The Inspector arrived. I very carefully peered out of the window as he walked up the path. I couldn’t believe it. There I was yesterday scouring the web for a photo of an American Drill Sergeant to add to the text of my blog and here was one walking down the path toward the house. He had the heavy boots on and the hat was an exact match but that was wear the comparisons stopped I have to say though I did have a good giggle at the hat.
He was lovely and immediately helpful. The bee inspection was not exactly as I thought it would be. We went up to the Omlet to start with to have a look around and we immediately got stuck in looking around for any Varroa (there was barely anything which is a relief) and all the signs from the hive were good – we did remove a couple of frames from the hive as they hadn’t been drawn out yet and so we wanted to allow the bees to concentrate on building up stores rather than wasting energy building up frames. Read the rest of this entry »
There have been ups and downs and more ups and downs and then some more ups and downs but that illusive jar of honey is not far off now. The only thing I have to really consider now is exactly how big that jar is going to be! Read the rest of this entry »
What can I say…….I have got my honey making mojo back…….the National Trust have agreed with my Baldrick esk plan. In the words of another hero of mine “I love it when a plan comes together”
About 48hrs ago I looked down and out. My aim for the year of making one jar of honey was looking finished. I had known it for a couple of weeks if I am honest and I was moping around not really interested in writing about my bees and trying to turn my attention to protecting them over the winter.
How it has all changed, the door has opened slightly and I may just suceed yet.
My thanks to the National Trust for giving me the opportunity, what a wonderul organisation and a particular thank you to the Head Warden from the Surrey area for letting me do it (not to mention actually putting the hive in his very own back garden!). Fabulous.
I am the type of person that likes to bury their head in the sand and I feel I have been doing this recently. Frustratingly my bees had started to put a little bit of honey in the super but had not actually capped it.
This meant my simple aim of producing one jar of honey was getting more distant each week until I finally accepted that I probably wouldn’t get anything this year. I described it as the equivalent of running a marathon and falling over, breaking a leg, 10ft from the finish line. I know I should really be thinking about the bees well being but there was definitely an element of disappointment there and therefore a resultant head burying went on.
However…..I have had a week off from work, went away with the family and I am back with a cunning plan (similar to those that Baldrick used to conjur up if you are a Blackadder fan like me) Read the rest of this entry »
So, suddenly it has got a little bit more serious. Yesterdays inspection had two elements to it which were both equally important. Firstly the hopes of some capped honey and secondly the review of European Foul Brood. Its funny isn’t it. When I first started to write the account of my beekeeping year I really was approaching it as a jovial and often humerous story but I genuinely feel as if my attitude, respect and affection for the bees has grown immensely and I now see how serious it all is. These last two days have only emphasised that to me. Read the rest of this entry »
I am a very rich green colour today with a mixture of both envy and jealously. All the signs are that the honey flow has stopped and I stand around with bated breath hoping that my little ones are still out there flying around trying to get the last of the nectar to make honey. The last two weeks of hive inspections I have been willing them to just make me enough for a simple jar of honey and have been practically begging them on bended knees to get a move on.
Then three separate beekeepers make comments that make we feel like my bees were like 100metre runners trying to run a 400metre race. They got out of the blocks fast enough but have been fading ever since! Read the rest of this entry »
It is 6.30am and I have got up to replace that old cut comb that had become ruined in the frames two weeks previously. I have to say it was easier than I thought and hence I am writing this piece now while the house is silent (bliss I have to say!). Replacing that cut comb made me realise just how sticky the job of extraction must be. People and books have said that honey gets everywhere. Me being me was thinking “no way, I am organised and generally tidy, I can do that without spilling a drop”. Read the rest of this entry »
I have to say I have been starting to have some doubts about my one aim for the year; one jar of honey. When I did the inspection on Saturday I was very aware of the lack of stores being built by the bees and obviously I want to make sure they are going to be okay for Winter. Without stores they will perish and so I cannot risk it. What do I do? Read the rest of this entry »
So today was a mixture of emotions until the chance meeting of a friend of mine in the coffee shop. Suddenly, after last night the enormity of the extraction process was playing tennis in my head. All the equipment needs, the fantastic game of dare you play with the bees when you take their honey super not to mention the mess I will undoubtably leave my kitchen in which will no doubt send in the wrath of the wife (make no assumptions, I most definitely wear the trousers in our relationship, she just tells me which colour trousers to wear!). However, the chance meeting in the coffee shop and the suggestion I should watch how the Nepalese extract their honey. Just watch the videos here and you can see why I am no longer worried about what I will have to put up with!
However there is still the small matter of equipment…..
I was yesterday scouring the web for a photo of an American Drill Sergeant to add to the text of my blog and here was one walking down the path toward the house. He had the heavy boots on and the hat was an exact match but that was wear the comparisons stopped I have to say though I did have a good giggle at the hat.
