A taste of honey!

Well bees and beekeeping certainly seem to be the flavour of the month at the moment. Just the other week my mum told me that she'd been watching Mary Berry visit a beekeeper and their colony. Last night my daughter informed me that big Events companies (she's doing Events Management at uni) are all starting to keep bees as part of their environmental protection policy. Who would've believed it a few years ago? And then tonight I've just watched the first of a series of programmes on BBC 4 about bees, presented by broadcaster and beekeeper, Martha Kearney. This is all very timely for me as I've just completed a brilliant course run by the Merionnedd Beekeepers' Association and have ordered a nucleus of bees from a local beekeeper near Coed y Brenin. Mike bought me a suit and hive for Christmas (the hive arrived as a flatpack - IKEA for bees!), the special gloves were bought for me by my mother-in-law , and I've recently purchased a smoker and hive tool, so by June, when my bees arrive, I'll be a fully fledged, if rather less than confident beekeeper. But never fear, the MBKA have appointed a mentor, a very experienced local beekeeper , who will help and advise me through the first few months.

The next decision will be where I site my apiary. Do I site it where the guests can see it? Will our guests be interested, enthusiastic, wary or even frightened of our bees? We hope eventually to be able to offer all our guests a taste of our Pentre Bach produced honey. Maybe we might even sell some one day....... But we'll be doing our bit to increase the British bee population and will beeeee doing our bit to help with pollination. Did you know that it takes up to 56000 bee trips to produce one pound of honey? Watch this space to find out how I get on when I get my bees. It's going to be a bizzzzzy time! :)