Selfsufficientish.com

In most cases a DIY job will be fine. BUT you have to remember that rules are there for a reason and it has to be belt and braces. If you get a qualified person in to do the job, they have to guarantee that the finished product is safe and to get to a standard of proficiency to be able to do this co...

Well done. I did lose half my hive when they swarmed last year and then the other half just withered and died.

I am now awaiting a replacement nucleus, which is promised for June but at a price.

Oh the joys of beekeeping.

I go on to auto pilot to such an extent that people think I don't care. I can't manage to cry.

It is sad but these things have to be done. When ours have needed this treatment my OH has done the deed, I haven't managed to bring myself to do it. I suppose I would have to brace myself and get on with it if I had to.

I have hybrids at the moment and they are still laying well after three years. I started out with pure bred brown leghorn bantums which I wouldn't recommend, a six ft fence and clipped wings would not keep them in and they went broody at the first opportunity. I would suggest that if it is purely fo...

Too right, this issue arouses strong feelings. The idea of government enforcing medication on my family that I do not agree with incenses me. This is the thin end of the wedge. As it happens I had my children immunised, after much thought and making an informed choice. I will argue all the way again...

I would agree that a woodburner is a good thing to have, heating the house. Sometimes we have to lay out a quid or two to get what we want but it pays in the end.

I don't have any problems finding ramsons growing wild so why would I want to devote an area of my garden for them? It is the same for blackberries for me. If they don't grow naturally in your area then go for it but otherwise why not just harvest what nature provides without the hassle?

I will second the patience.

Give it time, when the foilage dies back it is ready. Who knows when that will be???

Meredith

I sow my seeds that are meant to grow above round in the waxing moon and the root crops in a waning moon. I am a simple soul and I know there is far more to it than that but that is as far as I have got.

I usually fair pretty well.

I filled it in using the link.

We started keeping bees at the beginning of the year and the little blighters swarmed during the Summer while we were on holiday. We had already got rid of a queen cell they were making. Anyway, this was put down to the cold, wet weather we had had. Fortunately they made themselves a new queen so we...

Wishing everybody a cool Yule, happy Christmas and a great holiday.

Meredith.

Depends what you class as a lie. I think to tell the whole brutal truth all the time is a bit cruel. A little white lie oils the wheels of social interaction. I try to be as truthful as possible but I've already told a lie this morning when a friend phoned me, I said "how lovely to hear from yo...

Definitely contact your local beekeeping association and see if there are any courses being run in your area. I had been toying with the idea of keeping bees for years and this Springtime I went on a course run by my local council. I got far more from this than any of the books I had read, although ...