So along with the beekeeping trainings course I've been going to every week, I've also been slowly acquiring what we need to actually keep bees.
I've ordered a hive that I need to assemble (I'll also be making some), a smoker and feeder. But I've also got the most important thing -
Both girls seem really keen with the beekeeping, the boy not so much! But it will be up to them if they get involved. The girls seem to have the idea of using any wax for making wax wraps to sell (which will go alongside what I do really nicely), and hopefully they'll come up with some other projects as well.
Hopefully I'll get to assemble my hive soon, it's been a busy couple of weeks with orders and talks, but hopefully I'll get to do some smallholding jobs the next few days and this may be one of them. I think the children might like to assemble the hive with me as well.
Have you thought of making an Honesty box to sell the honey, vegetables and your timber products?
ReplyDeleteWe had one for a while, but our house is off the road and it's only really the footpath. For us it's better to sell to friends and family or online.
DeleteAt one point, my parents had about 150 bee hives. We converted an old chicken coop into what we called the "honey house." I don't have a lot of fond memories of that time mostly because I was a source of manual labor. I spent evenings after school in the spring and fall extracting the honey from the frames that my father had decapped at some point during the day. In the winter I spent evenings building replacement frames and hive bodies.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of hives. Did it earn them very much money? I had to do a lot of free manual labour growing up, the main one was moving bales of straw and hay dad would sell. We would hand deliver 6000 bales to one farm and stack them. It was hard work but I guess I was fairly strong because of it.
DeleteI'm with Ed. Have kept bees for over 50 years now. I love them and can't imagine life on my smallholding without them. But honey extraction is an absolute b*** ache. I tend to put it off as long as I can. Hence I only spun last years honey last month when a friend came to stay, who was very keen to do it with me. Four supers have been stacked in my snug all winter to ensure the honey doesn't set. Not a good look but a good place to put the scotch bottles out of the reach of great grandbabies!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure where I'm going to set up all the bee keeping stuff. It's like a I need a shed just for it, and I'm always short on space.
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