Tales from a down-shifted family
- Making the most of modest means
With day time temperatures soaring to the 20’s it seems as though beekeeping season is upon us once again. The bees have been getting busier and busier and they were in full flight at the weekend. There still aren’t huge number of flowers out for them to forage on, especially here, but there should be...
We moved a beehive again on Monday evening. As per usual, our beekeeping activities took place under cover of darkness. The hive in question had been moved from Aberystwyth to our house a couple of weeks prior and was now going back to our new out apiary just outside of Aberystwyth. All went well and...
We’ve been busy this weekend building our new hives. Morgan has been helping and then today all three of us were at it and we’ve gradually turned the pallet of wood that arrived last week into two new beehives. There’s another two to build yet though. First we have to seal all of the cut...
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...
Fitness / Technology / Triathlon
Fixing the Altimeter on my Garmin Forerunner 910XT
Monday, March 17th, 2014
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