Terry the Bee Keeper receiving his prize.
It was quite a windy day...

Terry is a very ENTHUSIASTIC beekeeper and told me all sorts of facts and stories about his unusual hobby and his honey....

I recently visited Terry to award him June's prize of a "Le Cordon Bleu Cookery Techniques" book. Whilst I was there Terry kindly offered to introduce me to his bees, which was fine until we collected the honey comb from Beehive No 4. Let's just say the bees weren't too happy!

There is more information and photos about my visit below...

Terry the Beekeeper

Terry is a very jolly Welshman, and full of enthusiasm and passion for his hobby. He would encourage everyone to have to own a hive.

Having personally enjoyed two jars of Borage honey from Terry's own hives, I can honestly say it's wonderful and tastes unlike anything you can buy down your local supermarket. It is also 100% pure and completely free of additives or flavourings.

A tea drinker all my life, I recently gave up my favourite brew in favour of camomile (my new favourite) and other herbal and fruit teas, which I sweeten with honey. Occasionally I will add a slice of lemon or orange and I can honestly say I feel all the better for it. I sleep better and generally feel more relaxed and worry less. So, no more nasty caffeine for me....

I really enjoyed meeting Terry. He is one of those people that when you come across them, you don't forget them in a hurry. His love for bee keeping was overwhelming and quite infectious. He has actually got me considering a hive of my own.

Terry has even got an article about his hobby written up in a beautiful book by Barbara Baker, "Why We Garden A British Obsession", Aston House Press. The book is a collection of interviews with ordinary people from up and down the country who are passionate about their gardens. It's a wonderful read if you love gardening.

With kind permission from Terry I have extracted parts of the article from the book below and also added some narrative of my own. I hope you enjoy reading about Terry and his bees.

Introduction

Bees are also emotive. They invoke feelings of fear in case of being stung, of warm balmy summer days in an English country garden with the distant sound of buzzing, and childhood memories of Winnie the Pooh.

Bees are also important. Not only to they provide honey for their own and for our consumption,but in the process of collecting nectar they pollinate other flowers.

Nectars vary considerable in flavour and sweetness. Most honey is a blend of flavours gathered from the working area around the hive. Clover honey is much sought after and heather honey is considered the real thing for connoisseurs.

Terry's Story

With modern houses today, you often don't have enough room to have a real vegetable garden, so about nine years ago I got an allotment, in Grantham, Lincolnshire.

I began as most people do by growing vegetables, but I suffered a bit with my back. So I got myself a rotivator, which then got pinched! I began to think, "It's a bit silly just growing vegetables, I'll try growing some fruit.

I went on a trip to Gardeners' World Live in Birmingham to gather some more information and it was whilst I was there, that I came across a stand from the British Beekeepers Association promoting beekeeping. That was in summer 2000 and by winter I had my first nucleus hive.

Initially when I told the other allotment holders I was going to keep bees, they were a bit surprised, a few were not too keen either, but as I was down the far end and out of the way, there were no strong objections. The allotment holders now believe that the quality and yield of their crops has improved, since I started keeping bees.

Terry showing me his bee hives.

The man next door to me did get stung once, but it was when we were trying to catch a swarm and he was wearing blue. I did ask him to keep out of the way....

(Interesting Fact: Bees like the colour blue, but dislike windy days which make them grumpy and more liable to sting!)

A couple of years ago there were four spare allotments and I planted them with sunflower and borage. I knew they would grow well, that the bees would like them and it would make good honey. Pure sunflower honey is pumpkin coloured. Borage is a good plant because not only does it put a lot of goodness back into the soil, it is also used in medicinal research for women's HRT. The Grantham area is also home to a lot of lime trees, so I have mixed borage and lime honey too.

As each bee collects different nectar, the pollen is visible on its body in different colours, which denotes the different flowers, which all have different pollen colours. There are charts available to help you identify the pollen from these plants.

