I thought I would try and make a honey dipper for the first time. The wood is some greengage I cut down at the allotment.
First turn it to remove the bark and fully round it off.
Then mark and shape it , I had to made a tool out of an old chisel to make the deep groves but it still needs a little perfecting.
The finished article mine is on the left and a shop bought one on the right (just for comparison)
One of my bees on Goldenrod
It has been estimated that it takes 10,000 bees three days to produce 1lb. of pure beeswax – and to produce this they need to consume at least 6lb. of honey. One pound of honey requires 37,000 loads of nectar – the mileage flown by bees to gather this amount of nectar is approximately 50,000 miles.
A 1oz. block of wax requires a total journey of 18,750 miles or three quarters of the distance round the world.
Not In my Garden but bathroom.
Wingspan 38-42 mm.
A member of the ‘Thorn’ family, this moth has an unusual aspect when at rest, with the front margins of the wings curiously folded. This, in combination with the colour and pattern give a crumpled leaf-like appearance.
It flies in June and July, and is locally distributed in much of England, Wales and Ireland.
It inhabits woodland and hedgerows, and the caterpillar feeds on honeysuckle (Lonicera) and privet (Ligustrum) among others.
I found one of my nucs that I had moved to over winter at the allotment was being robbed mercilessly so I closed the entrance down to a single bee in and single bee out , it didnt help much so I moved the hive that night back to my neighbours garden. the next day it was still being robbed so I covered the hive with a sheet and sprayed with peppermint oil to hide any smell of honey etc .
Yesterday I popped to have a look before my op and it was totally empty just dead bees.
I’ve now labelled the bottles of honey which are now for sale.
I have made some chilly Chutney using home grown tomatoes, onions and chillies.
I have doubled the amounts below to make the 6 jars.
I also bake bread more or less every day and this is on of my Focaccia breads cheese and red onion.
I have been stripping the beds out of my garden which had been taken over by ground hugging geraniums which are great but they have smothered a lot of the other perennials. I will plant more nectar rich plants for next year… Including the Bergamot plants that I sowed earlier this year.
While removing some of my neighbours invasive ivy I had an accident and spent 5 hours in A&E with doctors nurses and plastic surgeons, I have cut my finger length wise to the bone , breaking the bone and chopped some of my cartilage away … I have to go back in for surgery over the next day or two till then the wound has to stay open … I am always a health and safety follower but even with gardening gloves accidents happen
A log burner I made from an old gas cylinder ( working with empty gas cylinders is very dangerous if you do not know what you are doing , if you want to know how I did it please message me )
