Bees - the results are in

So this weekend, well for the most part, was spent dressed in a white bee suit looking like a bit of a ninny. I went to the bee day organised by the Newbury Bee society, they had a bee inspector come round to inspect the hives and he went through showing the beekeepers (and potential beekeepers like me) what to look out for in terms of disease and mites. Afterwards there was tea and lots and lots or gorgeous looking cakes (as someone else commented I think the beekeeping bit might be a cover for cake appreciation). While I was enjoying a well deserved cup of tea a lady called Virginia came over and asked if I was from Abingdon. It turns out that there are loads of hives on the farmland at the back of our estate which this lady manages. It also turns out that she is one of the lecturers who runs the course on beekeeping at Newbury college. She asked me if I would like to go and see her hives on Sunday and so I did. We went through all the hives (I think there were 7 or 8 in total) and I saw lots of things including a bee being born (very cute, they are fluffy when they are born), a queen cell waiting to hatch and a mini bee war (bees from other hives had broken in and were 'robbing' the hive of honey, so the bees had stung and killed one another). The plan is, hopefully, that I will start looking after one of the hives under my tutors instruction and so I can learn all about them and have someone to ask about any questions. I am really excited, I think the next time we will be going to see them will be next week but I shall keep you posted. In other news tonight's jobs are to harvest the 2nd lot of French beans, plant out the sweet peas, mow both lawns, harvest most of the rhubarb for winter storage and plant the rest of the tomatoes out anywhere they will fit. Will report back on how much of that list I actually get done tomorrow.