I have stopped growing potatoes altogether now and just concentrate on growing flowers for the bees. I have also expanded and have several hives near Naturescape

Naturescape is Brian Scarborough's lovely wild flower farm and visitor centre at Langar.It's worth taking a trip and whilst you're there you can take home a jar or two of my honey from their shop. We can't turn back the clock 50 years and expect farmers to have fields of clover, or cowslip meadows, which bees like, but we can have little pockets of wildflowers in gardens and allotments, and try and encourage bees.

A problem we have in this country is the short growing season. In Lincolnshire, the majority of honey for sale is from rapeseed, which farmers grow as they get paid a subsidy. Personally, I think rapeseed is a bit bland in flavour, so Lincolnshire beekeepers take their bees on a "holiday" to the heather moors of Derbyshire and Yorkshire.

We have to move them as bees work a crop. If there is no more food, bees will return to the hive and eat the honey they've stored, so we try to extend the season.

At the end of the summer we feed the bees for winter. An average hive will take 30lbs of sugar! That will feed one queen and between 40,000 - 50,000 workers. They are quite happy. We feed them on 'bakers fondant', which is like icing sugar.

The general public are unaware how important bees are to the environment and how tragic it is that so many bees have been wiped out due to pesticides and disease. So, I see it as my mission to try and encourage more people to become beekeepers. There are advantages for keen gardeners too, as vegetable crop yields can increase by as much as 30%!

The sugar we eat is imported, but bees have been on the earth for millions of years and before we had sugar we just ate honey. Many years ago, the most important person in an abbey was the bee monk. Not only did he provide honey as there wasn't any sugar, but he also provided the beeswax for candles, as there wasn't any electricity either! Honey was also thought to have healing properties and was used to treat wounds.

I have found that since I started eating my honey, I no longer suffer from hayfever. I believe it's because I eat local honey, which contains local pollen. My immunity has built up, so that when I am in contact with airborne pollen, I no longer get a runny nose and itchy eyes.

Originally bees lived in old trees, lofts, barns, near chimneys and generally warm places. If someone lit a fire, they would think it was a forest fire and today, they still have the same reaction to smoke. When they smell it, they fill themselves with food, and like humans after a hefty meal, they don't feel aggressive but feel relaxed. This is why we puff smoke at them.

Terry - puffing smoke into the hive to make the bees more docile.

One of the first thing that worried me about beekeeping was whether I would be allergic if I got stung. I have been stung a couple of times, but it's not that bad. I opened up a hive once wearing my suit of course, but I had left a little gap. A couple of bees got up inside my suit. You can't open your hood, or squash them, or get rid of them, so you just get stung!

I would advise anyone who would like to start keeping bees to go on a beginner's course. It's not too hard to learn, and you can buy your equipment second hand. Some societies will even loan you a hive to try out for a year.

Terry inspecting the honeycomb from one of his hives.

There are lots of different strains of bees. Some are more docile than others. There are Greek and Croatian bees, but at the moment I have Irish bees. They are very gentle and are used to a similar climate.

Bees are a funny shape. Their body is really too big for their short wings, and it is their wings wearing out that actually kills them. Worker bees last approximately 40 days before their wings wear out. They not only collect the nectar and pollen to make honey, but they also feed and groom the male drones. There are just a few male bees in the hive and all through the summer they live a life of luxury, doing no work at all! There sole function is to mate with the queen. What a life!

Revenge is sweet though, for come the end of the summer, the females go to the food stores and and think to themselves, "We haven't got enough room with all these males swarming around here." So they kick them out and send them packing!

A queen bee will live for five to six years, although a beekeeper will only keep them for about two years, because they stop producing so many young. A good queen will lay thousands of eggs.

Eventually I would like to own 50 hives and be able to call myself a bee farmer. I would like to produce what we call 'cut comb honey'. The comb tastes like Sugar Puffs.

Terry with some of his honeycomb straight from the hive.

We never produce enough honey to satisfy demand in this country. We import 18,000 tons of every every year. Why? City dwellers thin, "We can't keep bees," but Eddy George, the Governor of the Bank of England, used to keep beehives on the roof of the Bank of England!

