Tag: 2021 Beekeeping Season

As we usually see during the winter months we have had a slight uptick in honey packing orders (that’s jarring for other people) which at least means you get to stay out of the cold in the honey room which stays lovely and warm year round!

The bees are all well and keeping warm and most importantly dry in their hives! Over the next week or two we will be adding fondant to each hive as an extra safety measure to make sure that they always have enough food as winter into early spring is the riskiest time of year for honey bees!

Many of you will have seen the black and white image on our social media, I was very excited to find this photo as I’ve known its existence for a couple of years but without being able to find it. The man beekeeping in the photo is my Great Great Grandpa, Charles! We think this photo would be around 70 years old but maybe even older and what’s even more amazing is that these beehives are only about 20m from where I first started beekeeping quite by chance!

This Months Recip-bee

Honey Lovers Gingerbread!
_{(Adapted from BBC Good Food)}

In the run up to the festive season what could be more perfect than gingerbread! These biscuits are perfect and only require the cupboard staples! I iced these with royal icing, but it took all my willpower not to eat them as they came out the oven! They will leave you with a wonderful batch of biscuits and a festive smell in the kitchen! You can use either ginger Infused or festive spiced honey for a wonderful flavour!

Ingredients

• 100g salted butter
• 3 tbsp Holt Hall Apiary Honey
• 100g dark muscovado sugar
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tbsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 225g plain flour
• 50g icing sugar

Method

• STEP 1 Heat the butter, honey and sugar together in a small pan until melted, stirring occasionally. Set aside to cool slightly.
• STEP 2 Mix together the bicarb, ginger, cinnamon and flour in a large bowl. Pour in the buttery syrup mixture and stir to combine, then use your hands to bring together to form a dough. The dough will be soft at this point, but it’ll firm up in the fridge.
• STEP 3 Put the dough on a sheet of baking parchment, shape into a rectangle, and lay another sheet of parchment on top of it. Roll the dough out to a thickness of ½cm. Transfer to a baking sheet to keep it flat, leaving the parchment in place, then chill in the fridge for 1 hr.
• STEP 4 Heat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5 and line a large baking sheet with more baking parchment. Remove the dough from the fridge and cut out shapes using a cookie cutter. We used some amazing bee themed cutters but any shape will do!
• STEP 5 Place the shapes, spread apart, on the lined baking sheet, and bake for 10-12 mins. (Depending on the size of the cutters you use, they might need a few minutes more or less cooking in the oven). Leave to cool completely on the baking sheet.
• STEP 6 Meanwhile, mix the icing sugar with 1-2 tbsp water – you want to create a consistency that’s thick and pipeable, and not too thin or it will run. Decorate the cooled biscuits with the icing using a piping bag with a thin nozzle.

Well the summer draws to an end… or at least what was supposed to be summer is ending. We have finished extracting our honey over the past couple of weeks and although there wasn’t as much as I was hoping for it is still our biggest ever crop! At the time of writing we are just finishing off extracting 30 supers for a fellow bee farmer.

We have been treating for Varroa Mite. Those who have been on one of our experiences will know what a Varroa Mite is but for those that don’t know. Varroa are an invasive mite that has been around in the UK since around the 1980’s it can now be found in practically all hives in the UK. When in small number the bees can manage the mite however at certain times of the year they can build up and cause serious issues for the bees. We use Formic Acid strips that kill off the mite without hurting the bees. We treat for one week before feeding syrup to make sure the bees have more than enough for the winter.

Wasps are currently an issue for us too as at this time of year they are after sugar and will fight with weaker hives to gain access and steal the honey. Not only that but they become an issue trying to get into any storage areas and will find the smallest gap to get into. We have to be very careful not to spill syrup near the hives as it can attract wasps and bees from other hives to ‘rob’ the weaker ones.

This Month’s Recip-bee

Thai Chicken Stir Fry (Adapted from Marcus Wareing’s Thai Chicken Salad Recipe)

Hey Blog Reader!

