beekeepers to safely perform a hive inspection or harvest honey.)
Then we load the heavy boxes, that are full of sweet goodness, on a tractor, and bring them to our garage. There are always a few bees that end up in our garage too, just to make things more exciting!
The honey is carefully extracted, filtered (to remove any debris) and bottled into glass jars. No heating, or pasteurizing, just pure raw honey!
Swirl a spoonful in your tea or drizzle over warm biscuits. Delicious!