A sad sad day. Byebye bees

I've been a beekeeper for a year now. I initially started the hobby because it was something my mum wanted to do - little did I know how much of an effect they would have on me.

The bee keeping for beginners course started in the same month that I had lost my main client for work, so I suddenly had quite a bit of spare time on my hands that I didn't know what to do with (...apart from plan my wedding and stress about my lack of income) so I decided to put my name down with my mum and see what all the fuss was about.

After a few intense but fun weeks of learning the ins and outs of bees and bee keeping,  I was hooked, and before I knew it we were on a swarm list to have our very own bees. Building our first hive was an experience- no matter how much we thought we knew, nothing prepared us for a flat pack hive!

It took days to get it done, we were very determined to get our hive up and running so it could house our first colony! Finally the finished article was ready for its new tenants. Now all we had to do was wait for a swarm.

The day arrived only a week after our hive was built, a call came saying a swarm had been collected near Wembley Stadium and was on its way to us...we were like new parents welcoming a baby!

My mum and I are the ones staring aimlessly as the professional bee keeper empties the swarm into their new home. It was a very satisfying but scary event that had taken place. We finally had our own bees. Yikes!!

Over night they had started making their own store. It was in completely the wrong place but we were still very proud nonetheless.

I went from a girl who had Tiffany's and Ugg boots on her birthday present list, to asking for a bee brush and a queen marking pen. The bees changed me, in more ways than I knew! Over the first few weeks, whether we liked it or not, all we could think or talk about were the bees. We even sat and had our breakfast whilst watching them wake up as the sun rose on their hive.

My sewing skills mixed with my day job of being a model came together during the early days of bee keeping because, being a bit of a fashionista mixed with a scardy pants meant that I wasn't entirely comfortable with the thought of ours bees walking down my sleeve and into my rubber gloves, so I ran up a few polka dot sleeve protectors for us, to match our suits and relax me a little more during inspections!

My new 'bespoke' sleeve protectors worked a treat!

The time I spent with our bees meant more to me than I thought, for the hour or so that it took us to do an inspection, they let me into their world and helped me forget about my own stresses and strains. I was going through a very hard time personally, but when it came to opening the hive and smelling that woody warm smell, I was instantly relaxed and transfixed by our busy little bees.

It seems odd to say I am inspired by an insect but the way the bees work selflessly for the good of their colony, doing what they need to do and not stopping until they've reached their goal is admirable. They don't deviate or get distracted by anything else, even when their whole roof comes off and their world gets invaded with a giant smoker and darkness turns to daylight.

"Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn't know it so it goes on flying anyway."
-Mary Kay Ash

Baby bee emerging from its cell under the wing of a nurse bee

They were very 'textbook' in what they were doing and the colony was getting stronger, but we still felt the need to Google their every move! By late Spring, we managed to mark the queen and started to understand the noises they were making and what they were up to. We learnt how to recognise a 'baby' bee and even watched them hatch out of their cells.

The time eventually came for our first honey extraction. It was extremely exciting, but we also felt a bit bad taking away what our girls had worked so tirelessly to make in their new hive, so we both agreed to just take a couple of frames this year and leave the rest for them.

My first taste of our honey on a cracker was satisfyingly scrumptious. Big changes started to occur after this and our bee keeping knowledge was really going to be put to the test. In late September our queen disappeared. As we approached the hive we could hear the bees humming quite loudly, they were darting about all over the place- we knew something was wrong. Once we started inspecting the frames, we noticed 11 or 12 new queen cells. The colony had not changed in size but the queen was gone. We started to panic because it seemed as though the bees were panicking too! After seeking some professional advice, we made the decision to get rid of all but one queen cell. It was a hard decision to carry out, but one that was necessary if we were going to stand the chance of having a strong colony to go into winter with. Thankfully we made the right decision, the new queen hatched and started performing her duties perfectly. Phew, we could finally relax again and I could go off and get married knowing everything in the hive was working properly! Not quite...a few weeks into October we carried out a normal inspection, we suited up and went out to the hive expecting to see a happy strong colony-this was not the case, we heard the frantic humming again and the bees darting out all over the place. It had happened again, our queen had disappeared. New queen cells were being made and one was already sealed so we kept her and destroyed the other ones, it was a very tense few weeks, we could see the colony getting smaller and knew as winter was approaching our new young queen didn't have long to mature and go on a mating flight, then return and keep her colony strong enough to get through winter.

