By operating urban beehives year-round, Bybi helps the environment, gives training, and creates opportunity.

Source: A Sweet Gig: Danish Beekeeping Program Employs Refugees | TakePart

No need to sweeten the pot with this deal.

Source: 17 Decadent Desserts You Can Make With Honey

It’s that time of year again,  apples are dropping from the branches.  I’ve rummaged in the attic and dragged out the necessary gear,  it’s time to fire up the pres…

Source: Cyser House Rules  – thenakedapiarist

This October, there is to be an extravaganza in the heart of the west end to promote the magical qualities of honey.

This is an interesting concept, which combines the wonders of honey with the pure bullshit of marketing.

The language is revealing. The use of a word like terroir does not apply to honey, though the plants will be influenced by their environment, their qualities will be the same.

Wine and cheese require fermentation – a completely different process from the production of honey – and this focus detracts from the simple miracle of what the bees do, which is invert sugars and reduce the water content to make honey.

I’ve no problem with promoting honey as a high quality natural food stuff – it’s what we do at SKA. But we believe honey is one of those foods that can and should be sourced locally.

It is a sustainable product and allows individuals and their families to drastically reduce their environmental footprint through the reduction of their household’s responsibilities for food miles.

This is something I would expect Bermondsey Street Bees to articulate, given all the good work they do, so I hope they make that point in their presentations.

Anyway, it’s an interesting idea. Maybe I’ll get tickets myself…

Soho, London, 6-8 October, TICKETS ON SALE SOON

Bompas & Parr is curating the world’s most extensive art installation dedicated to some of the rarest honeys in the world.

For 6th to 8th October 2016, a four-floor townhouse in Soho will be transformed into a golden hive of activity for Relais & Chateaux, the international hotel group, featuring an immersive experiential art installation and gastronomic tasting of honeys collected from its properties worldwide.

The experience focuses on eight honeys produced in extremely low quantities from as far afield as Japan, the US, New Zealand, France, Spain and the UK, allowing guests to appreciate the influence of their respective terroirs.

Tastings will be conducted by award-winning honey experts from Bermondsey Street Bees, who will directly connect the micro-climates and local geographic traits of Relais & Châteaux with the aromatic and taste profile of each respective honey.

The Joy of Bees includes a fragrant indoor garden, a buzzing live honeybee observation hive, honeycomb-inspired contemporary art, honey tasting from around the world led by a honey sommelier, hands-on chef cookery demos and more.

The activation reflects the hotel group’s dedication to ecology and sustainability, with many of the properties and hotelkeepers becoming beekeepers, giving these vital pollinators a habitat in which to live, and allowing its chefs to build in the unique attributes of local honeys into their own style of cuisine.

 

For more nonsense and how to book tickets, go to: News / Bompas & Parr

From left: 1lb, 12oz and 8oz jars (454g, 340g and 227g)

Seven Kings Apiary’s honey will be featuring in the beekeeping section of Edible Utopia on Saturday.

I’ve provided two samples of honey – a darker one from the second half of 2015 and a lighter one from the first half of 2016.

Both are delicious and they are to be used in a taste test of London honeys, apparently.

Details below in case you’re interested:

Beekeeping

Saturday 20 August 2016, 11.30, 13.00 14.30 & 16.00

Utopia Treasury, Great Arch Hall, Free, Drop-in

Esther Coles is a beekeeper who will give light hearted and informative talks about ‘Life in the Hive’, including information about beekeeping, the waggle-dance, the life cycle of the worker bee and the importance of the honey bee and other pollinators, followed by a tasting of London honeys.

​Adnams Honey has arrived!

Adnams’ beekeeper, Steve Barrett, has delivered our very first jars of Suffolk honey from our beehives at Reydon! Guests at The Swan Hotel will be able to sample a pot of truly local honey…

On August 08 2016, I got a call from a lady in Dagenham saying she had a swarm of bees in her tree.

I wasn’t sure and expected a cast swarm the size of a tennis ball (if I was lucky), but the picture she sent me showed a large cluster, so I said I’d come and have a look.

As soon as I got close, I could see this was a swarm that had moved in some weeks before, so I would have to get a full sized brood box to put it in as the swarm box I have in the back of the car wasn’t going to cut it.

So I came back the next day and got it processed. The bees were good natured and even put up with me dropping the last comb after cutting a little too deeply.

Sealed brood was placed into frames and held in with elastic bands. I never saw the queen, but the colony orientated towards the box very quickly.

All in all, uneventful, but thought you might like to see what little footage I managed to get. Alas, the iPhone I used wasn’t behaving itself very well and so the quality isn’t good, but it will give you an idea of what I had to do to relocate these ladies.

A British summer garden is not complete without the gentle sound of bees, buzzing among the flowers.

Source: Do bees have regional accents? Cardiff University launches scheme to find out