The best laid plans…
Kyles of Bute This summer I was going to be staying with Mike & Lesley Palmer in Vermont, followed by a road trip to Toronto via Niagra Falls. Alas COVID intervened. Instead, we bundled into the car (farting beagle too)…
Category: Beekeeping
Zillions of other Beekeepers!
A Honeybee Even though I live in a densely populated country, there are plenty of rural places to escape to, and these are the places that I keep my bees. I'm not keen on the idea of having bees in…
Keeping us on our Toes
At the Artisan Fair on Red House Farm I'm back from my holiday in Lanzarote. I have seamlessly adjusted from blue skies and 26 deg Celsius to whatever ridiculous weather we have here in Manchester. My bees are not flying;…
Beekeeping in Three Charts
Beekeepers are easy to spot by what's in their car Over the years, I have figured out a few things about beekeeping in my area. Every area will be different, but the one that I care about is the one…
Mistakes!
The Fool In beekeeping, as in life, everybody makes mistakes. Even bees occasionally make them. The hard part is owning up to them. Douglas Adams said, "a common mistake that people make when trying to design something foolproof is to…
Local Knowledge: Weather
Wind Gust Chart from Dark Sky What a difference a few weeks makes, weather-wise, in this crazy country I live in. As I munched my way through two slices of malted grain toast with butter and orange marmalade, I looked…
7 Lessons from Beekeepers
I have been lucky enough to meet, interview, hang out with and in some cases work with people who have kept bees for most of their lives, and who are at the top of their game. Surely even I, a…
Inconsistency
Firstly, my dear Dad died last week. Apart from being a Dad, which is a pretty big thing to be, he was a loyal reader of this blog. Dads are meant to be supportive of their son's endeavours, and mine…