April Danann
Thought Leader in Health Potential

Blog

 
Posts in bees and honey
Workshops, Market Stall, Nature & Me

We are approaching the harvest time of year, the special gifts of nature are being presented for those of us willing to wander into streams, trudge through hedgerows, follow the honey bee trail and listen to the hum of magic on the wind.
The only thing asked of us is to be ourselves.
This has become my motto over the years, if I can only get back to myself, I will find who I have always been, waiting for me there. 

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Updates and News

I will be at the West Lodge Hotel in Bantry on Sunday 2nd March for the next West Cork Health & Wellness Open Day. We are really looking forward to this event as an opportunity to get to know some  of the many others out there working in our communities and to touch base with all of you in a posher setting (other than in wellies and 5 jumpers in the farmers market! LOL) 

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Up Coming Events, Happenings and News!

It’s Time for A Change……

If you are also ready for something better, something deeper and more then you feel your life is bringing you right now – perhaps it’s time to unblock 2014 for yourself! Plan to come out to one of my Winter classes to get your life back on track and discover a deeper spiritual connection.

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Aggression in Normally Docile Irish Honey Bees 

These past few weeks we have watched our little herb garden bee hive become more and more active….to the point of a little aggressive. Of course, being this time of year our minds went to a few different explanations as we kept our distance to allow them to do their thing.

There are several reasons a normally docile bee hive might suddenly become more assertive – one occurs when they are stressed at this time of year such as a lack of winter stores of food (probably sounds like us all, trying to gather winter food and fuel LOL). However, with the summer we just had, a lack of food stores would hardly be the case.

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Perfection in Nature....Honey Bees


These summer days are a godsend….there is such warmth and delight in a carefree sunny day. Actually, the years of rain on end seem like a distant memory for most of us right now (thankfully!) because we had forgotten what blue sky was like.

I don’t know about you, but I have also loved watching summer blossom and come into it’s own this year. Perhaps because for the past few years I have only watched from the window through the sheets of rain – venturing out in wellies and coat to work in the garden.

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Winter Shelter for Bees in Top Bar Hives

Winter shelter is important for Bees to survive a prolonged cold season and recurring cold snaps that occur well into the spring. This early Spring has seen a number of extended cold snaps that have taken their toll on hives that were not properly sheltered from the bitter winds.

A sun trap is the ideal protection for Bee hives, all it consists of is a wind break from the North, East and West and exposure from the sunny South. The wind break can be made of any material that will stop the wind, such as wood fencing, stone or block walls, straw bales or even a good heavy hedge that will block the wind.

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The importance of reserves

Having enough to eat during the winter and early spring is an important topic for Bees. Bees store their food source because they do not hibernate during the cold months and must have enough food stores to last until they can get back to foraging when the weather turns.

It is important that there is a variety of honey within the hive, summer honey as well as honey stored from late autumn because honeys from different seasons and plants will store at different hardness. Ivy honey stores, gathered in the Autumn and Winter, is very hard and would be impossible to digest if not mixed with softer honeys.

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