I LOVE making stir fry’s, they lend so well to chucking in any vegetables that you have left over and taste so fresh. They can also blend with so many flavours and work with many different proteins depending on personal preference. At the time I made this stir fry I did not have many vegetables in, so please do not judge me putting peas into the pan, obviously isn’t a staple in a stir fry, but it didn’t taste too bad in the grand scheme of things!! I think the lovely flavour of the sauce helped with this!! As always, please share photos and successes!

Ingredients:

• Protein of your choice – Chicken Breasts or Thighs thinly sliced into strips (I used a salmon fillet and this worked really well!)
• 200g Rice Noodles – I find the ready-to-wok noodles work best and don’t go into a mass when you add them to the pan
• 2 medium carrots
• 200g beansprouts
• Pak Choi
• 1 Bell Pepper
• 1 Courgette
• Fresh Coriander/Sesame Seeds to garnish

For the sauce:

• 100ml (3½fl oz) rice wine vinegar
• 25g Ginger Infused Honey
• 50ml (2fl oz) fish sauce
• 100ml (3½fl oz) toasted sesame oil
• 2tbsp tamarind paste
• 2 lemongrass stalks, tough outer layers removed, inner layers grated with a fine or microplane grater – Lemongrass paste also works!
• 4cm (1½in) piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated with a fine or microplane grater
• 2tbsp peanut butter
• Grated zest and juice of 1 lime

Recipe:

• Thinly slice all the vegetables (I find using a peeler helps with making carrot ribbons), and wash ready to add to the wok
• Whisk together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl/jug. Add a small amount to a large frying pan (enough to coat and flavour the chicken) and fry the chicken, until browned all over, ensuring the chicken is fully cooked (if worried, use a temperature probe.
• Add all of the vegetables and the remaining sauce to coat the vegetables, stir fry on a high heat until the vegetables have some give but still have a crunch.
• Add the ready to wok noodles to the pan and allow them to be combined with all the other ingredients. Stir fry for a further 2-3 minutes to allow the noodles to heat through.
• Ensure food is piping hot throughout before serving!
• Add garnish if desired.
• Enjoy!
• *If using salmon, I would add a little bit of soy sauce and Ginger Infused Honey, and bake in a preheated oven for around 10 minutes at 200C.

We’ve had a busy month this month with some honey packing work for another honey brand earlier on followed by lots of our own jarring because we have been out and about at quite a few markets. It’s been great to see the support for local markets holding steady despite the opening up of other venues and events so I hope one of the good things to come from Covid will be peoples interest in supporting local businesses. I for one am very happy that we will be changing our label supplier from a large national producer to a local label printers in Sutton Coldfield.

As well as our ‘normal’ bee jobs we have just been up to the Peak District to check our heather site! Many of you will have enjoyed our chunk or comb honey which was produced on the moors last year. We are taking more bees this time so we have plenty more to go around! Hopefully the weather will be kind to us and allow the bees to make the most of the Heather.

It seems looking back at photos of last year we are around 2 – 3 weeks behind in terms of what is flowering here in the midlands. It has caused us quite a big problem with producing queens as it has been so cold and showery for the queens to be able to go on mating flights. I am happy to say however if you have pre-ordered your queens we are now starting to work down the list and expect all pre-orders to be fulfilled within the next 2 weeks!

Honey and Lemon Biscuits (Makes 8 Biscuits)

This months recip-bee uses our most recent development, Lemon Infused Honey! These shortbread biscuits are super simple and can lend themselves to any honey if you prefer a plainer variety. This recipe is perfect with an Earl Grey cup of tea (my personal preference, other tea is of course acceptable!!) or you can decorate them with icing for additional sweetness and visual impact! 
Please share with us your creations!!
Emma xx

Ingredients:

• 90g Unsalted Butter
• 40g Golden Caster sugar
• 85g Lemon Honey
• 110g Plain White Flour
• 60g Corn Flour
• Pinch Salt

Method:

• Mix all ingredients together either by hand or with a food processor until a soft ball of dough is formed
• Wrap the ball of dough in cling film (or a wax wrap!) and place in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes
• Roll the dough on a floured surface until they are about the thickness of a £1 coin
• Cut the dough with whatever shape cutter you fancy and move them onto a lined baking tray
• Place the biscuits into the oven preheated to 160^oc for 10-12 minutes or until pail golden brown.
• Cool on a wire rack
• ENJOY!