We always knew it was a long shot, there was nothing more we could do, it was too late in the year to buy a new mated queen so all our hopes rested on the young one we had. We tried everything to get them through, even carried out superstitions like tapping our keys on the hive on Christmas morning as an old bee keeping saying is if you tap your house keys on the hive on Christmas morning, your bees will stay with you for the year.

We tried everything, from weighing the entire hive to pinning our ears against it in the hope of hearing the hum of our bees.

We've had quite a few warm sunny days here in London over the past couple of weeks and have been watching the hive for activity, we hadn't seen a single bee so feared the worst. It was very sunny yesterday so we decided to bite the bullet and open the hive. Our fears had been met. Once the hive was open it looked like a scene from the film The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Everything had been frozen, there was a tiny colony left, all huddled in a little ball to try and keep warm. It was such a sad sight. They were just too weak to get through the winter.

 

Some almost seemed to freeze exactly where they were, they all looked healthy, it was almost as though someone had paused them. We've now started the process of cleaning the hive out and getting ready to start a year with another colony. We had a fun and very interesting year with the bees and I've got a lot to thank them for. I've found a new passion in life and am so inspired by them.

We all have so much to learn from bees, I will apply all my knowledge when caring for the next colony, but little do my new bees know, that they'll be caring for me too!

“One can no more approach people without love than one can approach bees without care. Such is the quality of bees...”
-Leo Tolstoy

Thanks for reading today,
Nicola
xx

Breakfast omlette muffins

My husband works nearly two hours away from our home so has to leave very early in the morning and barely has time to make a substantial breakfast before he goes, so I decided to make him a batch of these breakfast omelet muffins full of veggies and nutrients. The best thing about them is that they can be frozen. He reheats them in the microwave in a couple of minutes and eats them on the road.

This recipe makes about 12 muffins; obviously you can change the quantities to make more or less!

What you will need:

• 8 eggs
•  1 diced red onion
•  Half a diced leek
•  4 peeled and diced medium sized mushrooms
•  1 chopped red pepper
•  3 slices of chopped ham (I used honey roast ham and cut it in 1cmx1cm pieces.
•  5 diced cherry tomatoes
• butter for greasing muffin tray
•  Handful of grated cheddar cheese

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius and put the mushrooms and leeks in the frying pan with a sprinkle of oil. Whilst these are simmering for 5 minutes, grease your muffin tray with some butter. If you wanted to make a more decorative batch, as finger food at a party for example, you could put muffin or cupcake cases in the muffin molds.

Leave the frying pan mixture to cool, break 8 eggs into a bowl 

and gently whisk. I used a Kitchenaid processor but feel free to 

whisk by hand for an extra workout!! Once the eggs have been whisked 

add all the other ingredients as well as the mushroom and leaks into 

the bowl with the eggs. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and mix 

together with a wooden spoon.

I used a ladle to divide the mixture into the muffin cases. 

Ensure not to fill to the top of the case, as the muffins will rise! 

I left about a 0.5 to 1cm gap for growth.

I sprinkled a few of mine with grated mature cheddar cheese for a 

slightly different flavour.

Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes until 

they have risen, set and have no runny egg in the middle. 

Leave to cool then transfer to a wire rack. Store in a Tupperware 

box to refrigerate or freeze.

Thanks so much for reading, hope you enjoy making these, please let me know if you have any other variations to make them even more scrummy!

xx

 

About Me

My name is Nicola, a 30 year old part time fashion model living in a little country style cottage in London with my husband, Andrew. I love making our house a cosy home, filling it with beautiful traditional nicknacks. I have a passion for home accessories and have been a bee keeper for a year so am obsessed with all things bee! I have always been interested in fashion, textiles and home accessories. Being a model means that I am in touch with the latest fashions, whether I like it or not! It gave me an insight into the exquisite way things are made and sourced from a simple drawing to the final product. I feel strongly about using products made in the UK, because I am passionate about the quality of British craftsmanship and believe it helps keep skills alive and more jobs available.
I wanted to start a blog to hopefully spread some happiness and laughter around with my home accessories ideas and bee adventures, because I truly beelieve (sorry) that no matter what size home we have, we all deserve some luxuries, fun and treats to fill it with.

Finding a name for my blog was one of the hardest processes. It came about when I was at my lowest point and feeling pretty down one night as I had lost a big client that provided the majority of my income, when Andrew just leant over to me and whispered, “be happy”. That was it! I finally had a name! It made me realise that I need to stop feeling so sad about everything and start believing I could set this little blog up and have some fun with readers and learn a few things along the way! Its as simple as that!

“The purpose of our lives is to be happy.”
~ Dalai Lama

I’m looking forward to getting to know you, please feel free to add your comments!

Nicola
xx