Dear Bee-folk,

The press yesterday was a challenge. We began at 2 pm, and it became a mess as bees swarmed our press and work area.

We retreated for the afternoon, and reconvened at 7:30 thinking the bees would be heading home at dusk. However, they were were worse, with thousands of workers from the nearby hives swarming the fresh honey.

Erik hosed many of them off. The carport where we had been working was littered with sacrificed bees.

We moved our worksite to Erik & Ann's garage, and finished by lamplight, but not without additional stings to everyone. We were able to brush many bees off and most of those flew home, but several dozen stuck (sometimes literally) around making the work difficult.

Some do's and don't's, in no particular order, which you may add to or modify.

DO:
- Have plenty of food grade buckets with lids.
- Work in the cool of the day, preferably indoors. Or after dark outside.
- Have adequate water and light, if working outdoors.
- Have all combs in tubs, not plastic bags.
- Clean comb and cut it from bars before the press date.
- Have enough filters and pails so that a simultaneous filtering can be carried on.
- Wear or have ready protective clothing, including gloves, headgear, foot covering.
- Have Benadryl and Epi-Pen nearby.
- Work with a great group of fellow bee-learners, and an attitude of adventure.

The Do's are the sock turned right side out, the Don't's are the opposite! Read the above as such.

DON'T
- Be a bee spectator--you might get stung.
- Expose any honey or comb to the air before pressing. Bees have an excellent sense of smell and will find it.

The best part was that we worked together, accomplished separate tasks as if intuitively, and showed grace and humor in a situation that had gotten out of hand. We were indeed a co-op, even in the dumb things we did!

Please add your thoughts, feelings, zingers!

Erik