Alpacas and Bees

The weather today has been glorious, just right for the long awaited open day at our local Alpaca farm.

The West Suffolk Bee Society were there with bees on display and were very interesting to listen to . I learnt today that if bees gather pollen from Rapeseed flowers it is impossible to keep the honey from setting. So, in this area where we have many fields of Rapeseed, it is difficult to find the lovely dark runny honey.

The beautiful Alpacas were the main attraction and certainly caused more than a few aaahs..

They frolicked and played and rolled about in the dry soft soil for a luxurious "bath" completely un-fased by the strangers in their midst!

These Alpacas are not pets and they are allowed to live as natural a life as possible without much human interference, but they still run up to their keeper when he bangs the feed tin.

I love the shop on the farm. It is full of wonderful natural dyes and fabulous fibres!

Stunningly soft alpaca wool and a myriad of coloured tops. I was in felting heaven!

All the wool is dyed on the premises using plant dyes.

It was great to see Madder, Woad, Weld , Marigolds etc all growing in their lovely organic gardens.

The Weld plant produces a brilliant yellow colour and if it is mixed with the woad plant a beautiful green is made.

This is the Woad plant and below that is the beautiful blue colour produced from it.

Honey Bees

The weather was warm and sunny before the storm and it was a pleasure to sit in the garden in the sun. A couple of days ago, I heard a faint buzzing which got louder and louder and as I looked up I could see that the sky was black with insects. Time to get indoors quick!

As the cloud subsided I was able to go out and see what had caused it; a swarm of honey bees had taken up residence in my plastic compost bin.

I telephoned the local council who gave me the number of a beekeeper who came round with a swarm box. It was fascinating to watch as the bees soon decided that this wooden box was a far nicer place to live than my compost bin!

The box was left here for two days and then collected once the swarm had taken up residence in their temporary home, then they were transported to a hive in Tuddenham where they will live out their rather short lives.

I think the bees may have been attracted to this lovely yellow Buddleia tree in my garden.

Honey bees are very clever and the gentleman who collected my swarm was a mine of interesting information and he brought me and my neighbour a jar of his home made honey.

So I would like to give a big thank you to all Suffolk Beekeepers.

http://www.suffolkbeekeepers.co.uk/

http://www.britishbee.org.uk/index.php