Everyone should keep bees and if you look after them, they will look after you. If there is very little greenery around you should expect to get around 30 lbs of honey, but in Lincolnshire, by moving the bees around, some people get up to 150 lbs!

I know of a farmer who has 180 hives and averages two and a half tons of honey every year. There is a huge market for local honey. So why not try your hand a beekeeping and we will all be happy and the better for it!

*Text mainly taken from an bridged and edited extract with kind permission from Terry, "Why We Garden A British Obsession", Aston House Press.

Would You Like To Know More About Beekeeping?

If anyone would like to contact Terry and find out how they can keep bees too, please email

Honey Bee Trivia

Honey bees visit about two million flowers to make one pound of honey.

A hive of bees flies over 55,000 miles to bring you one pound of honey.

A honey bee flies about 15 miles per hour.

Mead is wine made from honey. The flavour will vary depending upon the flowers and pollen from which the nectar was collected.

Bees have been producing honey from flowering plants for approximately 10-20 million years.

Each honeycomb cell has six sides.

A honey bee has four wings.

A honey bee visits between 50 – 100 flowers during one collection trip.

Honey bees "communicate" with one another by "dancing." Honey bees do a dance which alerts other bees where nectar and pollen is located. The dance explains direction and distance. Bees also communicate with pheromones.

A Brief History of Honey

Literature: 21st Century B.C.

Honey is alluded to in the Sumerian and Babylonian cuneiform writings, the Hittite code, and the sacred writings of India, the Vedas and in the ancient writings of Egypt.

Biblical

The area now comprising Israel and the Palestine autonomous region is often referred to as "the land of milk and honey." (Exodus 3:8)

Ancient Egypt: 40th Century B.C.

Honey was used in most households as a sweetening agent. The people of this time valued honey highly, thus, it was commonly used as a tribute or payment. Honey was also used to feed sacred animals.

Samaria, Assyria and Babylonia: 21st Century B.C.

Honey was poured over thresholds and stones bearing commemorative offerings. Honey and wine were also poured over bolts that were to be used in sacred buildings.

Greece

An ancient custom was the offering of honey to the gods and to spirits of the dead. Mead, an alcohol drink made with honey, was considered the drink of the gods.

Germany: 11th Century A.D.

German beer was sweetened with honey. German peasants were required to give their feudal lords a payment of honey and beeswax.

Americas

Conquering Spaniards found that the natives of 16th century A D. Mexico and Central America had already developed beekeeping. A distinct family of honey bees were native to the Americas.

American Colonies: I 7th Century A.D.

European settlers introduced European honeybees to New England in about 1638. North American natives called these honey bees the "white man's flies." Honey was used to prepare food and beverages, to make cement, to preserve fruits, to concoct furniture paste-polish and varnish and for medicinal purposes.

Honey Recipes

Peach, Honey and Almond Icecream

Ingredients: 2 egg yolks 7 fluid ounces of full cream milk 6 fluid ounces of double cream 3 ounces of clear honey Two fresh peaches chopped into small pieces 1oz of toasted sliced almonds 1 oz ground almonds

Method:

Beat the egg yolks with the honey until the mixture is light and frothy. Add the milk and stir well.
Whip the cream in a separate bowl until is just about to turn stiff.
Gently add the milk and egg yolk to the cream.
Drain the peachs of any extra juice and add to the mixture with the ground and toasted sliced almonds.
Place in an icecream maker until frozen.

NOTE: You add all sorts of other goodies to this recipe such as Amaretto liquor, or freshly grated ginger.

(c) Kay A. Gugliotta

Honey and Lemon Salad Dressing

Ingredients: Juice of one lemon Equivalent amount of extra virgin olive oil Two teaspoons of clear honey Two teaspoons of pumpkin seed oil Freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Place all the ingredients in a mixing jug or bowl and mix thoroughly. Drizzle over mixed salad leaves.

(c) Kay A. Gugliotta