Last week I went home. And by home, I mean that place where I grew up with my brothers, parents, and quite a few animals of various species. The animal population has decreased significantly since I was home for a visit last. They are down to two cats, one dog, and five ducks.

As long as we are talking about ducks, let me mention that ducks are stupid. I mean, really, really dumb. Let me give you an example. I threw a green bean at them. They were so terrified of that bloody bean that they plastered themselves to the back wall of their little house for hours. Later, my mom put out a tray of lettuce, and one duck was so terrified, it got trapped between the lettuce and their swimming pool, unable to get to the safety of its duck house.

Dumb. And hilarious.

But what I was really home for were bees. Bees. Beekeeping. Honey. The Honey Harvest Open House, to be precise. Each year, my parents and I host an event where the community can come over to our house, watch us extract honey from the hives, and learn about beekeeping, honey, wasps, and more. We have had a very positive response, and it's a lot of fun to do.

In preparation, we spent two days cleaning and prepping the bees. My dad and I had a lot of fun wandering around with bees on sticks.

This was part of a dry swarm that had been sitting in a tree for a few days.

This is my dad pulling some frames out to look for queens. On this frame, the bees have built some very interesting-looking comb.

Of course, extracting honey is never as simple as you expect it to be. So while we were preparing, we ran across three separate swarms, all of which were dry, meaning they'd been out of the hive for a couple of days and had started to build comb. One was 20 feet up in a tree, and we decided it was too difficult to get to. The others were low to the ground, so we captured them, just to give them a chance over the winter.

This is us putting the swarm in a hive.

Once we took care of the swarms, though, we were able to grab a few supers of honey and cart them down to the honey room. Then, we let the event commence!

I, being a volunteer, was allowed to sell my books at this event. So that was fun, too. Plus I get to see people I knew a long time ago, which is also fun, and family.

Basically, my dad did live bee presentations and my mom sold stuff while I extracted the honey from the hives. I wish there were two of me. That would have made the whole day a million times easier. But we had friends helping out this time, and it was a whopping success.

And there you have it: one particular day in the life of Ariele Sieling the 1st, author.

Here is a wonderful gallery of pictures from the day:

Honey Buckets

These are the buckets we use to store honey. The ones in the picture are all empty and have been cleaned and stored.

Honey on Honey Stand

We sell honey on our honey stand year round. It's always so pretty!

The Field

I love our field in the fall. It's gorgeous, with all sorts of wild flowers. Of course, most people are pretty allergic to ragweed, so not everyone appreciates it quite as much as me. :)

The House

This is the house. We hosted most of the event on the right-hand side of the road, in the driveway near the barn.

A Swarm of Honey Bees

This is a dry swarm that dad and I caught the day before the event. It is unlikely that it will survive the winter, but we gave it a chance!

Ariele with a Swarm

This is me sitting next to one of the dry swarms. There were actually three around the bee yard, but one of them was way too difficult to catch, so we only snatched up 2.

In A Hive

This is dad working in a hive. We were taking the top boxes (supers) to remove the honey from, but left the lower ones so they would have food for the winter.

Bees Are Cool

This is just a cool picture of the little ladies.

The Apiary

This is a picture of the bees, with the apiary in the background.

Ariele with A Smoker

This is me. Look, I'm a smoker now! Just kidding. We use the smoke from the bees to calm the bees down when we start digging through their homes. Humans = the biggest predator.

A Frame

This is a frame where bees use comb to lay eggs and store honey.

Jerusalem Artichokes

These are Jerusalem Artichokes which grow to be 9 feet tall or taller. They're gorgeous.

Open House Sign

This is the sign we pounded into the ground in front of the barn.

Observation Hive

Dad put some bees in an observation hive so people could get up close and friendly with the bees.

The Tent

We set up a tent to provide shade for Mom and our friends who were selling products and providing free samples of cool recipes you can make with honey.

Decapping

This is me, decapping. I took the cappings off of the comb so we could get the honey out from inside.

Cappings

This is where we put the cappings after taking them off the frames. Then we let the honey drain out into a bucket and strain it. Later we use the wax for candles.

Live Bee Demonstration

Dad gave two live bee demonstrations, where he pulled frames out of a hive and answered questions about beekeeping.

Beeswax Candles

Mom makes candles out of the beeswax, in the shape of things like light bulbs, pumpkins, skeps, and Daleks (Doctor Who reference, everyone!).

The Honey Room

This is the room where we extract the honey. We have two big extractors and a bunch of other helpful equipment. It gets very sticky in here.

Sunrise

This is the sunrise in NY on my way home the next morning. I will say, NY has beautiful skies.

And as you saw in the first video, I do tend to wander around barefoot or in flipflops. So in case you have ever wondered what feet look like covered with honey and dirt, I will leave you with this:

Long story short: it's not pretty. :)

But, if you happen to be anywhere near Bath, NY next year, come to the Honey Harvest Open House, where you will find bees, honey, and local authors. :)