Autumn on the Allotment

Over the past few weeks we have been fairly busy - a relaxing holiday in the Cotswolds with Gemma, followed by a lovely  visit from Rebecca, Adam and our Grandsons.

Another Cotswold village!

Sherwood Forest

The bees have been treated for varroa and fed until they seem like they're full- oddly the hives we have experimentally tried feeding with their own honey don't seem to have taken much down and we are not sure why. Some of the colonies were quite small as they had decided to re-queen late in the year- they have taken stores down but still have space to keep warm with fewer bees- it remains to be seen how they will fair over winter. The weather has been mild and every time we have visited them they are busy flying- lots of ivy is flowering nearby so they will have been collecting this to add to what we have fed them.

When we took over our allotment plot about 7 years ago there was a resident shed- slightly at an angle and the sort of arrangement often seen on allotments - 2 sheds cobbled together!  The general consensus was that it wouldn't last long! Over the years though it had settled and stood it's ground. This autumn though it was leaking, our seed had been eaten and we decided to replace it. to look at you'd think it could be pushed down but the shed wasn't going to go without a fight!

Bake Off!

It is that time of year again- The Great British Bake Off is on TV! As a family we like to bake- Trev bakes the bread, so the episode about bread always raises new possibilities and this time was no exception- bagels!!

So out came the recipes and we had a go- I have to say with great results- Trev produced not only bagels but plaited (OK only three plaits but why get complicated?) walnut and Stilton loaf for tea, as well as our everyday loaf- what a baker!

Coll and Tiree

Summer holidays? OK so we have had a great holiday on the Hebridean island of Coll, with a visit to Tiree thrown in, but I'm not sure about whether I can call it a summer holiday because the weather throughout the UK does not seem to realise that it is July!!

Beautiful scenery and some of the best beaches in the UK, we saw basking sharks, heard Corncrakes, had regular visits from a male Hen Harrier, saw Red Throated divers with their chicks and practised 'strolling' and kite flying!

Fantastic beaches 

Coll has some of the rarest Bumblebees in Britain- the Great Yellow Bumblebee is found here and although we didn't spot it we did see the Moss Carder Bumblebee on the machair. In Coll the RSPB manage areas of the machair for the Corncrake population and as the bees are found in similar areas it could be supposed that the management techniques are beneficial to both.

Moss Carder Bumblebee working the white clover

Dad, Grandad and Great Grandad

Not a happy post but something that can't be ignored- after being ill for a while Dad finally couldn't fight off a bout of pneumonia and died in the early hours of the 30th April. He had managed to see his 97th birthday. The loss we feel at the moment is immense and although I'm sure time will make it easier at the moment the whole family is struggling with the gap his loss has left in our lives.

26th April 1915- 30th April 2012

Hive City!!

Well, Thursday the weather held off enough for us to inspect Hive 3 at Cordwood- and yes there were swarm cells- some lovely cells with royal jelly and larvae, fairly well developed. So back into artificial swarm mode we went- we are getting fairly slick at this now. I am so pleased we took the time to get equipment ready during the winter and early spring. As the weather held off long enough we also went through the brood hive we had moved to Cordwood and knocked down all but one sealed queen cell. This frame we marked with a drawing pin to make it easy to keep track of. I have also realised just how important record keeping is- the more hives you have it's not so easy to remember what you have done, it needs to be written down.



Hive City- six hives and a nuc at Cordwood!

 So now we have seven hives to look after and the tiny nuc which amazingly is feeding and were flying well on Thursday. Since then weather has been awful- there has been an email from FERA to warn about bees starving because they can't get out to forage.
The weather looks fair for Monday and jobs for that day will include-
* a check on the garden hive to see if the queen is laying and they are getting on OK.
* going through the old brood of Hive 1 (1B)to knock down any emergency queen cells the bees have made since the artificial swarm.
* a quick look in the now Hive 1A to see if the old queen in there is laying and the bees are getting on OK.
Also possibly going through Hive 3- the old brood and the box with the original queen in- this is where timings get crucial. This artificial swarm was done on Thursday- the queen cell is open (egg and larvae) for 8 days then sealed for 8 days so when to check and knock off extra cells is important. If you check too soon the bees could still try to make a queen cell from an  egg or larvae that in theory is too old. Hopefully in this case though, the successful queen will destroy these when she hatches, but there is just the possibility that the bees will decide to swarm with her instead. Decisions, decisions!!
In the back ground of the picture you may be able to make out the diggers which have now moved in and made a serious start on the preparations for the building at Corwood- you can follow the progress on Rob's blog at http://sustainablegarden.blogspot.co.uk/
Exciting times all round!

Birthdays

This weekend was our Grandson Albert's 3rd birthday- earlier in the year Rowan celebrated his 1st birthday. Although they live in Portsmouth we are lucky enough to visit and be visited by our family often. This weekend we spent a day at Marwell Wildlife Park with Rebecca, Adam, Albert and Rowan and Gemma as well as Grandma and Frank, a lovely family get together!
Rebecca had made an awesome birthday cake which came along too!


Kwasi the octonaut






It was freezing and trying to get all the family together for a picture is impossible!!



February

Busy times since my last post-I have been working most of the time, we have been on holiday, visited family and celebrated the 1st birthday of Rowan!

The Alhambra

One of the places we have always wanted to visit is Andalucia in Spain, the history of the Reconquest is fascinating and the resulting architecture of moorish and Christian styles amazing to see. We visited Granada, Seville and Cordoba this February thinking it would be a warm getaway. But no, it was freezing! However the cities were well worth visiting and we really enjoyed the break.

Mosque in Cordoba

 On the way back we dropped in to Portsmouth to see our children and Grandchildren. It was Rowan's first birthday-it's hard to think it has been a year since we drove down to see him new born!!
Luckily Rob and Jill have been keeping an eye on the bees while we have been away http://sustainablegarden.blogspot.com
The mild spell has seen lots of activity, today the garden hive was taking in lots of pollen- mainly pale but some darker yellow and orange. We lifted the lid quickly and the 2 kilo block of fondant we had put on before we left was well on the way to being finished and the hive looked as if it was thriving!

Congratulations Judith and Roger!

Last Saturday Judith and Roger got married - hopefully soon they will see work commencing on their new house on the Cordwood site. We were lucky enough to join them for an fantastic evening of bacon butties and dancing to the Fab Four!
The wedding had a Cordwood theme- as part of this they gave favours made  from produce from the Cordwood site- Jam from apples and blackberries, chutney from the wild plums and honey from the Cordwood apiary!

Congratulations and best wishes to them both!!

Happy Christmas

This year we have had an early Christmas- it's odd knowing that we have had our celebrations when everyone else is still preparing for the big day. It's Cristmas Eve and I have just cleared the fridge and frozen leftovers! We had a great time with all our family ,including a trip to the Nottingham Playhouse panto- highly recommended! So Happy Christmas to everyone and a brilliant 2012!!