DIY Cooking

[Mary Fisher]

See separate thread, Sheila :-)

Mary

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[S Viemeister]

I did, and printed it out for future reference.

Sheila

[Mary Fisher]

You'll run out of paper if you print everything I've said!

Mary

[Suz]

My granda had a dozen or so hives, and a big tin extractor. Along the verge at the front of the house he had dandelions which he wouldn't scythe until they were goiing to seed. the honey from that had a yellow tinge.

I can still remember a very hot day when most of the hives swarmed together. Quite scary. Granda had 2 hip replacements and couldn't run. He got dozens of stings, but as he rarely used his protective gear and got stung regularly he was ok. Would have killed the ordinary bod.

My uncle keeps bees on a mountain as he says heather honey is the best.

used to have honey sandwiches with the comb as well. yum.

extraction attracted the bees and a few would get caught on the plate he scraped the caps onto. he would eat it bees, legs and all. Used to make my friends gag. funny.

those were the days.

[Mary Fisher]

Dandelions, apart from being very beautiful, are very good nectar producers. Top fruit growers hire hives of bees to pollinate their trees but they always make sure that the dandelions are cut first. Dandelions begin producing nectar earlier in the day than the tree blossom and once honey bees have started working - collecting from - one type of flower they won't go to others until the first nectar source has finished.

Swarms really aren't scary ...

I doubt it.

Heather honey - ling heather that is, is, I consider, the finest honey. It has special properties and is unlike other honeys.

That's the best way to eat honey because it hasn't lost any flavour or scent to the air. To have heather honey in the comb, warm from the hive, on fine bread and good butter is a meal fit for kings.

It does, they'll flock to the scent of honey. Extraction should always be carried out in a bee proof room.

They don't eat meat?

:-)

Mary