beekeeping 2023 → Holt Hall Apiary

Well I’m sat writing this looking out on the hardest frost we’ve had so far this winter. I think as beekeepers our years go quickly because we spend half the the year waiting for winter so we can (hopefully) slow down a little and take a break and then we spend the winter waiting for spring so we can get back out and about checking our bees!

At this time of year very few checks are necessary on the hives themselves. In a couple of weeks, probably just after Christmas we will go around with fondant which is almost solid sugar to give them a boost!

November started off very nicely with an awards evening for Stafford and Birmingham Agricultural Society where I was honoured to win the Young Entrepreneur of the year award for a farm Diversification Business.

We have took the decision to stop attending Market Bosworth Farmers Market a couple of months ago and as part of reducing our markets we haven’t done as many Christmas events either. We attended Staunton Harrold Christmas Market which was absolutely beautiful and considering it was November, surprisingly warm. We only have two events left, an open night at Blabers Hall on the 1st December and 2 days at the Gift Shop at Pinwall which is a beautiful Christmas shop!

Many of you who have seen us at markets before will likely recognise my Mum, Christine who has been busy making gift sets of our Mini Jars, pouring all of the candles and manning the stalls!

Before I started bee farming and realising the scale of honey production I couldn’t really imagine honey in anything other than a jar, after the first year we were filling buckets and that seemed like bulk. Now we do more and more packing for larger brands that use their own honey or buy it in from others we get the privilege of seeing honey from all around the UK.

It also means we can show you what bulk honey in the UK comes in. These 5 barrels, two on the pickup and 3 on the trailer each hold 300kg of honey, that’s over 1,300 of our size jar in each barrel! These were collected from a local bee farmer for a large customer of ours and will be packed into their own branded jars. We have a special attachment on the forklift that grabs the barrels so we can lift them on to pallets making them easier to move around the honey room. They will be gently warmed before being pumped into the jarring tank. A nice easy process that doesn’t involve the same heavy lifting that tipping buckets does!

As always thank you for reading our blog, don’t forget we’ve got our Bee Merry (Honey infused with a mixed spice that tastes just like mince pies!!) and our Christmas Hampers too! Last post for Christmas is the 18th December so please get your orders in nice and early, your support is always very much appreciated!

Thank you
Matthew Ingram

October has been very much a typical autumn month for us here. We’ve been busy getting the bees sorted for winter and spending an increasing amount of time in the honey room. It’s also been a chance to take a little bit of time off ahead of what we are expecting to be our busiest November and December thus far.

We started the month by visiting Chain Bridge Honey Farm just outside Berwick-Upon-Tweed. This was for the Bee Farmers Association AGM, it’s one event I never miss out on. The Tuesday afternoon we made the 4-hour drive north before meeting up with about 50 members for a meal, it’s always great to chat as it’s often the only time of year that you see others in our small industry.

On the Wednesday we headed to Chain Bridge which is a fantastic bee farm with lots of History, they are open to the public as a tourist attraction and have amassed a collection of vehicles, cars, memorabilia from the last 70 years or so. As well as the museum you can of course see the honey room and buy lots of honey and cosmetics they make on site. They have around 1,200 hives and stock around 400 stores so it’s a fantastic opportunity for us to have a walk around and get some ideas, you almost always come back with at least one good idea from these AGMs.

Back with the bees we’ve been busy feeding, the hives are now finally up to weight but it’s taken longer than it has the past few years. This week the feeders are coming off and mouseguards (metal strips to stop mice getting in to the hives) are going on, especially needed as we’ve already found a few nests between the inner and outer rooves of hives. Once that’s done, we can leave them alone for a few weeks, checking once between now and Christmas to make sure they have enough food. We are taking in to winter about 160 hives with the plan to make a small increase next year to around 200.

In the honey room our new processing line is busy at work producing more than ever, we’ve been very lucky to sign a few new big contracts so that is going to be very busy for us now. We’ve also started Bee Merry our festive spiced honey that is always so popular, and I know why… it really is delicious, just think Christmas in a jar!

We’ve only got one Market this month, Staunton Harold Winter Fayre. I think this will be one of the nicest winter shows around with an absolutely stunning venue. It runs from the 9^th to the 12^th November. We will have vouchers for our beekeeping experiences which have been limited this year so please book early to avoid missing out. We will also have our Christmas Hampers and little gift sets too!

Thank you as always for reading
Matthew Ingram

Remember if you join our hive below you get 10% off your first order and 10% off a honey of the month each month

Tag: beekeeping 2023

November and Winter is Certainly Here!

Out and about in October