Tales from a down-shifted family
- Making the most of modest means
Things are beginning to get busy in our beekeeping world again. Yesterday we took delivery of a pallet of supplies. I was sat working at my computer when a huge articulated lorry pulled up outside, there was a knock on the door and the delivery driver said there was a pallet for us. My mind raced, I...
Hopefully, if our bees survive the next month or so, they’ll expand rapidly in number and we’ll end up with more colonies than we started with. Our plan this year is to ‘make increase’ by performing artificial swarms and re-housing the swarms in new hives. Our garden isn’t big enough for too many hives and not really...
I mentioned the other day that the bees were busy. Well, they’re at it again, out enjoying the Spring sunshine and feasting on the pollen and nectar from out little patch of crocuses. As new beekeepers who are just coming out of their first winter with bees, it’s a lovely sight to see. It must...
Sunday morning was absolutely gorgeous here. A perfect early Spring morning that just can’t be beat. I was up early to go for a run and a swim, did a bit of work, got ready and then headed into Machynlleth. The temperature was around 1°C there and mist was hanging in the valleys with gorgeous...
After to big freeze of last year, the winter of 2011-2012 has been fairly mild. So what does this mean for our honey bees? Well, we had a check on our three hives this winter and things don’t look too bad. It’s difficult to know if bees consume more food in warm winters than in...
We may have had some of the coldest temperatures of the winter last week, and the rest of the UK is currently under a blanket of snow and ice, but not so here in West Wales. The temperature hasn’t got anywhere near freezing today, there hasn’t been any snow in sight and even that on...
It may be cold, wet and dreary out there, but its Christmas for the Homey Bees too, so we’ve given ourbees a Christmas treat this week in the form of some fondant. Having not fed bees in the winter before we weren’t too sure how to do it but I gave it a go with...
I’ve just retuned from the garden and a little bit of beekeeping. As well as closing all entrances down to the smallest settings on the hives I also put some mouse guards across them. A nice warm hive with loads of honey is quite an attrractive place for a mouse over the winter and they...
Saturday brought with it glorious sunshine and the 2011 Aberystwyth and District Beekeepers Association Honey Show. The show was held in Llanfach Hall in Taliesin and thankfully for us was a fairly informal affair. I’m not really into all of the intricacies and nit-picking of showing things so the relaxed atmosphere was nice to see....
During the recent winds you’d have been forgiven for thinking that there were no bees at all in the hives at the bottom of the garden. Wind, rain and bees don’t really mix so they were all hiding away in their hives and sitting out the storm. As soon as the winds drop though they...
Fitness / Technology / Triathlon
Fixing the Altimeter on my Garmin Forerunner 910XT
Monday, March 17th, 2014
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