Clinging, climbing, creeping… ivy certainly knows how to make itself at home! It scrambles up walls, wraps itself around tree trunks and, left to its own devices, it can get a bit too much. I know the temptation this time of year – grab the secateurs and pull the lot down. But please, don’t cut it yet – wait a little longer!
That’s a wrap on our bee keeping courses, the honey is finally gathered in and this has definitely been my biggest honey harvest so far. A good job too as we’ve just won another Great Taste Award for our Brentford Honey – Hurrah!
Last month, we had our first Full Day Bee Keeping course and, as we went through each of the three colonies in the garden, I explained to our guests that it can take a while for them to build up after winter. Fortunately, this didn’t lead to complacency as within three days, another of our colonies was planning to swarm…
The Green Queens…
This year is the first year that I’ve used a ‘proper’ queen marking pen – yes, there is such a thing – and I haven’t been the most neat of artists whilst using it. Previous years have found me sporting an old bottle of nail varnish and, as you can see in the photo above, blue glitter was quite a favourite.
We are so excited as we prepare for this year’s Country Living Magazine Spring Fair – We’ll be there, complete with a clutch of chickens, and will be based in the Smallholding area as one of the first things you see as you enter the event.
As Summer days shrink at both ends and a new term starts at school we celebrate the harvest and look forward to all the lovely Autumn activities ahead and, as usual, say ‘All Aboard and Join us on the Journey’…
Welcome back to Hen Corner, especially to new visitors since our recent feature in The Guardian. I know that the children went back to school last week, but I’m going…
Welcome back to Hen Corner, especially to new visitors since our recent feature in The Guardian. I’m a firm believer that Christmas continues until the twelfth night and remain in…
‘A day without a friend is like a pot without a single drop of honey left inside.’* *Winnie The Pooh September is always busy on the smallholding; it’s our main…
‘A bee is never as busy as it seems; it’s just that it can’t buzz any slower.’* *Kin Hubbard I normally do tend to pack a lot into my time,…
