Show and Tell

It’s certainly getting a bit more chilly and, as one season makes way for another, we have a couple of Shows to Tell you about (not on TV this time)…

We are delighted to have been invited back to Country Living Magazine’s Christmas Fair and this year we will be running a crafting workshop helping participants make their own Advent Candle Table Decoration as well as demonstrating our Special Christmas Stollen in the Country Living Kitchen.

***FREE DRAW***

Country Living Christmas Fair, Wednesday 7th – Sunday 11th November

Business Design Centre, Islington

It’s always a wonderful event and we’d love you to join us! We have been given some FREE TICKETS for blog subscribers, so once you’ve subscribed at the top of the page, leave a comment on this post telling us why you’d like to come to the fair and we will draw winners from the hat on Monday 5th Nov. Pop the dates in your diary because even if you don’t win the tickets, there’s 20% off with our discount code SARA18LDN 

Once the bees are nicely tucked up for winter, we get busy preparing their honey and wax both for sale and for show. We were fortunate to have harvested two different varieties this year, both light Spring and medium Summer, which made for a bumper crop of 164 jars! We prepared quite a lot for the National Honey Show, and between honey, wax, preserves & a photograph, we entered a total of 16 different classes and were delighted to win 1 x First Prize, 2 x Second Prize and 1 x Third Prize. The show ended with the cups and trophies presented to winners by Bill Turnbull who encouraged us with the Bee Keeper’s Blessing:

“May your colonies be healthy and of good temper
May your supers be overflowing
And may your swarms be someone else’s bees!“

Other News:

• Most of next year’s courses are open for bookings, they make great Christmas presents and we can send you a gift card to pass on
• Another hen has joined the flock, a beautiful Silver Laced Wyandotte, bringing our number up to 26
• Our new course Become A Bread Angel – Start Your Own Micro Bakery is fully booked and we look forward to watching all the new angels fly!

Jobs for the Week:

• Create a seasonal feast for the friends of Cultivate London using local produce that they’ve grown for their Annual Celebration
• We have a collection of huge demijohns containing this year’s cider and wine, they’ve finished their first ferment and we need to siphon them into clean vessels for the next stage
• Practise making bees wax candles with the moulds that we bought from the National Honey Show

Are you starting to think about Christmas and how do you like to prepare?

Have a great week,

Sara