Mentor Dennis Hertzog's account of July 2025 honey extraction (see below for one of his mentees' perspectives)

Extraction day must be the SBA Young Beekeeper's favorite bee-event during summer. Only having rain until mid-July made things tough. Initiated by one of my stellar YB moms (Thank you J), things miraculously fell into place!! (Holy Bee-man)

My youngest mentee, Auna and my oldest very successful Young Beekeeper, Gracie plus families came on the 12th. Jada (25' HS grad soon to be U MD student) and her family worked with me on the 13th. Unfortunately, Lina, (honey ravenous sister) had to work and my other young beekeepers were mostly traveling. So instead of the usual circus, we just had a two-day party!!

5 apiaries:
Auna brought her frames, Jada and I pulled frames from two of my apiaries as well as her own. And Gracie's father (thx Todd!!) spent two good hours with me pulling frames from their property (my third apiary). We extracted 10 full supers!! These young beekeepers and their families did everything from identifying which frames to pull, *passively pulling, repacking and transporting honey frames, using a hot uncapping knife, loading and running my 9-frame extractor, bucketing, bottling and setting supers/equipment outside to be robbed. Whoo!!

*Passive pulling, my technique includes smoking the bees downward, simply inserting a recycled political sign between brood and supers (bees can’t boil up), pulling individual frames, shaking/brushing off remaining bees and repacking for transport… no leaf blower or fume board, etc. I don’t recall that we even smoked bottom entrances. The bees were generally quite calm.

On a personal note… I cannot be more pleased watching these students mature and observe first hand their many accomplishments!!

Auna, young beekeeper grantee

Auna's recounting of the summer honey extraction

Recently, I partook in honey extraction at Dennis Hertzog's house on the 12th. I couldn't attend July 13th, however, I still had a blast processing several supers by both uncapping and learning to run the extractor.

This year I also brought some frames from my hive and compared them to the honey extracted from the other apiaries. Mine tasted almost fruity (I compared it to grapes), and had a lighter color in comparison. I didn't have a full super because the honey bees also had to build out the comb, but I extracted around eighteen pounds.

Throughout this year, I was also able to help educate more elementary schoolers about beekeeping through Darlington Elementary School's Ag Day. Through which I spoke to all grade levels about varroa mites and the processes needed to put honey on the shelves.

I strive to continue pursuing knowledge about honey bees and sharing my findings with others. This year was my first hive split, and hopefully, I will continue to expand my apiary in the future.

I would like to thank the SBA for providing me with this amazing opportunity, and Dennis Hertzog, my mentor, for continuing to be my guide throughout this journey. I am always learning something new, and have made many accomplishments under his guidance.