What have I done?! (Beekeeping)

This has been my first year with ‘real grown-up’ beehives. This meant I needed to make new colonies, nucs, artificial swarms, to prevent my bees from swarming. Although I haven’t lost any colonies and I’m now up to six working hives, I really should have put more care into selecting queens. I now have two…

Pear-rhubarb turnover-cake with honey

The summer honey-crop has been harvested last week, and I am busy processing and preparing the honey to be ready to sell. This involves skimming the impurities off the top of the honey in the buckets. I’m too proud of my first honey crop to just throw this honey away. Even though there are some…

Varroa treatment for honeybees with oxalic acid

In my previous post I mentioned one of the methods I use to get rid of varroa mites; sugar syrup with oxalic acid. I combine two kinds of treatment, both are appropriate at different times of the year. I currently don’t use any other chemical (synthetic or natural) than oxalic acid. Oxalic acid occurs in…

Carniolan queens

Last week, the weather was so nice I decided to do a hive check. I combined the hive check with the first varroa-treatment for 2019. My treatment plan to keep my hives low in varroa numbers has been taught to me by my teacher, Corneel Dewindt, who has been a beekeeper for several decades and…

Caramel-honey pear tarte-tatin

This a very simple recipe to make. It makes for a spiced cake that isn’t overpowering. The cake is quite light and fluffy, if you’re worried about the sweetness of the top layer, simply use less honey and syrup. Preparation and top layer Preheat the oven to 160°C. Line a baking tin with parchment paper….

An introduction to honeybee varieties

Across the globe, people harvest honey from various sorts of bee-types. In Asia apis cerana, Koschevnikov and Dorsata are used. Not all of these can be kept in hives, but humans have gone looking for colonies to harvest from for centuries. It has been a popular subject for photographers and documentary makers, to show people…

Honey-walnut-almond cupcakes

These cupcakes might look plain, but they’re far from that! Cut up bits of walnut give a warm, earthy flavor and together with the cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves it makes a great, wholesomely warm fall/winter dessert. These cupcakes retain a moist texture thanks to these walnuts and lend themselves well to being decorated creatively. Begin…

Apple cake squares with honey

This one is the easiest and quickest apple cake recipe I have. You can use a baking tin, but if you dress a deep standard oven tray with parchment paper, you’d be able to make a very large cake (multiply recipe by at least 2 or even 3 for this) without needing a baking tin….

Perfect fall spiced apple cake

With fall comes colder weather, short days and a lot of rain. So we might want to reach for warm flavors and something that fills the air with an amazing enough scent to drive the chill and moisture out. This cake will do just that. I used apples from our own orchard, Red Love 119…