Inspecting Bee FramesWhile Bill has been busy planting his orchard and soft fruit I have explored the possibility of beekeeping.

I enrolled on an introductory beekeeping course at my local society – Halifax Beekeepers, who couldn’t have been more helpful.

After my course I bought a nucleus (nuc for short) of bees from one of the experienced members and a new hive and settled down to my new hobby.

It is now three years later, probably the worst three years in recent beekeeping history. Cold, wet summers and bitterly cold winters have made beekeeping very difficult. I’ve managed to keep my hives going with en enormous amount of help from Bob and Meg at the Halifax Beekeepers.

After this past winter where I lost 2 out of 3 hives to the cold and blizzards things are starting to look up. The bees are thriving in the dry and warm weather, hopefully we should have a bumber crop of honey this year.