Backyard Bees

We have bees!

Well, they're not ours but they have made their home right here in our backyard. Squeeee!

Can you tell I'm a bit excited about them?

Keeping bees in our backyard was always a plan, but a very distant one as we know nothing about keeping bees. We got lucky when friend's of Mr Homespun's parents were looking for a new home for their hives and we got a mention. ' Yes please' I said when the question was asked.

We still know almost nothing about them, but we are slowing learning. I know to observe and take notice of their flight path out of the hive so as to not stand in the way. Bees won't generally go around you, just straight at you!

I have also donned one of the funny jackets to get a close up look at them in action and they are fascinating. Unfortunately in my excitement I didn't think of grabbing the camera until much later. Close up photos next time.

This morning the first frames were removed for honey extraction! They were very full and smelt divine.

Do you have backyard bees?

xx

Happy New Year!

And, merry christmas too!

Haven't I been a bit slack lately? But as everyone is at this time of the year it's busy, busy, busy.

I hope you all had a wonderful couple of weeks, hopefully spending time with loved ones and eating far too much. Or was that just me?

I spent a day in the kitchen before christmas making blackberry jam, and plum cordial and jam from plums from a neighbours trees. I have lots of plum trees here, of several different varieties, and when I went to pick the ripe ones to make jam I found the bats had eaten them all in one night! So off I trotted to Dave's to buy a tray of his lovely cherry plums. Now several of our other plum trees are ripening so quickly we can't use them fast enough and need the bats to finish them off they are nowhere to be seen, so they are lying on the ground rotting. I'm sure we will have drunk chickens shortly if I don't get around to picking them all up as the fruit start to ferment!

My Etsy shop has also kept me very busy in the lead up to christmas, which has been great. This time last year I put the shop 'on vacation' so we could move house and therefore missed the busiest period of the year.

Anyhoo, hope your 2015 is even better than your 2014.

Cheers