Monthly Archives: February 2012

Lungwort (pulmonaria) in my garden. Lots of blackthorn between Grimstone and Stratton. It’s always early there. I wonder why?  Could there be a local clone?

This is cribbed from a post from a Dane on an e-mail group. The theme started as Manuka honey and then veered onto other honeys, including the almost ubiquitous  Oilseed Rape, which seem to have the same properties.  I found … Continue reading →

I’ve just printed off this year’s queen/hive number and location card. It fits in my filofax in front of the current individual cards. It’s a system that has suited me for well over a decade now, so my queen numbers … Continue reading →

I have recently discovered that ‘Linked In’ (a sane and sober version of facebook) has a group for beekeepers.  It being a rainy day, and the cricket on the wireless not demanding my full attention, I have gone into it … Continue reading →

I’ve now sorted out the honey I pressed a few days ago.  The trouble with using a fruit press for honeycomb is that the compressed honey/comb sets in a solid block and it is quite  wrestling match to recover it … Continue reading →

‘Getting the Best from Your Bees’, by Dave MacFawn of S.Carolina and me, is the subject of a 2 page review in An Beachaire, the Irish Beekeeper!  The reviewer, Mary Montaut, doesn’t exactly bubble over with enthusiasm for the book … Continue reading →

I’ve lost count of the number of occasions when, purely by coincidence, I’ve been processing honey while listening to a Test Match on the wireless.  Today it was the honey I scraped from the hive at Halstock that had been … Continue reading →

We’re into February now, and the queens will probably have been laying for about 6 weeks.  The workers will be feeding the babies from the stores of honey and bee-bread and keeping them warm by huddling on them and generating … Continue reading →