Goodbye to all that...

We have been keeping Bees here for nearly as long as we have lived here. There was no conscious decision to get Bees - they just came. Once they were here, we maintained the highest level of husbandry that we could. From one hive, the Apiary quickly grew to a minimum of six, with many more during the Summer. One memorable, and extremely busy, Summer, we had sixteen hives. The downside was never having a moment of peace during the active season. March to September, generally. At least one day of every week-end, was spent at the hives, with a couple of hours , here and there, to clean, mend, prepare or make equipment. Then there was the time, and hard work, in cleaning, preparing and bottling the honey. The honey harvest alone usually took two long week-ends.
It has taken two years to come around to making the decision to stop Beekeeping. So, last night, after sixteen years,( almost to the day) we sent the last colony off to it's new home. The area that has been used as an Apiary, seems suddenly huge. There has been a little talk of extending the Orchard, with some dwarfed and espaliered Pears, Plums, and Apricots.  We will see.

I used to keep Hens, you know.......