Three Burlington beekeepers teamed up over the weekend of August 24-25th to harvest nearly 250 pounds of honey from their respective apiaries.
For Patricia Ferreira (of Three Berry Bees), Lisa Schnell (of EnglesBees), and Janet Bellavance (of BellaBees), it was the first time each had ever done their own extracting. A work colleague of Schnell's loaned the trio a hand-crank unit which they assembled in Schnell's garage that also served as their two-day honey depot.
They convened at 8am Saturday morning and began uncapping sixty-six frames. Despite touch and go weather conditions over the summer, both Ferreira and Schnell had record harvests.
Ferreira's two Old North End urban colonies produced 110 pounds while Schnell's single south end colony had a bumper 80 pounds. Even Bellavance, who only began beekeeping in April, had a harvest of at least 25 pounds.