Outside my window there’s a crowd of delightful daffodils, their heads dipping and bobbing in the breeze. We have a steep bank that surrounds our garden, up till now it’s been good for nothing except weeds. Last September I bought several bags of bulbs and scattered them in hopeful handfuls, pressing them down into the newly mulched bank with my booted foot. Here I am five months later looking out on an array of yellow heads that smile sunshine at …
It’s the 3rd of January. It’s 4.25pm. I’m standing in the garden looking up to the sky and it’s still daylight. The simple stretch of daylight minute by minute, day by day is enough to cheer me. January always feels like the beginning for me, not because of the turn of the calendar or New Year Resolutions (I don’t believe in them) but because the darkest days of winter are behind me and I can look forward to days lengthening …
My two hives are quiet, they’re like damp, derelict buildings. Winter is a constant cycle of helpless concern for beekeepers. Several times a week I put my coat on and take a hot cup of coffee outside and watch until I drink my cup dry. If I’m lucky I see at least one bee return to a hive. A single bee is enough to reassure me that a colony is still alive and I go happily about my life for …
The day is dull, it can’t decide whether to rain, or not. The air is autumn cool, the blooms of summer have faded, there’s a ‘last orders’ feeling before winter. I’m hunkered down, underneath the big fir tree on the edge of our wet lawn half a metre from my first hive entrance. I’ve just left my youngest off at school for the first time in five months. He turned nine in July and takes his extra year into the …
29th May 2020 It’s hot. I’m out watering my new plants at 7am in shorts and t-shirt. The garden is dying of thirst and after such a wet winter this prolonged lack of rain is going to be equally difficult for the farmers. But this weather is glorious. The honeysuckle, that my husband said would never grow, has extended by at least 30cm and will need attached to the wall soon. My lavender, old and new, are doing well and …
11th May Last night the Prime Minister addressed the nation on the proposed easing of lockdown. It was a long-winded vague ramble; go to work if you can, but stay at home if you can’t, don’t stay at home, but stay alert. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have all done their own thing and extended the lockdown for a further three weeks. The United Kingdom is not looking so united in the face of Covid-19. The unpalatable reality of social …
27th April 2020 My new bee suit arrived at the weekend. Ordered in a pre-Covid world, it still got caught up in the pandemic and has taken nearly eight weeks to get here. Until now, I’ve been squeezing into an inherited child-size suit. My new one is ‘lilac’ though I’d say it’s closer to pink than its purple cousin. It’s the same shade as the Cherry Blossoms that are blooming everywhere. I’m delighted – no more straining into a too …
Bee rescuing is something the whole family are active in at this time of year. As doors and windows open to the lockdown sunshine, some bees inevitably find themselves stranded indoors. We use a glass to trap them safely, then slip a piece of card underneath the rim to act as a lid. If she’s been trapped inside for a long period a drop of honey or water is offered; our own domestic A&E. She is then carried and set …
Friday 3rd April When did the world last stop like this? The World Wars? The Spanish Flu? But it wasn’t the same handbrake skid to standstill. When’s the last time so many noticed the sound of birds singing, or the small bright blooms of spring? Or had the time to notice the details of life? Bees are detail. Bees are full-stops. Before I started beekeeping, I thought I’d seen lots of bees. But I hadn’t – not properly. Drones – …
Monday 23rd March 2020 The Prime Minister announces at 8.30pm that the UK is to go into ‘lockdown.’ People are permitted to leave the house once a day for exercise, to shop for essentials or to go to work – only if that work cannot be done from home. The country is told to ‘Stay At Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives.’ Tuesday tests the country’s resolve and throws out buckets of spring sunshine. After a winter of strong winds …
Here’s a story to bring a smile to our Nationalist readers faces. According to research conducted by the University of Reading, Bees contribute more to the UK economy than the Royal Family. They found that bees contribute £651 million to the UK economy a year, £150 million more than the Royal Family brings in through tourism. I await with pleasure all your “Queen Bee” puns. …. Full story here David McCannDavid McCann holds a PhD in North-South relations from University …
If you see anyone walking round Phoenix Park wearing a white hazmat suit, it’s probably not a sign that chemical warfare has broken out. Instead, it’s the Irish President’s gardeners practising their bee-keeping … all thanks to an export from Northern Ireland. There’s an orchard in the gardens of Áras an Uachtaráin, the Irish President’s residence in Dublin’s Phoenix Park, and from the apples they make mighty fine-tasting organic apple juice. Next year, the new Irish President will have the …
