BEEHIVE AND BE PATIENT

.. Or calm down!

THERE'S a great buzz in the air as we prepare for the latest additions to our accidental farm - we've all been on a training course to learn how to handle these tricky new arrivals ... except they've not made an appearance yet.
 I could bring some stock over the Border from the southern counties but let's face it, soft southerners take months to acclimatise to the weather up North and some just simply don't survive life beyond the Watford Gap.
 My other half has spent so many years in London that it took months before his North African Berber genes kicked on (yes, I married a Barbarian).

FULL OF BUSY: A worker bee

 The weather for the last two years has admittedly been appalling in Scotland and add to that a nasty little bug called the Varroa Mite and a raging controversy over the use of pesticides it's no wonder that Britain's best workers are simply dying off.
 I am of course talking about the amazing honey bee, pictured right. Within weeks of arriving in Scotland I joined the Caddonfoot Beekeepers Association and the British Bee Keepers Association (BBKA) and managed to annoy everyone with my 'rush-about townie' attitude.

DAISY & TOM: Novice 

beekeepers-in-waiting

 'I thought I'd start beekeeping and want to know where I can buy hives and I want to set up by the end of next week,' I said as my opening introduction to a man from Caddonfoot. There was a deafening silence on the line lasting around 10 seconds and then I was told things don't work that way when it comes to bees.

 I interpreted this resistance to a touch of chauvinism but I couldn't have been more wrong. I was simply thundering along at a pace which simply just doesn't work in the countryside and, on reflection, he was probably gasping for breath wondering: 'Who is this incredibly stupid woman?'

 So, more than a year on I am now fully prepared, I think, to look after a colony or two of bees. Hubby and I have been on an excellent beginner's course in Cumbria at the delightful Greystoke Cycle Cafe: http://www.greystokecyclecafe.co.uk/Beekeeping.htm and myself, daughter Daisy and her friend Tom also had several hands-on lessons last year from a local beekeeper whose apiary is  on the outskirts of Edinburgh.

REHEARSALS: Anxious to  get

started I examine some frames

The next major obstacle was choosing a hive as there are many different makes in existence. As luck would have it a delightful lady beekeeper, retiring on the grounds of ill health, sold me her cream painted Smith hive which was designed by a Scottish beekeeper and  another, more dispirited soul, sold me his National  hive after losing  his entire colony of bees for the third year running because of inclement weather conditions.  And, I've also ordered an octagonal Warre hive although I have been advised - too late - that keeping three different types of hives will present problems in the future. Obviously I shall be sharing these with you in Soho 2 Silo 

HIVES: Smith (l) & National (r)

 and naturally I would appreciate any input, advice or feedback as I go along. Who knows, I may even have some honey at the end of all of this.

 So now I'm all set to go but unable to progress until I get some bees. I've asked around Caddonfoot and my name has gone on a waiting list but in the meantime I guess I'm going to have to cast my net wider to try and get at least a colony up and running.

 So if you are a beekeeper and you're reading this please get in touch if you can help and/or advise me from where I can get a colony of bees. I'm told the weather has been so bad generally that the beekeeping community north of the Border is already one month behind.