So Beans'n'beans, what's that?

We are beekeepers and we are particularly conscious of current problems with bees world-wide. We think that spreading the word about the almost irreplaceable function of honeybees as well as bumblebees and other insects in pollinating crops is essential because of serious lack of concern (through lack of information) by the world at large. So that's one thing we do.

One way to improve the situation - if only slightly - is to get more people and particularly younger people to keep honeybees. This is why we decided to start a beekeeping school. If we can get a few people seriously into beekeeping after each Course we will be more than pleased. We are also able to offer information visits to schools and organisations to talk about beekeeping and also to talk about the decline in the bumblebee population and what people can do to help.

The beans part revolves around our other interests which include horticulture and particularly fruit trees - you could say "born to prune" is Sue's motto. She can't pass an apple tree without mentally giving it the once over and deciding what she could do to help it. We have succesfully given the kiss of life to one neglected orchard this summer and we are improving our knowledge all the time. Planned learning opportunities include two courses we are more or less committed to attend - Advanced Pruning ( Blackmoor Nurseries in December) and Renovating Old Fruit Trees (Brighton Permaculture Trust in January.) We have already done some courses on grafting fruit trees and basic pruning techniques.

We are lined up to get scythes and I am attending a course on Saturday this week in Brighton to teach me how to use one. This will have a number of benefits. Firstly in this time of huge hikes in fuel prices it will save us money on strimmer and mower petrol, secondly when we are "strimming and mowing" around the beehives, we should now be able to do this without having to dress up to the nines in cumbersome bee-suits and thirdly it's fun and it's healthy. I'll let you know in a few days how the course turns out.

Its apple harvest time right now and we have literally dozens of apple and pear trees. We need to gather these in and dry them or juice them or simply store them correctly. All of which I'll pass on to you in due course.

Apianus