Bees move in!!

Wednesday began as an ordinary day.

Then there was a phone call at 4pm.  A swarm of honey bees had landed in a garden in Impington, 4 miles away and the swarm warden could meet me there at 8pm.  4 whole hours!!!!  I was like a cat on a tin roof!  Amazingly I did not chop any fingers off while cooking, and at 7-50pm Mark grabbed his camera, I donned my white telly tubby suit, and off we set.

The first time bee keeper in pristine white suit!

We arrived, met the swarm warden (the volunteer who take calls from distressed villagers saying "Help! There's a swarm of bees in my garden"), and wondered down the road to the find the swarm.

Does my bum look big in this? (comments with answers to this will be censored...)

And there it was. A huge, beautiful swarm clustered around some branches of a privet bush.
They did not look like the usual north European bees, which have black bodies. They are classic stripey orange and black bees - classic, but not like any I've have come across so far. I wonder what their story is?

Mark thought they looked a bit like a giant Tiger's Eye rock in a tree.

First we had to prune away a little of the greenery, then our swarm lady got on the ladder with the secateurs while I stood underneath with my ready prepared (ir. holes blocked up!) cardboard box. Very high tech...

Another bizarre and new experience in the Strivens household...

Then, plop, in the fell! They were quite a weight.  By the time we had snipped all four branches and dropped the clusters of bees in, a few of them had flown off the swarm, so it was time to quickly close the lid...

wrap it up in a sheet, and put it in the car... (note seat belt - Mark was worried about having a bee box on the head in case of an emergency stop!)

This boxful with the main swarm in it was humming gently. Ahhhh.

Time to wait a while for the AWOL bees to re-cluster in their original position, and try to catch them in a second box.  A few still got away, but we were confident that we had the queen in the main box, so into the car with the second box, and a slightly nervous Mark (not in a bee suit) drove us home on the smoothest drive he has ever done in his life!
The second box, with bees in a cluster and no queen, were a good deal less happy than the first - they BUZZED very loud all the way home.  BBBBBBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Not a very Royal way for a queen to be welcomed to her  new Palace

 Box one opened and unceremoniously dumped into the empty brood box. Shake shake bash. A few left on the sides, but most went in.  

On a nice warm sunny evening, the fun way to do this is to put the sheet on the ground and place a ramp up to the hive entrance. Put the swarm on the sheet and watch them march up the ramp (Bees ALWAYS walk upwards, never down) and into the hive. It was too late and too cold for that on Wednesday.

Note the expensive equipment: rubber washing up gloves!

Next it was time to remove the privet branches and shake of the hangers-on. Well, most of them.
All this time I am having to watch that I don't accidentally shake the queen onto the ground. She is impossible to see in the swarm....

In goes box two. They calmed down quickly once they were back with the rest.

Gently and slowly placing in the wax starter frames, avoiding squashing the bees

A lovely site - worker bees at the entrance with their backsides in the air! They are fanning their wings rapidly to send off a pheromone which tells the other bees "Here is a good place for a nest, come on in!"

A few bees did not want to leave me - I am not sure whether they were thinking I was a threat or a flower petal.

 

I wasn't stung once throughout the whole episode. Unfortunately, after it was all over, Mark did get stung by a couple of adventurers that were stuck to my suit as I walked away from the hive. Another got tangled in my hair, but we brushed it out intact - obviously good tempered little things.

Mission accomplished.  I had a feeder-pail of sugar syrup ready to feed the bees - popped that over a hole in the crown board, super over that and then the lid.  Now I have to leave them alone for a couple of weeks while they pull out the wax starter to make comb, and the queen gets to laying eggs. 

By nightfall, all the stragglers and tail fanners had crept into their new home, and there was a low contented humming coming from the hive.  Utterly delightful. 

Hive in place ready for occupants!

I am totally behind with my posts.
This should have been in two weeks ago, as since, we have had developments.....but you'll have to wait a day or so to hear about those...

Anyway, see below. It is all quite self explanatory.
Not the pretty white boarded peaked roof type hive, but its functional, and keeps the bees happy.

Just waiting for occupants...

Saying goobye again....

Last weekend we had to face another emotionally traumatic event: saying goobye to some very very good friends.  We have known them over two years and they have now returned

Anna wrote a poem to try to express how it made her feel. I thought it was rather good and spot on.
Here it is. Read in conversational voice:

Goodbyes
by Anna Strivens

Goodbyes are the worst thing in the world,
Or at least that's how I feel.
They make you unhappy or angry or sad,
And it can take ages for your heart to heal.
It's as if tears refuse to show themselves,
And you don't feel it at the time;
The horrid empty feeling
That you later feel inside.
Parting with friends is the hardest to do,
Especially those you know well,
How much you will miss them; I'm afraid there are
No strong enough words to tell.
It's as though part of you is missing,
A part of your life suddenly gone,
And although at that moment you don't realise
Exactly how you feel your life has gone wrong.
Eventually you start to feel the sadness
As if it had been delayed.
As if you almost didn't want to believe that
Your friends had to leave that day.
When it comes to goodbyes,
I always find myself stuck.
But I can tell you honestly...
Goodbyes truly suck.

