Recently I wrote a short blog article about Presents to give a Beekeeper and in that piece I wrote a small section about beekeeping books I would recommend. Though I had only received it a few days previously, an excellent beekeeping book review in the BBKA news and my initial impressions as I felt it and looked through it, meant that it had to be included in my recommendations for great books for beekeepers.
As with other Beekeeping Book Reviews let me just give you the fundamentals of this book. It is written by a passionate beekeeper and professional photographer, David Wootton. You can find his Photography website here. Therefore, as you can imagine being a photographer, the images throughout this 146 page book are by far the best photos you will see in a Beekeeping Book.In fact, the images throughout this beekeeping book review have been reproduced with David’s permission so I hope you like them. Read the rest of this entry »
So this weekend Jo and I have been celebrating our 5th Wedding anniversary and what fun we have had. The highlight was last night visiting Winter Wonderland in London’s Hyde Park. If you want to know a little bit more about it you can see the website here but basically it is just a great collection of Christmas stalls and an amazing collection of rides. This go from tea cup rides to full on rollercoasters and giant wheels. It was really great fun.
Jo and I were going around high for two reasons. Firstly, we calculated this was only our 5th time away from the children in 14 months and though we love them with all our heart, it is sometimes nice to simply be the two of us. Secondly there was mulled wine stores everywhere and we simply couldn’t resist, especially as it was a little chilly out last night. The mulled wine certainly warmed the cockles!
Anyway, we found the most amazing stall. Now let me tell you, this “fair” had a distinctly German feel to it with almost all the rides with German text all over them but imagine my surprise as we walked through all the stalls selling toys, Christmas gifts and other random Christmasy things, to see a stall selling wax candles honey and…..mead. I nearly fainted and slightly tipsy on mulled wine Jo and I had to take a look.
It was fantastic. The candles were mostly Christmas themed, the variation of honey amazing (Lime Tree honey, Acacia honey, Heather honey and many more) and then there was the mead. Though there was ordinary mead there were countless other mixtures to try out. The owner (pretty obviously having had a few too many of his own samples!) was German and a lovely guy. It turns out that he was from a family run company in Germany who run over 500 hives (apparently there are about 10 families who run this many and there are two others that run more) who make everything to do with honey. It was great.
Anyway, we left slightly more tipsy than we arrived having sampled most of the mead. We ended up buying a bottle of the mead mixed with cherry (not sure if trying it again sober it will have the same appeal!) but we left happy bunnies and I hope our paths cross again with this gentleman as he was lovely. I hope you like the pictures below.
It is that time of year again and yesterday my wife and I put up the Christmas Tree and decorations what a fabulous time of year. We have just been to Winter Wonderland and seen beekeeping stalls over there and so that has been my inspiration! It again got me thinking about what gifts you could buy a Beekeeper. Having looked around there seems so many different ideas that I felt I had to write a small blog about it. Therefore here are my ideas for beekeeping gifts this Christmas:Read the rest of this entry »
………From A to Bee. It was a fascinating contest and the last day was pretty hectic with votes flying in and the lead changing almost every hour. I do feel for Rob, a great friend of mine, who I know was pulling out all the stops today trying to edge it but Henrik won out in the end. A deserved winner who now gets bragging rights next year for naming the title of a book.
I would like to personally thank everyone who offered titles; there were well over 200 suggestions. I would also like to thank everyone who voted as well. There were nearly 500 votes which was way over my initial expectations. I hope you all enjoyed it.
Below is the actual result but once again, a big thank you. The book will be out in the middle of next year and hopefully it will do okay.
Here are the top 5 titles as selected by my publishers. You now have until the last second of the month (23.59.59 on Wednesday GMT!) to get your votes in!!! Here is the short list below and your opportunity to vote!!
The premise of the book will be my first year of beekeeping and is a blow by blow account of how I became a beekeeper in search of one, just one jar of honey. There will be a subtitle to the book which is “My Adventurous First Year as a Beginner Beekeeper”
Let me know your thoughts! Sorry if your title didn’t make it……..but thank you so much for entering into the spirit of things. I have really enjoyed everyone’s entries.
