We have bees!

Yep, Jeff and I are now the proud owners of a working beehive, after discussing it for years and never actually getting around to doing anything about it! It all seemed quite daunting starting from scratch and with no knowledge of what to do. Then we learned of a woman who would not only provide and set up all the equipment we would need but would also provide on-going support and training while we got to grips with it all. Bingo…we were sold! So in November our bees arrived…so exciting. We set up the hive halfway down our back paddocks, underneath a plum tree. The hive didn’t start off as big as it is in the 2^nd photo-that was after about 6 weeks. You can see some of my busy workers at the base of the hive in picture 3.

 

Every fortnight we check the hive and this involves about 2-21/2 hrs of time. Bear in mind it is summer here in NZ and we are decked out in head-to-toe suits for protection and although they are ventilated, it does NOT feel like it! But the time flies and I am always amazed to return to the house and discover how much time has passed.

At first I was afraid of how I would handle the bees buzzing around me, especially as I was in their territory, but I was pleasantly surprised to find how quickly I got used to them buzzing about me. It was almost 4 months before I got my first bee sting! (Which didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would and is now one less thing I have to worry about-it was always on my mind when I would get my first sting!)

It is fascinating to learn how the bees work and operate-they really are busy little bees! J They breed so quickly-our hive grew a level (called a ‘super’) every fortnight. Watching a bee hatching from its cell is always wonderful to see-they are so furry! Spotting the queen is always a mission-it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack but once you see her it is fairly obvious which one she is-just so hard to spot her amongst all the bees crawling all over the frames.

Each visit saw more and more frames being put into the hive-each of these from the second super up would eventually be filled with honey – hopefully for us to collect! We have to check each frame in the bottom super to ensure the queen is there (we place a special mat down called a ‘queen excluder’ to ensure she doesn’t go up through the other supers laying her eggs where the honey is. We need to check she is laying eggs, larvae are growing and hatching and that the hive shows no sign of disease. There are 10 frames in a super so it all takes a bit of time, especially for a

beginner! It’s a tight fit to get the frames in and out of the super and I am always afraid of squashing bees with my clumsy fumblings. Unfortunately, a few casualties are inevitable L I feel like I am killing a family pet LOL.

 

Finally, we could harvest our first batch of honey-so exciting!! We only had 4 frames that were full enough but decided to start on that small number so we could practice and save the other frames for next time. This turned out to be a great decision…we did NOT anticipate the amount of honey each frame holds!

 

 

So here is our setup the setup for collecting the honey; the ‘nuc’ box holding the frames inside it, the double strainer over a food-grade bucket, the scraper and finally the sample jar as we have to test our honey for tutin levels.

 

 

 

 
 

Finally, it was time to start honey collection…second photo shows a frame full of honey; a beautiful sight J

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They are actually rather heavy especially when you are trying to hold it AND scrape the sticky honey and wax off it! But so exciting to see all that gorgeous honey!

 

 

 

 

This photo shows all the wax and honey from ONE frame! It took about an hour for the honey to separate from the wax and drip into the bucket.

 

 

 

 

 

 We then put the wax into another bucket and after all four frames had been collected and drained initially, we put all the wax back into the double-strainer and left it to drain for 24 hours. (photo 3)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Of course, as seen in photo 2, if there is even a remote hint of food to be had (yes, even sticky, non-dog-friendly honey!) then Ace and Ollie are there too. J We had a lot of fun collecting our first batch of honey and ended up with a clear result from the lab so can now get on with eating it all. We will be giving a lot away as we ended up with approx. 10 jars of about 500ml each and that is only from 4 frames-another 20 or so to harvest!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks, my hard-working, amazing bees!

 

 

 

 

For the second year in a row, we have hosted an AFS exchange student. This year Alicia joined our family for eight weeks, arriving at the end of July. Unfortunately she immediately started a new school term which meant we did not get the chance to get to know her as quickly as we did our French student last year, who joined us in the school holidays and had a week with us before starting school. However, school is a big part of their experience while here so she just got on with it.
The weather was HIDEOUS for the first two weeks of her stay; it rained nearly non-stop and Alicia was even asking "does it ever stop?"!! It severly hampered our efforts to get out and about to show her some of the countryside.

Eventually though, we got a fine weekend and we managed to get to Mount Maunganui and Wairere Falls for a couple of good walks!

Other trips included a day out in Taupo with fish 'n' chips in Turangi before driving right around Lake Taupo to home.

Alicia had expressed a keen desire to visit Hobbiton so one afternoon I took her and Caitlin, along with another exchange student, to Matamata and she got to see Hobbiton. I'm guessing from the smile on her face when she got back it was a successful tour!


AFS arranged a "Kiwi movie night" one weekend so Alicia took advantage of that, spending a night in Hamilton watching films like "Boy", "Whale Rider", The Piano" and others. Although it sounds like not much movie watching was done as exchange students from all over the Waikato region met up and swapped stories and experiences all night long-one very tired girl returned to us on Sunday evening!

Another weekend we spent in Hamilton visiting the Gardens, walking along the Waikato River a bit and, of course, shopping at The Base! (A typical NZ teenager experience, of course!!) Then after a meal at Olivia's hostel and a movie (how scary was "The Shallows" huh?) we stayed overnight at Sonninghill Hostel to head out to Raglan the next day. We spent a lovely couple of hours wandering around Raglan enjoying the beautiful sunshine. Then we headed to the Bridal Veil Falls just out of Raglan...OMG, they are just stunning! It was my first visit too but I will certainly go back. I just loved the falls!


We decided to head off down a gravel road and our adventure brought us to Kawhia where we just had time for an ice cream and a look around before heading back to drop Olivia off at hostel then back to Tokoroa. A busy weekend.

AFS then organised another weekend trip, heading to Rotorua and Taupo, experiencing things like Zorb, Agroventures, Kuirau Park, Mitai Village and Redwoods. A visit to Wai-o-tapu was also planned and Taupo offered a bungy jump for anyone brave enough (not Alicia!) But she certainly gave everything else a go; getting involved in Kapa Haka and other school activities. There were two other exchange students here at the same time so there were combined trips and visits which I think made it more fun for Alicia.

 

We certainly enjoyed having her join our family for 8 weeks and hope we can keep in touch...I always wonder what they are up to and what they thought of their time in NZ. We provided a glimpse into a "Kiwi" family life - I hope Alicia enjoyed the experience!