Finally going to post Bee pics.

I am ashamed I left it so long to post about my Bees, I finally went to the UK in June two Summers ago and picked up the Hives my Father in Law built for me.

He sent them down to Cornwall to “Terry the Bee” I went over with my car and trailer, collecting my friend Colleen on the way back.

It was funny at the ferry terminal, the man on the desk had never had Bees through before so he had to phone for advice. He came back and said all straight faced…..the paper work is fine, but I need to know how many Bees you have……its £30 per bee……lol

So now the hives are set up and in place, this last Summer I collected about 50lbs of honey from them, there would have been more, but I didnt know you were supposed to remove the queen excluder at the end of the Season, so they suffered a little bit and one hive took some time to recover.
But this Winter Im properly prepared, the mouse excluders are on, the Queen excluders removed, Varroa treament installed and both hives have had a sugar syrup feed to top up the stores they have.
Both hives have a full super each and I have spares in the freezer if they need them. We are already mid January and hoping Im not hexing myself, we have had hardly any bad weather yet.
Im in the process of sourcing new Queens ready for this Spring, I will let you know how it goes and post photos if I can.

I would like to say, if you are contemplating keeping bees… dont hesitate, they need as many people as possible to care for them, the bees are suffering with chemicals and pests, keep one hive in your garden, you wont regret it.
Dont you just love the extractor? My Father in Law bought it for me, its the jewel in my crown.

The new hives in place

See if you can find the queen

My lovely Extracter

Bee’s

New hobby

I am going to be keeping Bee’s next year, my Father in Law is building me these hives.
Watch this space next year for more on this subject.

Alan’s Birthday

Alan was just expecting 4 friends to come and celebrate his birthday, but I organised a lot more.! 12 people came and Ruth baked him a cake, we had a lovely afternoon, the sun shone so we were able to spend some time in the garden. A nice time all round.

Emperor Moth

Isn’t this just beautiful, I found this Emperor Moth in the garden as I was hanging out the washing, it was in the grass and I nearly trod on it. I am so glad I saw it in time, I have never seen one in real life before, the colours are just amazing and the eyes look so real. Made my day.

Ruths Birthday Quilt

My friends Ruth and Ray were both 60 this year, so I made them this quilt, it was Ray’s birthday in Jan but he had to wait till Ruth’s birthday which was on the 18th March. I made it as a surprise, and they were certainly that.!
This is the quilt in place in Ruth and Ray’s new bedroom.