The bee expert pays a visit

Cool!

Fascinating ...

Brilliant..I bet that was so satisfying. Was the other hive empty of bees ?

Excellent Gattina . . . glad you and the bees are happy :)

Very happy, Sheila. I kept at a safe distance. As our two fellas disappeared up the garden looking like something out of "Quatermass", his wife said "Well, I'm staying here - in this heat the bees will be angry and aggressive!" Actually, they were fine - docile and friendly. Probably heat exhausted.
Yes, Pims, the other little hive (about a tenth of the size of this one) had lost it's queen, so was deserted. She had been our "spare." I shall be a happy bunny to get a couple of jars of lovely, scented white honey out of it. When we've done this for Mr bee man for another season, perhaps it'll be worth investing in all the equipment for ourselves. It is a bit of an outlay, and we aren't GREAT honey eaters, but it's very satisfying, and helps pollinate our garden and fruit trees.

Very interesting.

oh, wow, pure honey in quantity! even half of it will be so gorgous - lol now all you need is home-made bread and home-made butter to have the perfect munch

The home-made bread is no problem at all, Fran - I make ALL that we eat - in fact, I've got some on the go downstairs now. Butter might be a little more difficult, but all of our neighbours have cows, and we can buy butter from the local "cooperativo" that takes their milk, so it'll be very local. The food mileage covered will be very, very low, and it tastes darned good, too.

Wow that is fantastic!

Aren't we lucky, PP? If anyone had told me twenty years ago that I'd end up living in Italy, keeping bees, growing our own fruit and vegetables and making bread, I'd have thought it was wishful thinking, but it just proves that there IS life after retirement, and it's fun and useful, too! :o)))

trade some honey for the butter??

We're only going to get a small percentage of the honey - I don't want to give away too much of it! Butter you can buy from a supermarket, but your own honey is something special.

We are given wonderful dark thick honey by our lovely neighbours - glorious stirred into yoghurt or tossed with cooked carrots & parsnips. I make my own bread too - and have been known to make butter in an emergency! Do you have a food mixer? If so, just beat 500g of cream to death in it until it becomes solid, add salt to taste - there you are! Butter!

I'm also with you on the "If anybody had told me ........." I still have to pinch myself sometimes to make sure I'm not dreaming, especially on lovely sunny days like today. Got my curry made for tonight; wine's open and cooling in the fridge; orange and chocolate drizzle cake made and tasted; as soon as Partner comes out of the shower - I'm in; then it's balcony and wine in the warm evening breeze complete with music. Does it get any better! :o)))))))))

Oh Bl***y shut up lol. Grey and overcast here. Mind you have the wine cooling. Ooops Rosé in freezer, must rescue it. Jx

Oh sorry Gat, forgot - meant to comment on the blog. Good photo and yes it is nice to have some honey. I'm thinking of doing just what you have done. I don't want lbs of the stuff, but I do like some for cooking etc. so i thought I'd let the local bee society put a couple of hives in the orchard. Jx

mum used to be sent New Zealand clover honey by her penfriend, which i ended up with as she didn't like it. wonderful taste - what are yours mainly feeding on, if there is a "speciality" plant?

I only have a hand-mixer, but I might try butter-making - just a tad, to see if I can. Sure as heck can't beat bread dough with it, it's a wimp one.

How about a how-to blog and pics, Nariz??

Well, the bees were started off in the hive when the surrounding acacias were in bloom, then the lime trees (not many of those), but since then it's just been assorted wildflowers - mostly clovers of one sort or another. I wish we could have sent them away on holiday while the chestnuts were in flower - far too strong a taste - but it'll just be a mixture of flavours, Fran. I'll let you know what it tastes like.

Since we moved in here and started a flower garden 6 years ago, our neighbour says the honey has taken on a different flavour - she thinks it's the lavender. Good job she likes the difference or I'd be in trouble!

Do you think it warrants pics Fran? It really is as simple as I said above - just crash up the cream and there you have it. :o)

Oh yes, Nariz, I'd forgotten how much lavender we have ion the garden - there'll be some of that in there, too.

sounds lovely, Gattina, waiting for a report *s*

proibably not, Nariz, but every little helps ...

Actually Nariz, I just priced it up at the supermarket and it could work out a tiny bit cheaper to make the butter at home and as you say add salt to your own taste.

I found this very interesting Gattina...

You lucky lucky girl Gat , honey is like liquid gold so precious equally delicious Mmmm

lol Barbara Cartland said it was what made her look so youthful! or was that Roayl Jelly, which I think is made from honey, or a type of honey?

Not sure I want to look like Barbara Cartland in any way!