I got a phone call at 11.30am on Saturday for the farmer I was supposed to meet at noon say that he had been up lambing so could we meet at 2pm. I had to say yes. That left me kicking stones for a few hours. I was supposed to be plastering the dining room but the re-schedule meeting put paid to that. The weather has been quite mild and today was sunny as well. The bees have been on my mind so I decided to make some candy to feed them with. Take one part water to four parts water and a half teaspoon of vinegar. Bring the mixture to the boil whilst stirring all the time. Then bring syrup to to 240 degrees. When it gets there take the pan off the heat. Whilst it cools sort out some containers. I use roasting tins, mainly because they are metal. I line them with greaseproof paper. When it cools to 200 degrees start to whisk the mixture. As the mixture cools the whisking adds air. Soon or later the mixture turns white. I find that when a crust starts forming it is about right. Then pour the mixture into the tins and set it outside to cool. When it is cold it turns pure white and has the texture of fondant icing.
Two o'clock came round so Steve ad I went to see the farmer. An hour later we were done. The sun was dropping but the sky was still blue. I decided to go and see the bees. I put the fondant and my bee gear fettling in Degsy and trundled off to see the bees for the first time this year. Because of the crop rotation I have to go different way round to the apiary. The old route is under winter barley. The new route take me down the other side of the hedge line. The trouble is there is a second fence which means I have a bit of a walk over to the hives. I got the three trays of fondant out of Degsy and strolled over to the hives. There were no bees flying but it was quite cold so I was not expecting to see any flyers. I looked in the front of the hives but there were just piles of dead bees but that is normal at this time of year. I put my ear against the hives but I could not hear anything.
I took the roof off one hive I tried to pop of the feeder and spare super off the top of the hive. It was glued on, again no surprise. I rummaged in my bees gear box for the hive tool but could not find it. I used my pen knife to loosen the feeder but had to walk up to Degsy and back for it. I was smart enough to put the feeder on top of a crown board last year. That kept the bees and the heat in once the feeder was off. The bees started nosing round the edge of the hole in the crown board. So they are alive in that box. I turned out a block of fondant onto the crown board. I cracked it in two and put it over the hole being careful not to squash any bees. I cracked the fondant block so the hole in the crown board was not blocked. The bees looked fat and glossy so they have made it through the winter. I put the roof back on and moved onto the other hive.
The same process, roof off, remove the extra supers left on over the winter. As I moved round the hive I found my hive tool. I must have left it there in the autumn. It is good to know very few people go to the apiary and if any one does go there they keep their hands to themselves. As soon as the crown board was exposed the bees started investigating. These bees where a bit more active and again fat , black and glossy. I added the two thin fondant blocks to this hive making sure not to block the hole. The hole provides ventilation. Bees need fresh air circulating in the hive to keep it healthy.
The tricky bit is to keep them alive until the spring. The bees will have been huddled together all winter eating very little. As the weather warms up the bees tuck into their stores. The hard part is to judge is how much stores do they need to get them through to spring and the first flowers. The fondant is a way to ensure they have stores. I think my mistake in previous year has been to add syrup [one pound of sugar to one pints of water] rather than fondant. Syrup mimics the composition of nectar. A flow of nectar stimulates the queen to lay which has led to the brood chamber being congested. That in turn triggers swarming. I may not provide any syrup this year and see how the build up and swarming goes.
I carried the extra supers in the back of Degsy. I will have to do something about lugging hive parts back and forth. I took a few pictures of Degsy standing in the field. Peculiarly it felt good to have my hive tool back in my pocket. On the way back from the Bees I dropped in to see the horse folk. Now I have Degsy back I can start back on the poo run. After t'horses I dropped in on the lottie. I filled up the bird feeders. The netting has taken a beating so will need repairing. The snow has put paid to the Broccoli although Savoy cabbages have wintered well as have the sprouts. The over wintering onion and Garlic are still growing. The weed cover has held the soil together and despite the weather the soil looks in good condition. The path however are a different story. The grass in the path seem to had a life of their own regardless of the snow. I think I have a job on there.
Sunday dawned wet and windy and stayed that way for the the greater part of the day. I had a job to do in the dining room, plastering. I set up self up, mixing place, mortar board, water bucket, floats and brush. Having mixed a bucket of finish I plastered the back wall of the dining room in no time at all. I decided over a brew that I would tackle the ceiling. I sorted a staging to get me close enough to the ceiling. Two buckets of finish were enough for ceiling. I took it steady. I remembered my plasterer's friend wisdom, " don't hurry lad". I worked methodically across the ceiling and left it to dry. I got an 18inch finishing float based on something saw on the TV. It was just the job, it polished up the plaster a treat. I managed to do the back wall ceiling and corner. Then I just had to clean up, me and the room, have a brew and wait for it to dry.
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