A Fantastic Feb!
Well it’s this time again, blog writing time. What a month
we have had! The whole month seems to have been busier than ever which is both
good and scary considering our beekeeping season hasn’t started yet.
Much of this month has revolved around jobs in the workshop
making sure all of our equipment is ready for the start of the season which
really is now only a few weeks away and with each warm day the bees show us
just how busy they can be!
We still have a long way to go with a couple of thousand
frames (the wooden parts that slide into the hives and the bees build their
comb into) As well as around 60 hive floors and 60 hive roofs… a busy few weeks
ahead.
The bees are looking good, we have been doing two weekly
checks on the hives, we use a method called “Hefting” which is the ‘art’, and I
say art because its based solely on judgement with taking any actual
measurements, of lifting one side of the hive and deciding if the hive has
enough food. We are finding most do have enough food but at least half have had
fondant added either because they need it or because we think in the next two
weeks they will. As the weather warms up and the bees become more active they
consume far more food so we have to be very careful, the worst feeling is to
lose a hive so close to the spring blooms.
The rest of the time not spent in the workshop or with the
bees has been spent jarring honey, as well as processing honey for our own
brand we also process and pack other peoples honey and that side of the business
has been growing very well over the past 6 month or so and finger crossed will
continue to grow throughout 2023 and onwards.
Now I can’t get through this blog without mentioning a very
special award! As many who follow us on social media are likely to know I am an
active member of Young Farmer, a fantastic youth charity aimed at bringing
people between the ages of 10 and 28 in rural communities together. The
national federation of Young Farmers has been going for a very long time and
even my grandparents were in the same club that I am in all these years on. I
was very kindly nominated as the National Young Farmers Entrepreneur of the
Year 2022 (Awarded in 2023) We attended a fantastic black tie awards ceremony
and I was lucky enough to WIN! This is a massive achievement for me and its
wonderful to have Holt Hall Apiary acknowledged alongside more traditional
farming enterprises as bee farming only makes up a small, but important part of
the UKs agricultural industry.
Looking into March we have plenty more jarring work to do
and also we will begin moving our hives to their spring sites ahead of the Oil
Seed Rape coming into flower, we will update you next time.
Thank you as always for your support reading our blog,
sharing our social media and purchasing our honey, it really is appreciated
Matthew Ingram
Holt Hall Apiary