Sallygarden Smallholding - The Forum For Sustainable Living

At long last we have harvested our first honey crop! Normally in France this is done on 15 August (note: not the 14 and not the 16 - don't ask!) but we decided to take the honey early as the colony was very weak and we were worried they would move up to the super and take it all back. As it happened we needn't have worried - they had plenty of their own.

This is the remaining hive from our two that we bought last year. Unfortunately I missed a swarm so we only have 5.5kgs but believe me it's the best we'll ever taste!

Unfortunately this hive now also looks as though it won't survive the winter. There is no brood left and the number of bees is very low with just a bit of drone brood about.

Hi Jean

Congratulations. Isn't the taste simply exquisite compared to shop bought stuff. I think only 1 of my 3 hives has a good chance of surviving the winter, fingers crossed. Tricky business this bee keeping isn't it!

Regards, Rebecca

That's so exciting! Congratulations. That's always been a major dream of mine. One day....