Bees - the start of it all

So. Although I personally believe I'm a hippy by nature, the practical incarnation of the current self sufficiency madness in our house began with bees. A few years ago I read an article about colony collapses and bees dying out. I thought at the time, everyone who can keep bees, should keep bees. So I/we duly went away and acquired two colonies and the associated paraphernalia. It wasn't bloody cheap! (I'll come back to that).

Four years ago we had two colonies, now we have twelve. Some are full strength colonies, some aren't. Will they all survive winter, I hope so. Do I know what I'm doing? That's questionable sometimes. I judge it on how often I've been stung, this year it's three times, so better than it was when the bees got into my smock in year one!

I can't always see eggs, I can't always find queens, my eyesight isn't what it was when I was younger, but we rub along. The bees mostly seem happy in their hives. I protect them as well as I can and follow all the advice and guidance of the beekeeping association. I'm also very fortunate to have a very experienced beekeeping friend living nearby who helps out with advice.

Keeping bees has made a few things very obvious. Plants that are planted around bees are generally pretty healthy. We have apple trees in the garden that have produced masses of apples since the bees have been introduced. We have pear trees that never had fruit that are now growing plenty of pears. The obvious benefits in the plants made me think I should plant more plants, to benefit the bees and the environment.

Yes, I know. To anybody who understands the environment and ecology, this was obvious. Improving and diversifying the eco system even in small areas is really environmentally beneficial.

Last year the bees produced 265 jars of honey. It's safe to say, that in 2020 we were self sufficient for honey and we (well, the bees) produced an excess, to contribute to the overall self sufficiency plan.

The intention of the website isn't to teach anybody how to keep bees. There a far more qualified and experienced people around to do that. Along with official courses from beekeeping associations. There are links to these resources in the links page if you want to have a go. The intention of the website is to show that anybody can easily learn to keep bees, benefit the environment and benefit from the honey!

Keep bees. It can be done almost anywhere by almost anybody. Also, make sure you sign any petitions you see to stop the use of pesticides which harm the bees!