ONCE YOU HAVE VOTED YOU CAN SEE THE RESULTS SO FAR. ENJOY EVERYBODY……
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As some of you may know I wrote a little book during my first year as a beekeeper. It was all about my efforts to get just one jar of honey and my journey learning all about bees. I had a lovely time in that first year and wanted to tell everyone about it. I was very lucky to have been picked up by the Summersdale Publishing Company who will be publishing the book next year. However, we are all deliberating on the final title and we thought we would have some fun and open it out to everyone else to make the decision.
Therefore, put your entries in the comments box below(the more entries the merrier!); the team at Summersdale will then pick their top 5 and we will then put it to the public vote to see who gets to name the title. There are some amazing prices (!)……and I may just chuck in a jar of next years honey to add to the prize fund.
Now, ordinerily I wouldn’t use this page to essentially “promote” a company but on this occasion I shall make an exception as I think it is a great concept. I met a gentleman by the name of Dale Gibson at the London Honey Show earlier this year; in fact his honey won one of the awards that I was asked to give out. The award was for the “Best Restaurant Honey“.
I wanted to know a little bit more about this as I am genuinely interested in how people and companies in London are really pushing beekeeping. Sadly I couldn’t really talk to Dale at the awards but made contact afterwards. Interestingly his hives are 150m away from the restaurant who seem to be making a push for everything being local. Anyway, let me tell you a little bit more about the restaurant and their menu. Read the rest of this entry »
I often say that it would take a lot to suggest to anyone that I am the fountain of all knowledge when it comes to beekeeping but I say that I am the World’s leading expert at being a beginner. Therefore I thought I would write a small piece for all your potential beekeepers out there who maybe considering starting to keep bees next year.
What exactly do you need to start keeping bees? There is quite a lot of discrepancy when you read all the books on starting to keep bees and what equipment you need but, in reality, there is a basic set up and then there is a slightly more comprehensive suggestion. Let me start with the basic set up. Read the rest of this entry »
I think it is pretty amazing that this national show has been going for the last 80 years. When you think about it, the first must have been back in 1931 if my Maths is correct. I wonder what it was like back then and how it has changed over the years?
To answer my own question however, a resounding YES. It almost feels like an institution which I think is both a good and bad thing. It is very traditional in its approach and there are some very serious looking people parading around in laboratory coats not to mention the countless people with their membership lapels, akin to seeing people who have been at the races for the day. However, I quite like all of this tradition being a slight traditionalist and I think it adds an aura of respectability about the place. Something that can be lost elsewhere and has its own merits. I will say it was in complete contrast to The London Honey Show a few weeks ago but that can only be a good thing. Different cities, different audiences, different opinions, all good in my mind.
I have recently found a real interest in the historical aspect of beekeeping and so I jumped at the chance to review this book; Bee Boles and Bee Houses by A M Foster. Essentially it is a good review of techniques used to house bees before a certain group in the early to mid 18th Century got involved and invented the moveable frames (I.e. Dzierzon, Langstroth amongst a few others)
When I first received it I was shocked at its size, only 32 pages, as I was expecting a far larger book. However I will say immediately that, because you could finish it in an evening, it was perfect for the subject matter. If truth be told it is the perfect feeder book for you to want to find out more if that makes sense.
We all know that beekeeping history is a fascinating topic and this is obviously a very well researched (quoting 15 other books) and concise taster book. I particularly like some of the imagery which sadly, for copyright reasons, I cannot replicate here. There are at least 3 illustrations depicting historical scenes on each page supporting some of the written prose.
Another aspect I particularly liked was the “Places to Visit” section at the end suggesting 31 different locations to find these bee boles and bee houses. However they are all situated in the UK rather than elsewhere so sadly my readers from the US and elsewhere may miss out – I will just have to send you some photos when I go off visiting them all!
Should you want to purchase a copy you can get a copy direct from the publisher www.shirepublishers.com or apparently from any good bookstore (only wish there were more bookstores!)
beekeeping books I would recommend. Though I had only received it a few days previously, an excellent beekeeping book review in the BBKA news and my initial impressions as I felt it and looked through it, meant that it had to be included in my recommendations for great books for beekeepers.
what a fabulous time of year. We have just been to 
shall make an exception as I think it is a great concept. I met a gentleman by the name of Dale Gibson at the 
