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Last Updated: Aug 20, 2010 - 10:25 AM |
Keith and Linda Nielsen are from Polk, NE and have been working together in an interesting business/hobby for the last five years. The Nielsens own and operate Poverty Ridge Apiary. They raise about 600 pounds of honey a year and sell it during the summer at farmer’s markets in Stromsburg, Central City and Grand Island.
Keith has been the Ag. Teacher at High Plains for the last eight years. He attended an Ag. Teacher workshop back in 2005 that included a session on bee keeping and how it could be incorporated into ag. study curriculum. The workshop helped to rekindle what had been an interest of Keith’s since he was fourteen years old. When he was a teenager, living on the family farm, he was part of a crew that tore down an old house. They discovered rather quickly that the interior walls were full of bees and an enormous honey comb. Keith said, “we got our share of stings that day, because we weren’t expecting them to be there.”
From that point on, Keith always kept an interest into what could be the possibility to start raising his own bees. Then in 2005 he and Linda decided to get into the business. “It’s like a bug that bites you and never goes away.”
Their first colony of bees came from Auburn, Ne. In 2006 they went to Delaware to attend the Eastern Agricultural Society meeting to get more information and equipment. They also added significantly to their bee population. From that point there was no looking back. They raised 17 pounds of honey their first year. Now, five years later they are approaching the 600 pound level and still growing.
Bees normally start to work their way into full production as the weather begins to turn warmer in April. In order to start a new colony the bee keeper needs to have a brood box, called a “deep” by those in the business. Sugar water is mixed together in a one to one ratio and placed in the box to give the bees the necessary nutrients to begin the production process. The queen stays in the brood box and lays eggs over the span of her entire life, usually about two to three years. The worker bees gather pollen and nectar, guard the hive, clean the box and tend to the larvae. Drones mate with the queen and then are killed by the queen.
Once the colony has been established and is in full production the bee keeper adds a smaller box on top of the brood box. The smaller box is called a “super” or a surplus box. The super is filled with eight to ten frames about the size of a small furnace filter. Each frame is designed to make a perfect environment for the bees to build honey comb. It takes the bees a couple of months to fill up a super with honey, depending on the time of year and the accessibility to nectar sources. Bees will travel up to seven miles to collect nectar for one hive.
The extraction process is where the bee keeper gets to put his fortitude to the test. Protective clothing and gear that covers the bee keeper’s head and arms is a good idea. A smoker is another piece of essential equipment during the process. Smoke calms bees down. The smoker Keith used, had a piece of smoldering burlap inside. He used the smoker to cover his upper body and especially his hands before he started taking out the frames. He also sprayed the box before opening it up. Smoke prevents the bees from communicating with a pheromone that enables them to coordinate their stinging efforts if they feel threatened.
Keith would pull each frame out of the super and check to see how full of honey it was, he likes them to be at least 85 percent. He then would use a blower to blow off any bees that were still attached to the frame. He collects the frames and then brings them to his house where he uses special equipment for the extraction process.
Keith takes each frame and puts them in a holder above a plastic tank for the uncapping process. when the bees make the honey they cap each cell with wax to store and preserve the honey. To remove the wax, the bee keeper takes an uncapping plane, which is a heated scraping device, and gently scrapes off the layer of wax that covers the pure honey underneath. The wax surface falls into the plastic tank.
Once all the wax has been removed, the honey is ready to be extracted out of the frame. The frames are placed into a round metal tank that has brackets to hold four at a time. A handle at the top of the cylinder is turned and centrifugal force takes the honey from the frame and puts it into the bottom of the tank. From that point it’s on to the packaging process. Keith summed up the operation by saying “it’s always sticky around here.”
The Nielsens have received some industry honors recently, Keith was voted Nebraska Beekeeper of the Year in 2008 by the Nebraska Beekeepers Association. Keith also serves as the editor of the Nebraska Beeline and he is the Nebraska Youth Program Director in the Nebraska Beekeepers Association.
The Nielsen’s also make lip balm, soaps and cuticle cream with their honey. Linda gets quality help from 6 year old grandson, Hunter, when she sells the honey at the Farmer’s Markets. So the family business will be in good hands for generations to come.
To learn more about the Nielsens and their Apiary go to www.povertyridgeapiary.com. Or, stop by and say hi when you see them behind their table at the Farmer’s Market.
© Copyright 2010 by polkcountynewspaper.com
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