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Show us the honey!

For ages, Dr T has been on about keeping bees. Personally, I just think he wants to wander around in all the kit, but last week he made me sit in front of the news and said “See!”

Of course I knew the bees were disappearing, it was on Doctor Who for heavens sake! And if David Tennant is worried about the bees, I’m perfectly prepared to worry about them too. And now those nice people who made keeping hens easy with the Eglu have done it again with the Beehaus. Not quite your traditional view of a hive, but apparently makes it much easier to keep the bees, and to keep them healthy. They’ll even deliver bees to you as well. Although not, one would imagine, by Royal Mail.

If you want to read why we need the bees, then I suggest A World Without Bees by Alison Benjamin and  Brian McCallum. I feel like I’m reading this, as snippets get read out on a regular basis. You could also try Self-Sufficiency Beekeeping, which covers all the basics, so you can get a feel for whether or not this might be for you.

But before you even think of buying the hive, I would suggest you go on a course, as this is one skill I don’t think you should learn from a book.  The British Beekeepers Association has a list of courses around the country, so it’s worth checking out.  Buying a hive is certainly going to be a very unusual foodie gift, and I expect to see these Beehaus’ cropping up on trendy foodie couples wedding gift list before too long!

If you don’t want to go the whole hog, and just want to perhaps encourage the bees a bit, then try Crocus for wildflowers that bees love, as well as little nesting homes for them. I think I may have my bees muddled up, between honey and bumble, but all bees are good in my book. Which is more than you can say for wasps.

And if we ever get our own honey, I’m going to see if I can make something similar to this peach, apricot and Corsican honey jam. Sounds yum!