Outting to Wragby

The big deal for this weekend was a trip out the Wragby near Lincoln. Wragby is the home of Thornes. Click HERE for the website. They are the premier manufacturer of beehives and beekeeping equipment. The event was their summer sale. I was advised to get there early. It was supposed to open at 9am. I got there at 8.30 and was about fiftyth in the queue. By the time the gates were opened the queue was half way down the street. There was nervous chatter from the waiting crowd. When the door opened to the warehouse it all went quiet as folk concentrated on the getting though the door. Once into the warehouse it was a free for all. Thorne's had five pallets stacked chest height with flat pack brood boxes and and the same of supers. Within ten minutes of opening up the ten pallets were empty. However all that happened was that folks created stacks of there selections all over the floor so now all the walkways are blocked with anxious looking people protecting there piles of goodies. People were buying forty and fifty hives at a time. It was a feeding frenzy.

The one thing I went for was an extractor. There was only four available. I spotted them on the top of the racking. I squeezed through the crowd and managed to reach up for one. I got my hand on it so it was mine. It was worth the trip since the extractor was brand new and less than half price. I got some frames and foundation as well. Having paid for them an stacked them in the car and went back for a sandwich and a brew from the refreshment tent, then made my way home.

When I got home a put together the hives I got during the week. They are got a good as the Thornes but they are cheaper. The extra job I had to do was paint the hives with wood stain to waterproof them. The sun was hot on my back as I worked in the back garden. I had to keep an eye on the time as Miss L and I had to go to Steve for his start of summer BBQ. H had gone to for a her sister's for a charity do in Hathersage. Steve asked me to make some Elderflower champagne. Something went wrong and it ended up as a bitter syrup. Instead I took a couple of bottles of cider. I think it went down well enough.

The next morning I had to do the trailer run. After having tipped the trailer I dropped back to the house to make breakfast for Miss L and I. We had pancakes and bacon. I had too many pancakes as usual. I went back to the lottie with the express mission to weed the carrot patch. I put on my knee pads and set to. I had my radio on, the sun was not too hot and there was a nice breeze. It was easy work loosening the soil and pulling the weeds by the handful. I was able to work round the Parsnips but not the Carrots, They had been out completed by the weeds. I put four wheel barrows of weeds into the compost bins. The key thing is to get the weeds before they set seed. I harvetsed some Cabbage, Broad Beans and Beetroot. H was back from her outing but I still had to do the Bees.

I looked through the boxes but had trouble finding the queen in one of the boxes but there were a lot of queen cells, which was a worry. I resolved to go back on Wednesday lunchtime to check again. When I got home H was sleepy. She had had a poor night at the Youth Hostel so went to bed for a nap. I went over to Mo's and watered the Tomatoes. Later we sat down to a nice diner and commiserated with Miss L as her boyfriend has gone on holiday for a week. It brought to an end a busy weekend.