Bee keepers.

Last week or the week before I made the decision to merge my two blogs for a while.

Once upon a time this used to be a craft blog and it didn't make sense to include our farmy bits here.

And once upon a time I felt very strongly that the farm needed it's own space for Daylesford Organics story telling. 

But lately it's been less and less clear which stories should go where, and who should be told and shown what. And lately I've felt like I want this blog to be about our whole picture and the farm part is such a big section of that. We live and work here, but we also love and believe so strongly in what we do here. Organic farming, looking after the land and animals, and working and eating with the seasons is who we are.

So for now I'm directing all the Daylesford Organics traffic over here. This will be my place to record the farm stuff, the family stuff, the crafty, food and life stuff. I hope it makes sense to you too. That you find what you are looking for here. That you still pop in and say hi.

Last week some of our gang got strapped and velcroed and zippered into their bee keeping suits. We left no gaps at all for sneaky bees to fly into and sting, even taping on gloves and boots.

 We lit a fire of pine needles in the smoker to placate the bees and went to inspect their workplaces.

If some of these pictures are not so clear it's because they were taken through the car window where those of us without suits sheltered.

We have about five bee hives scattered around the farm at Daylesford Organics. We mainly keep the bees to pollinate the fruit trees in blossom time, but of course we adore the sweet, sticky honey too. There is nothing better than a dollop on our porridge or toast. Some members of the family have even been known to eat it by the fist full.

And I guess an added and almost unexpected bonus of keeping bees is the lessons we are learning about them. Watching my girls dress in their suits and calmly go about their jobs while being slowly covered in the potentially dangerous insects. Their knowledge and understanding of where their food comes from. And their respect for these important members of our team and their understanding that at this time of the year, in autumn, we must leave most of the honey frames for the bees to feed on when the days are too cold to fly and there is no pollen around.

I hope your Easter and or Passover weekend is the sweeeeeeeeeetest.
Big love from our gang to yours.
xx