Bees, Berries and Outdoor Cooking

I've decided to put a few updates in one post again. This week the weather has been absolutely belting and after work on Friday I went to do my inspection of the Bees. Upon arriving at the land my Dad and Brother-in-law were just leaving for a pint over the road. Not wanting to miss the opportunity of a free pint I tagged along! After a swift drink I returned to the land and got on with my inspection.

Not a lot to say on the inspection so I'll keep it brief. The main colony have loads of supplies and the supers are starting to get some stored in them too so with any luck I may have some honey for myself and some to sell this year. Fingers crossed! The nucleus hive wasn't checked as there should be a newly hatched Queen in there and I don't want to disturb her until she has done her mating flight and started laying.

After checking the Bees I decided to take a few strawberries as there are a few ready for the picking and it would be a shame to leave them for the birds to decimate!

And finally as the weather was good I decided to do a spot of outdoor cooking. We have recently had some conifers cut down and trimmed in my back garden and all the wood was lying around so I wanted to get rid of it. What better way then having a fire. There was lots of very dry bits and they set fire with no effort at all. I had a nice long branch that looked ideal for suspending my dutch oven from so I dug a hole and placed one end of the branch in the ground then propped another branch up to the side of it over the fire. I now only had to attach the cooking pot to the branch to suspend it above the flames. The photos below hopefully show this better. I cooked some chilli in the pot and using the lid cooked some sweetcorn as well. It was lovely!

Beer, food and fire, no wonder I'm smiling!

Update on New Allotment

Just a quick update on how things are going on the new allotment. Although it is technically not an allotment, more just a plot of land we have been given rights to use, I am still going to refer to it as an allotment.

In the past week we have had warmer than average temperatures for the time of year and as a result of this have managed to get a considerable amount done; I have done an Ok amount but my dad has been really busy. Due to work commitments I have not been there most days but the time I've managed to get there I have been busy. We now have several trees planted and most of the larger weeds removed. I have cleared an area for the Bees to go and have put some anti weed covering down to keep it clear.

Just need to add Bees!

A row of fruit trees. There are more in now since photo was taken and a lot less weeds to the right hand side of them.

Even Buster (my Dad's dog) is "helping"

The days that I haven't been able to get there I have still kept myself busy by making a new stand for one of my hives. I haven't any pictures of it yet as it remains unfinished. I'm also not as proud of this one as my sawing isn't as straight, therefore it has a little wobble. I'll have to see how well it works when a heavy hive is on top of it, with any luck it'll be fine and if needed I can sink the legs into the ground slightly to aid stability. I've also ordered some straps for the hives for when the time comes to move them. They actually arrived this morning and although a little fiddly to fasten they are extremely secure so hopefully no escaping Bees in transit.

Finally a little mention to something else I've ordered that I'd slightly related to the allotment. I've ordered a 4.25l dutch oven. I plan to use this when camping mainly but will take it down to the allotment some days when I plan to be there all day; I intend on lighting up a fire when I first get there and get some meal slow cooking so I can have a proper well deserved meal break when the time comes. I will also be able to use the freshest ingredients straight out of the ground!