At the start of the month when it was too cold to be doing much with the bees I finished off our new classroom facility. I’m really excited that we now have a designated area for running our experiences and queen rearing courses. The facility is on our farm but don’t worry if you already have an experience booked it’s only 5 minutes from Planters Garden Centre and we will send you all the directions when we confirm your booking the week before you’re due to join us!

We write for a beekeeping magazine called BeeCraft and have decided to make a small feature with 10 of our articles framed on the wall! We have all of our suits hung up, a large table and even a projector for our longer courses. Not forgetting the essentials we are able to offer you hot drinks and have some of our honey for sale too!

Queen rearing has been a big focus over the past few weeks. I have been busy writing the queen rearing course that I am delivering to a small group of beekeepers in early June. It’s been really popular with only one place left. If you’re interested in joining us for what I hope will be a fun and informative day please do book soon – here.

As well as writing the queen rearing course I’ve started queen rearing for the 2021 season, I already have over 100 cells grafted (This is the start of the queen rearing process for me, you can find out more about that in our blog called – May 2020 Hot Hot Hot!) We have quite a few people on our waiting list for queens, we are expecting to have all pre-ordered queens sent out by the first week in June but that will depend on how kind the weather is to us.

This Month’s Recip-bee

BBQ Dips and Dressings!

We’re nearly into BBQ season, with the weather hopefully warming up! These 3 simple marinades will transform a bland chicken breast into fan favourites.

All three can be made ahead of time and used to marinade the chicken, the longer the better. Remember to add a little more while they’re cooking!

Just mix the indgredients together, what could be easier? You could even use them as a dipping sauce!

Sticky BBQ Dip
Adapted from finecooking.com

• Runny Honey 100g
• Soy Sauce 1 tbsp
• Ketchup 1tbsp
• Dijon Mustard 2tsp
• Worcestershire Sauce 2tsp
• Cider Vinegar 1tsp

Honey, Mustard & Soy Marinade
Adapted from Amoy.co.uk

• Soy Sauce 2 tbsp
• Runny Honey 2 tbsp
• Grainy Mustard 1 tbsp
• A sprinkle of Seasme Seeds

Satay Sauce
Adapted from BBC Goodfood

• 1/2 Lime Juiced
• Runny Honey 2tsp
• Soy Sauce 1 tbsp
• Curry Powder 1 tbsp
• Smooth Peanut Butter 3tbsp
• Coconut Milk 165ml

March seems to have gone by in the blink of an eye! It feels no sooner than one blog is finished it’s time to start writing the next. This month has been a month of final preperation and the start of the season especially with the warm weather in the last few days of the month.

The queens are starting to lay more and more now, the hives are increasing ready to make the most of the nectar when it becomes available, take at look at the queen in the first photo on the right!

Ingredients:

• 450g Bramley Apples
• 1 tbsp Cinnamon Honey
• 1 tbsp Water
• 100g Plain Flour
• 75g Butter
• 50g Rolled Oats
• 100g Brown Sugar
• For an extra warmth of Cinnamon, add a pinch to the topping.

For a simple dessert you cannot beat a humble crumble, and a match made in heaven is Apple & Cinnamon. This recipe offsets the tartness of the apples with honey paired with warming cinnamon, the perfect combination being Holt Hall Apiary’s Cinnamon Honey.

This recipe would work perfectly with Ginger Infused Honey with pears instead of apple if you wanted a seasonal substitute! As always, please share pictures of your delicious creations and let us know how you get on!

Emma x

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
2. Wipe the apples and cut them into quarters, then remove the cores and slice each piece in two. Put them into a pan, and add the Cinnamon Honey. Add a tablespoon of water or apple juice and cook over a medium heat for about five minutes, until the apples start to soften.
3. Transfer the apple mixture to a shallow ovenproof pie dish.
4. Blend the flour and butter in a food processor for a few seconds, until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
5. Stir in the oats and the brown sugar (and cinnamon if desired) and sprinkle over the cooked apples in the pie dish. Transfer to the oven to bake for 30 minutes or until crisp and golden-brown on top.