And Even More Nettled...

My garden is full of nettles, but not all the stinging variety.
Here are some pics of a few of the huge variety of ornamental and "Dead" nettles scattered liberally around.
The bees love them, They fill spaces where little else would grow and cover bare earth to give a luscious feel even to the broken wall of my compost heap!

Just at their peak of flowers, which, for a humble nettle look remarkably exotic - almost orchid like.

These are already past best, but have provided a symphony of buzzing bumble and honey bees

This one is rather easy to confuse with the stinging variety. I'm not sure it would make such good soup! It gives a lovely understated highlight of white among the colours elsewhere.

Getting Nettled

I love free food, and there is so much through the seasons to pick here!
The kids did draw the line at eating mushrooms I found in the garden (I was sure they were safe...!)
We have a nice crop of Stinging Nettles in our wilderness area. They have so many uses - food, wine, liquid plant feed...apparently the seeds have caffeine-like qualities!

Here is a recipe for soup that is so good you won't believe it! It has the sweetness of a pea soup with the savoury richness of spinach or watercress soup. Delicious.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp oil, nob of butter
A carrier bag loosely filled with tender young stinging nettles tops
A large onion
1 Clove of garlic
two large potatoes (I used a load of new potatoes that were starting to sprout)
1.5l (6 cups) hot veg stock
pinch cayenne pepper (optional)
pinch freshly grated nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
swirl of cream (optional)

Method:

1. using thick rubber gloves(!) thoroughly wash the nettles.

2. chop onion and potatoes into chunks about 1 inch cubed
3. peel garlic and chop in half

4. heat oil and butter until better melted. Add onion, garlic and potato, stir until coated with fat, turn heat to lowest possible and cover with tight fitting lid.   Allow to "Sweat" for 10 mins

5. meanwhile remove leaves from nettle stems, discard stems. Gloves still needed for this part!

6.when "Sweating" period is over, add hot veg stock, nettle leaves and cayenne pepper. I cheated and used hot water and a stock cube crumbled in. Hey, it works.
Cover and simmer for  10-15 mins, or until potato is cooked through.

7. blend soup, add freshly grated nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with a swirl of cream if desired, and some crusty bread. Yum.

Oh, by the way, once cooked, nettles don't sting any more!!

I am the Egg Man...

I have been making a regular rendez-vous for clandestine exchanges with the Egg Man.

When we first moved to Cambridge area, we were delighted to spend a year as members of a Hempsal's Community Farm  (http://www.hempsalsfarm.com/).
We had a wonderful experience helping set the place up and enjoyed the fruits of our labours with half a pig (pre-butchered I am glad to say), masses of eggs, a CHristmas goose and veggies in season.

Once we moved to our own home and garden, we ran out of time to have so much involvement, but are now on the "Friends" list, which means we can visit and help, still opt for half a pig, and buy excess produce.

Can you see the odd one out?
It is a duck egg, and I have cleaned it up with the plan that I will turn it into a Fabergé style decorated shell when I have a spare moment. Ha!
 

Eggs have been flowing in abundance for them this year. Here is a photo of a box I received recently.

The others remain a little yucky to look at as it is best to clean them just before use to prevent bacteria travelling through the porous shell with the aid of water.

Blooming Bonanza! Part 2

We've had high winds here....I'm so glad I managed to photograph a few blossoms before they all blew off!

Cherry blossom and a rare blue sky!

Cox's apple blossom - the plan is to espalier this tree once I have excavated space to plant it!

Quince - this was a tangled mess under a shady window.  I've managed to tidy it up, with resulting reward...

One of my favourites: Dicentra, or "Bleeding hearts" dangling delicately over the fish pond

Dicentra flowers a little closer up. Aren't they lovely?

Flowering currant blossom. We didn't realize we had this until we removed a tonne of ivy and mahonia. Its a huge leggy shrub - I'll prune it a little more each year to nurse it back to full glory.

 

And last but not least, the Bramley apple blossom from the two large cooking apple trees at the "Wild' end of the garden.

So far it seems to have been a good year for apples, unlike last year's disaster year.

Our two Bramleys are rather precious, as they produce marvellous apples which we can chop and freeze for cooking, and they are great for climbing for Anna.
This photo does not do them justice....but they are looking so much better for two years careful and consistent pruning (Using your advice Paula! Thanks...)
They were so entangled and overgrown that there was no light to the limbs.
This winter I will cut the height down, having shrunk the branches and removed the cross growth. Should have perfect  trees then.
There is plenty of new growth coming, so I am happy!! I didn't kill them!