evasive_chimpanzee comments on This goes all the way to the top

[–] evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago (6 children)

From what I understand, they dont try to build syrup from scratch, it's more that they cut the real thing with sugar and water. According to wikipedia, maple syrup is basically 2/3rds sugar and 1/3rd water, with about 1% "other".

If you added the right proportion of sugar and water to real stuff in a 50:50 ratio, I'd have a really hard time distinguishing that from the natural variation in taste strength.

Luckily I have a steady supply from people I trust. I can't get enough of the stuff made over a wood fire.

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[–] hector@lemmy.today 1 point 8 months ago (5 children)

I make maple wine from it too, especially off tasting syrup, and also from the washings of it, when I bottle it all the goop on the sides of the containers, I wash it all into a mix and throw yeast and nutrient in there, sometimes spruce or white pine needles, yarrow, blackberry roosts, burdock root. None of which are that great, the spruce and white pine are ok. Nettle was good too, and a substitute for nutrient.

But that is really interesting in the types of tastes you can get from it, it's very complex, but depending on the yeast, and if wild yeasts get in there. Then the vinegar mother gets in there if you aren't careful, I've so much vinegar, way more than I can use I'm pickling entire 5 gallon buckets of vegetables with it.

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[–] evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago (4 children)

Ever do an acerglyn (maple/honey)?

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[–] hector@lemmy.today 2 points 8 months ago (3 children)

No, the word looks familiar but I never caught what it is. I really want to get bees but can't afford it.

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[–] evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world 1 point 8 months ago (2 children)

"Acer" is the genus name for maples.

The way most beekeepers make money is not selling honey (or wax). The biggest money makers are actually selling bees (in a package, nucleus hive, or full hive), or selling queens (genetics of a queen dictate the temperament of the hive). This is not including the huge commercial beekeepers who make their money off of pollination contracts.

This means that beekeepers are incentivized to get new people into the hobby, so beekeeping is very apprenticeship focused. Local clubs can put you in contact with someone while will be happy to show you the ropes (and give you a bunch of honey in exchange for the help).

To get started learning, all you really need is a veil and gloves (about $50 new total), but you may be able to get used gear for way cheaper. When you start doing hive inspections on your own, you'll need a hive tool, smoker, and probably a bee brush (also about $50 total new).

If you want to get your own hives, the major costs are the bees themselves (which are way cheaper to buy through a club, like ~$100 last time i checked), and the boxes themselves, which can run a couple hundred for a hive. If you live somewhere with bears and/or skunks, you'll want an electric fence, too. Usually, it's better to have 2 hives, too, because if a hive dies in the winter, you can split the other hive and you are barely worse off.

If you are handy and have the tools, you can build your own hives to save money. Also, you can capture wild bee swarms by leaving swarm traps around during the right time of the year.

Lastly, there is specialized gear for harvesting honey, but usually you borrow it from a club.

Tl;dr, you can go all in to start by yourself for like $700, but you can get started as an apprentice for like $50 (or honestly just borrowing gear for free).

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[–] hector@lemmy.today 1 point 8 months ago (1 child)

Those are good tips thanks I have tried to find hives and they were like $200 each and hard to find not nearby, maybe I will try those clubs. I do have Bears here, I actually got 10 chickens last spring about this time and by Midsummer they were all dead from a bear that smashed my silly defenses.

I did find a hive once and harvested it, took about 2/3 of the honey then closed it back up so the bees would be all right and it was in early summer so they would have been fine recovering. Only got stung once with no gear and that was my fault it got stuck in the honey and I physically touched it on the Stinger. But if there are Africanized all bets are off. I do not think they are Africanized this far north at the 45th parallel though I recall something about that being a sothern problem.

Mostly all forest, but there is large field areas although not all that many flowers a few, should be able to support some bees, I don't know about the bear.

Anyway I wanted to hook up with some of the farmers in the area for some other schemes I had, and although I am in the forest and Park area the next County over has a lot of agriculture just 15 miles off maybe, I bet you I could find some beekeepers there if I had an in with them. I managed to harvest probably hundreds of pounds of apples off of trees on the side of the road that have been rotting on the trees every year I have seen them.

Wanted to find somebody with some cows and or pigs that are raised in the old fashion of letting them wander around the farm and not in concentration camps, and buy an entire animal, Butcher it, and then sell it in the city, like I have heard of people doing how shares. If you bought an entire cow worth of beef at the grocery store it would cost like as much money as a car. It is a great deal to buy a quarter or an eighth of a cow even with the person making the deal doubling the price from purchase after butchering and delivering.

It is harm reduction from factory farms too. Will not qualify for sainthood but still if we can cut out factory farms that would be a huge plus. Anyway thanks again for the tips.

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[–] evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

It's pretty crazy how different two hives can behave, even right next to each other. You can have one that gets really angry while the other is completely calm. One thing to keep in mind is that people assume bees need flowers, but depending on where they live, some bees get the large majority of their nectar/pollen from trees. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Northern_American_nectar_sources_for_honey_bees

One the pig/cow thing, that is definitely something people do. Pigs are really good at packing on weight, but feed costs money. They eat most things humans do, so you can feed them all sorts of kitchen scraps, wormy apples, or whatever you can get your hands on.

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