Monthly Archives: August 2012

Dorchester Show is a 2 day event: 1st and 2nd September this year. I went today to form part of the team setting up the Dorchester & Weymouth BKA tent. Well, not exactly setting up, as it had already been … Continue reading →

I allowed one of my apprentices (you know who you are, X+1!) to extract honey we had taken in her own kitchen, using her very own ice cream scoop! She’s done it before so didn’t need supervision. I collected it … Continue reading →

A few days ago I found a message on my answerphone from Geoff Stubbs (of whom I’d never heard) of the ‘Purbeck Journal’ (of which I’d never heard) saying he’d been put in touch with me by a beekeeper (of … Continue reading →

Yesterday afternoon I introduced my 9 year old granddaughter, Keara, to bees by taking her to Portland, getting her dressed in my Large size astronaut suit (with plenty of room to spare!) and leading her down through the garden plots … Continue reading →

My apprentice, Gill, and her hubby/carpenter/photographer, Steve placed a Seeley-type swarm trap on a tree a furlong or so from their apiary near a golf course in the Purbecks. Here’s a picture of it: As you see, the bees hadn’t … Continue reading →

I have a George Cave apple tree on my lawn. It is an early eater with crisp juicy apples when they fall but very soon soften. Each year, on return from Gormanston, I can hardly see my lawn for fallen … Continue reading →

I checked the hives on the Community Gardens and Orchard on the Incline at Portland (6 zigs and 7 zags up from the roundabouts) this evening. One of them, a National, not only has a resident lizard, but also has … Continue reading →

I had a facebook message from a friend of mine who runs a very ‘green’ site and asked me to contribute something about planting flowers for bees. Here’s what I wrote: Chris Slade comments: “Apart from H20, in absence or … Continue reading →

The choice between 11am and noon was: Hives and Frames with Sam Millar; Controlling Bees and Managing Colonies with Noel Power; Brood Diseases with Megan Seymour; and Bees, Bumblebees and Wasps with John Breen. I chose Meg! She not only … Continue reading →

The choice for the first session was between ‘Getting Started’ with Philip McCabe; ‘The Alimentary System’ with Lorna Brown; ‘Breeding Disease Resistant Bees’ with Jennifer Berry; and ‘Microscopy Basics’ with Bea Flavin and Liz o’Brien. I chose Jenny’s lecture, bagging … Continue reading →