This strange spring was perhaps not the best time to start beekeeping, but the Night Planted Orchard is now home to two colonies of honeybees. We bought a thriving hive from a local beekeeper who is winding down. They were so vigorous that we had to split them straight away. Then the spring refused to start and in the cold and the rain, the new colony didn't seem to get going. After two weeks, we inspected them fully expecting to find a hive of dead bees in one and a queenless, angry mass in the other. Instead we found two fine colonies and in the old one, a mass of wild comb pushed between the frames.
Naughty girls.
So we cut out the wild comb and drained two teaspoons of honey from it which drew from Lady Snoutingdingle the most radiant smile I've seen in many a year. For that, I forgive them the sting they gave me right on the end of my nose.