Seasonal ideas for beekeepers

Have you had a good year?

In some parts of the country bees have done extremely well this year filling three supers or more, and crops of 80-100lbs are not uncommon. Not all beekeepers have been so fortunate though, especially in drought areas, so locally produced honey still seems to be in short supply in many places. At the County Shows during the summer £3.50 - £4.00 per pound seemed to be the going rate for runny and set honey. Ling heather honey was about half as much again, which is usual, and reflects the extra work involved.

A sweet thank you.

New beekeepers that have harvested their first honey crop will be able to enjoy the satisfaction of being able to give presents of their very own honey this Christmas.

A gift of honey from the apiary is welcome at any time of the year, but especially so at Christmas. It is a nice way to show appreciation to anyone who has been especially helpful to you or has done you a kindness during the year. Perhaps you wouldn't usually think of buying them a present, but a pot of honey, even just a little one, is generally gratefully accepted and earns a lot of goodwill.

Did you know that if you keep your bees on someone else's land then it is traditional to pay a rent? A jar of honey per hive per year is the usual rate, but in a good honey year you might like to be more generous.

Christmas honey sales.

Honey is always in demand at this time of the year and it is an excellent opportunity to sell any surplus you may have at a good price. Do remember though, to leave yourself enough for your own friends and family as there won't be any more until your next harvest.

Established beekeepers will know that they can sell more during December than at any other time of the year and they will probably already produce more than just jars of honey from their bees. Cut comb and sections can help to satisfy the luxury end of the market but there are all manner of value-added things that can be made with even small quantities of honey. Honey fudge, cakes and biscuits, honey mustard, chutney and marmalade. Then there are all the different uses for beeswax such as candles, cosmetics, polish etc.

To make the most of the seasonal buying spree, having a stall at a Christmas market can certainly be very profitable but it does take a lot of organising well in advance.

Making your own presents.

Discovering all the extra things that you can make once you are a beekeeper can keep you happily experimenting for many years to come.

One gift idea that is becoming very popular is the gift box or hamper of local produce. People are becoming more aware of food miles and are beginning to really appreciate quality food from small producers. Simply putting a variety of different apiary products together in a gift bag can solve a lot of present giving problems.

If you don't yet produce a variety of things from your apiary or smallholding it doesn't mean that you can't make up a mini-hamper or gift box. Along with your honey you could include locally made produce such and jam, jelly, chutney or other preserves. Add mince pies, gingerbread, shortbread or spiced biscuits, which could be home-made or from someone else's kitchen, it doesn't matter if you cheat a bit. It's the thought that counts.

Here are some other gift ideas.

Buy a honey drizzler or honey spoon to give along with your jar of honey.

Buy a mug with a bee motif and fill it with a bag of honey fudge (it doesn't have to be home-made).

Buy a posh French preserve jar and fill it with home-made honey biscuits.

Buy sheets of beeswax and some wick to make your own rolled candles.

Buy an 'oasis' ring from a florist, roll a dumpy candle and make a table decoration using holly and ivy.

The Holly and the Ivy Smallholders who make Christmas holly wreaths to help the cash flow, like to include a few berries, but sometimes they have to be artificial ones. This year though, the holly trees in my area have a wonderful show of berries. It is often said that this is a sign of a hard winter to come but, as a beekeeper, I think the berries tell us more about what the weather was like last spring rather than predicting the future.

Holly is a good bee plant, at least it is if it is allowed to flower and is not regularly cut back as part of a hedge. Here in the West Country it can flower quite early in May and although the small, white flowers do have a pleasant smell, they are not very showy and so most people don't even know they are there. But they certainly don't go unnoticed by the bees. Holly is a good provider of nectar and pollen and both are eagerly sought after and collected by the bees to store as food. In a year such as this year when spring was very late arriving and much of the fruit blossom spoilt by bad weather, the holly helped to save the day and it flowered at just the right time for my bees to take full advantage.

Good pollination is especially important for hollies as there are separate male and female plants. Pollen needs to be transferred from one to the other before berries can be set. This year the bees did a very good job indeed.

The holly and the ivy are often thought of together at Christmas. Ivy is also an important food plant for honey bees. Ivy flowers later in the year, usually from September onwards and it will go on producing flowers until the first frosts. It is one of the last plants yielding both nectar and pollen and it provides the bees with their final chance to top up their winter stores. Ivy also provides nectar for late butterflies, hoverflies and many other beneficial insects so it pays not to be too tidy around the smallholding sometimes.

Both the holly and the ivy provide berries which are food for birds and other wildlife, so if you are cutting foliage with berries for Christmas decorations, remember to leave plenty for those who rely on them for food.