This weekend was a big one and it was all about the bees. On Saturday we took a hike out to a fabulous beekeeping supplies store (recommended to us by our neighbours who are pro beekeepers) where we basically bankrupted ourselves buying beekeeping and processing equipment. Luckily we didn’t have to trade in the children but we did come away with our very own honey extractor. Stephen also bought himself a proper bee jacket after being stung about 11 times…
This morning was the ultimate combination of sunny and fresh. The blue sky beamed down benevolently as the sun warmed our skin, still warm enough to feel luxuriously cuddled but not so warm as to feel boiled and baked. Perfection. We headed out for a field walk, exploring trees, bushes and hedges along our route. As we came down into bottom field there lay a gloriously large swathe of bird foot trefoil, impossibly yellow, scenting the August air with sweetness….
On Saturday Stephen went out into the fields all beekeepered up and did some hivekeeping work. A friend of ours came over to help (our friend is also a beekeeper, we have some very cool friends) and they worked away, intently, in a cloud of smoke at the bottom of Home Field. Stephen added supers to our brood boxes as we now have a lot of baby bees in there and they really need to move on up and start…
What can I tell you about bees? Well I know more than I used to, but I also know that it’ll never be enough; they are complicated creatures with whims of their own, all we can hope for is to keep up. I also know that bees don’t come easy, oh no indeed. If you want bees you are going to have to work, you’re going to have to plan, you are going to have to call people many months…