Blog Re-Design

It's been a few years with the same design on the blog, so made some changes. Everything is in same place and same items on sidebar. Only changes are just the template and colors. Will continue to tweak, but what do you think??

Bees: What Bee? and Where?

Another theory class this weekend. Had a nice talk on the types of bees out there. England basically has mongrels as so many different ones have been brought in and have now mixed.

I was surprised to learn that Germany is trying to only have the one bee - Carniolan. Many good traits of this species.

The British Black bee sounds good for the climate here, but definately has some personality issues. I don't want aggressive bees.

Last week I was thinking of what bees I wanted to get, and went ahead and ordered my first nuc. The bees are a Buckfast/Carniolan mix. Interested to see how they turn out with such nice traits from both breeds.

Almost wonder if there is any point in buying a specific bee. Looks like after the 1st year, the queen will go out and breed with mongrel drones in the wild anyway. But it should at least give me a nice gentle colony to get started with - and hopefully the queens traits will dominate.

Oh I think I forgot to mention - one of the first considerations I had for beekeeping was WHERE I would keep them. My little yard was not an option, so I was worried what options I had. Amazingly, I was having coffee last week with a friend at her house when the topic came up. She then informed that they had a field they owned and I could keep them there. I had no idea they had any property. What a great break of luck for me. They are only a few miles away so ideal for travel.

It was also this friend who told to just jump in and go for it this year. They have chickens and she told me about getting started with them and how they didn't know anything. But by just jumping in and going for it, they have learned so much. Yes, they did lose a few hens from foxes due to housing errors. But they fixed the issues and moved on. She said the same would probably happen to me. I would make some mistakes, but I would learn so much more than just reading and classes. Thus, I decided to go for it and started to look for my own bees.

Now that the bees are on order, my next step is to find a horizontal top bar hive. This is the hive I have decided to go with instead of the National. It will be a bit difficult as my local group seems to be National hive folks, but everytime I read about the top bar hives, everything just clicks with me. I like the concept, I like the design, I think its the right thing for the bees.

I like this design from Heatherbell over in Cornwall. Will need to research all the UK top bar sellers to see which I will go for. Lots of details online for building your own, but not my interest to build my own. Maybe someday, if I want to get more hives.

So, that is where I am now. Will try to update the blog with UK vendors I find that sell top bar items. I was amazed to see that Thornes, who are supposedly the biggest beekeeping supplier in the UK, doesn't even offer any top bar items. I guess the need isn't there. Oh well.

Until next time. . .

Bees: The Theory Class

I have been interested in beekeeping for at least 5 years now. Well before we moved to the UK. It simply got put on the back burner. I finally re-gained interest after looking into getting an allotment and noticing someone commenting on bees. The allotments immediately around me don't have any bees, so a quick search on bee groups put me in touch with a local bee association. I went to their 'tester' day to put on the suit, handle a frame, and see the bees up close. It was great and I joined that group right away. This was last Spring or Summer.

At the end of last year, I started receiving the Bee Craft magazine and wondering what I needed to do next. Luckily, an email from the group came out offering the basic theory course starting up in late January/February. I signed up, and here I am.

We have had 2 classes so far. The speakers have been great. They are very personable and knowledgeable. We meet for 3 hours each Saturday with a tea/coffee break in the middle which is nice for getting to know the others in the class.

They are very pro-National hives and have given us lots of information. Not too much mention of Top Bar or Warre type hives. I did learn that National hives are the most popular in the UK, while Langstroth are the most popular in the world, including the US. I'm not sure I know what the difference is - we went through the National hives pretty well, so I just need to read up a bit on the Langstroth so I can understand the differences.

We still have 6 more classes to go before the practical course starts up. I may be in a bit of bind for that one as we will be in US in April. Even so, I am moving forward with purchasing the basics. I'll go over that in the next post.

Bring in the Bees

I have been taking a beekeeping course and have started to get everything together to have a colony this Spring. I wanted to journal my experience with this so created a new blog. But I find having 2 blogs annoying, and as I don't use this one enough, I am just going to bring my bee posts over here.

Some new sidebars will appear with bee info - this is mostly for my own sake so I can find information easily. And the few posts I had started will appear here shortly.

Bring in the Bees!

Fantasy Baseball

Time again for our fantasy baseball league. If you are interested, post in the comments and I'll send you the link.

Wii Rocker

With at least 2 full months of winter ahead, we find ourselves with a lot of Wii time. My son is the number one user. He is especially fond of Lego Star Wars and New Super Mario Bros. The rest of us don't use it that much really. (Although we did spend a lot of last winter completing all the levels on the New Super Mario. It was really fun to do that as a family.) Thoughts of upgrading to xbox or Playstation went unanswered by Santa, so still using the Wii with more new games.

This brings me to my favorite Wii game. Band Hero. I think I must be a closet rocker because I love Band Hero. I love the guitar and I love the drums. A lot of time was spent in 2010 on Band Hero. But, like most games, it ran its course and interest was lost. Until recently. . .

In an effort to get our son interested in music, we have agreed to let him get a real drum set and join his friend in drum lessons. His friend was lucky enough to get a nice full acoustic drum kit from a relative. But when we visited and heard the noise coming from it, instant panic set in. It was LOUD. Really LOUD. It wasn't going to work in our small neighborhood. So, we discussed with friends dad and all agreed that electronic drum kits were the way forward. Set them up, give the boys some headphones, and we're all happy.

Step two. Find a drum set. There are tons of used sets for sale everywhere. A run through ebay shows a lot of choices out there. I started checking them out and setting up ebay searches. The problem is the prices. A lot of over £1000 kits out there and out of our range. The search dragged on. . .

Meanwhile, the drumset from Band Hero was covered up and lost in the corner. The little control knob broke and was loose in the case making it nearly unusable. This along with the guitar which got a remote control unit yanked out of it and made it also unusable.

While Christmas shopping at the Game store, I found some used Wii guitars and immediately grabbed one. Back in business! I ran home and set it up and started enjoying the game again. But son was now getting more interested in the game and pulled out the broken drums and tried to join in. Hmmm. Back to the search.

Here is where the point of this is. . .I had no idea how really cool games like Rock Band and Band Hero really can be in learning music. The new Rock Band 3 supposedly really teaches you the guitar with more detail then ever before. And the drums - well, I found this cool place which repairs those controllers. And even neater, is that you can hook up your real drum kit and override the game one and really play the drums along in the game. I am excited to get my son set up and try this.

Of course, I know I will be giving a go as well! :p

Fantasy Leagues and End of Year

Well, the end of 2010. Can't say it was our best year. Nothing bad happened, but a few goals we had did not get achieved - such as buying a house here in UK. So, we go into 2011 with a new set of goals and full of hope.

Today is the last day to get in on our Dead Pool league. See the previous blog post for details. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

I tried my first NFL Fantasy League this year. I ended up 4th out of 12 with a 9-3-1 record. Not too bad. I might have to try that again next year. Still going on are the NHL and EPL fantasy leagues. I do these every year so if you want to get in next time, let me know.

The EPL (English Premier League) was the first league we did and it is getting an upgrade this year with the introduction of a trophy. Money was a thought, but a little too difficult with both US and UK friends. In honor of the recent Ashes, we are thinking of getting a trophy called 'The Titchy Urn'. No real ashes inside though.

Letterboxing goal would be to hit 1000 finds this year. Geocaching goal would be to hit 300 finds this year. Maybe I'll get out to the Dartmoor Spring Meet this year. Haven't been for a few years, so time to perhaps give it a go again.

Lots to do today, so better be off. Hope you had a Merry Christmas! Happy New Year to you! Onward 2011!