Tag: bees
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Oh no! I am a scavenger!
This is what beekeeping has done to me! I was never this way but now, well now, you might see me headfirst in a skip with my feet waving in the air as I rescue something that I could use for beekeeping. Recycling, that’s what I’m doing. Yeah. It started during the second year of…
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Bees, bees and wasps
You can’t just shoo away bees. Waving your arms around a bee (let along hundreds of bees) is the last thing you should do. As for wasps.. they get kicked out of the nest at this time of year and are cranky…very cranky. Keep away” They gravitate towards surgery substances, so you’ll find them where…
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Big Brown Box
The excitement of a big cardboard box as a child and the endless possibilities were much better than the contents. A train. A house. A tunnel. A fort. A big cardboard box could become all that and more. Colouring markers (aka sharpies) or a few crayons and a scissors (preferably without supervision) and I would…
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Ouch!
“Bee stings don’t bother me.” My jaw dropped in disbelief. These words had come out of my own mouth! I was a little impressed with myself, finally perhaps, I am a true beekeeper. I’ve seen so many of the experienced beekeepers brush off stings as a mere nuisance, for this moment I felt one of…
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Could I put a beehive in my back garden?
This is a question I’m often asked. Well now… I live in suburbia and did put my first hive in my back garden, and they were a joy to watch. I would watch them every morning from my kitchen window flying out of and into the hive. At mid-day the young bees would circle the…
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Immersion
The adult in me had flown out the window out to the large lawn littered with beehives. Real hives with real bees. I watched a druid-like cluster around one hive as a demonstration is taking place. My attention is dragged back “Is this your first time?” said a stranger in the queue to register. I…
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A fine mess – short and sweet
The door handles are sticky. There’s a schlick, schlick, schlick sound from my shoes as I walk across the floor tiles. My hair is sticky, every spoon, uncapping fork, super, hive tool, bucket and anything at all that I’ve touched (and many places that I hadn’t touched) has a splodge of honey. This is despite…
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Bovine encounter
I thought it was a good idea to put two hives inside a tall hedge near a public road. You couldn’t see the hives from the road and the bees flew over the heads of any passer by without anyone noticing. I drove by one day and was shocked to see the hedge cut low…
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Privileged
Being a beekeeper is a privilege. I get to go out into nature on my solitary mission to tend to the beehives, usually in the very best of weather. After the initial flurry of preparation there is a peacefulness the descends as I approach my hives. I greet each of them, talking to the ladies…
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Win-win
I remember the gorgeous smell of the house when my mother was making jam. She would stir the sticky mix with a wooden spoon, enveloped in the sweet, smelling steam as it wafted up from her special jam-making pan. Jam jars would be sterilized and lined up like a military platoon ready for action. “Keep…