Keeper to bee

I’m no longer Queen of Rowan Farm.

I’ve been usurped by a small high flyer with loads of boyfriends.

I have to confess, I have had little to do with the arrival of a queen bee and her subjects at our smallholding.

Beekeeping is definitely my husband’s department, although he’s teaching me as he goes along.

He’s taken courses, read books, grilled those in the know and got himself a fetching new outfit.

And then the call came in.

A local friend, who is an experienced beekeeper, had a swarm he needed to offload.

And some new residents were ready to be deposited into our shiny hive.

Despite the preparation, as is standard practise for us, we weren’t actually fully ready.

The frames the bees are now generously filling with their golden honey hadn’t yet reached us in the post.

So for the first week the bees were left to their own devices and produced the most incredible freestyle honeycomb in that time.

Sadly we had to ditch this masterpiece to establish proper order once the frames arrived.

Beekeeping is phenomenally complicated.

There is much more to it than just strapping on a suit and puffing some smoke at them.

Unless you keep bees carefully they can be very dangerous – to you and others.

And they need constant monitoring to make sure their social set up doesn’t collapse in on itself.

If a second Queen gets made, all hell breaks loose.

Queen bees are a bit like the Kardashians. 

More than one of them in a setting means all kinds of drama ensues.

They have to split off, loudly, with a huge entourage to set up their own honey-making pad elsewhere.

But despite the drama, it’s worth the constant monitoring and the risk of a sting or two.

Because bees are essential for life as we know it on this planet. 

They pollinate the food we eat and the trees and flowers that provide habitats for our wildlife.

If all bees die, so do we. 

Frighteningly, numbers of bees have plummeted in recent years.

In some parts of the world, bee populations have declined by as much as 59%.

So caring for these fascinating creatures and helping them to thrive is probably the most important conservation job we’ve taken on at Rowan Farm.

As with all things with us, we have succeeded so far in this family endeavour with a bit of effort, a spot of winging it and a huge dollop of first timer, honey-sweet luck. 

The honeybees we have inherited are incredibly placid and industrious.

Someone who knows what they’re talking about – not us – says it’s one of the best hives they’ve ever seen.

They’ve already nearly filled one storey of honey and we’ll soon need to give them another penthouse suite to get to work on. 

Perhaps the best bit of all is how much Hugo, our youngest son has taken to this beekeeping lark.

He’s obsessed.

And he’s learning so much from helping Daddy with all the bee-related jobs.

The care of such an essential insect to our planet and the ability to help facilitate them in their production of such naturally good, sweet stuff, feels like one of the best life lessons we could instil in him for the future.