Beekeeping Workshop

I have to apologise that I haven't put anything in this blog for a while.  I have been very slack and decided I need to stop procrastinating and just do it.  Michele, who helps me a lot with Simple Living does a fantastic job of doing a post about the workshops on her blog Going Grey and Slightly Green. So I think I might combine a link to her posts with my photos and that way we can share the load.  

Anyway I have been very excited about this beekeeping workshop.  Nev Hunt, a member of the local beekeepers association invited us to come to his home to show us his hives.  We started with a morning tea on his verandah overlooking the Southern Downs.  Nev gave us some background to beekeeping, described the type of equipment that is needed and then showed us some native vegetation that is very good for keeping bees.  This book is also really helpful with identify useful vegetation.  

Then we took a step walk down to his hives.  Nev has about thirty hives.  As he explained to us he is starting to close down his hives for the winter. So the bees are not producing as much honey as they would over Spring and Summer.  

Nev showed us how to use the smoker and then showed us breeding frames where the queen has laid eggs. The honey is produced in the boxes above the breeding boxes with a screen that excludes the queen in between. Nev then bought two hives with frames up to the house where he demonstrated how to uncap the frames using an electric uncapping knife.  The honey was then extracted from the frames.  It was really interesting and the best thing of all was that my husband, David, who was also at the workshop caught the beekeeping bug and has decided to get bees.  He is a little disappointed though as he has to wait for Spring to start up a new hive.  

Nev very kindly asked that the money that was paid for the workshop go towards a charity.  I have given the money to the Australian Lutheran World Service Gift of Grace program where we purchased a Kitchen Garden Kit to help a family grow healthy vegetables.