The Filberts Archives
Beekeeping, gardening and other musings.
April Threshing & Beekeeping
The orchard is harrowed, the spuds are in the ground and the contractor has just been to lime the soil and bring the PH back to normal. Nearly all the apiaries now have supers on and we’ve already had colonies superceding their queens. Friday even saw two possible...
Pruning underway
Pruning is now underway whenever the weather lets us, the fruit bud looks strong this year and although the temperature is quite high for the season they are still very hard so will be a while before they start moving up and softening. More mixed weather this week has...
The Waiting Game
So, after a week at the NEC Birmingham for a huge trade show, the first thing to check on getting home is the state of the garden. Despite the wild weather, we have spring flowers showing - snowdrops, crocuses, a few daffs, witch hazel, winter honeysuckle, hellebores...
Winter Sun and early catkins
More winter sun would definitely be a great idea. Despite the deluges over Christmas and the New Year holiday, we saw bees out during sunny spells - seems they need a bit of fresh air just like us humans. It's going to be a great season for catkins. These are the...
Propolis Salve
Propolis Salve is the best-selling product on our site, so maybe it's time to say a few words on the subject. Those bees know what they're up to! Propolis is the unsung wonder product of the beehive. Collected by the older, wiser bees of the hive, sap of various...
Huge, Lovely Ceps
Went out early walking Hardy country ... found some rather damp parasols on an ancient monument overlooking the sea ... but best of all some amazing ceps as big as your hand near to Hardy's Mellstock. Finding mushrooms that good just makes me grin. The button sized...
I should be packing shop orders, but … it’s mushroom time
It's humid, misty, we've had cool weather, dew and some rain. First Parasol mushroom - yet to unfold - picked today and will soon be in the pot with garlic, shallots and butter for supper, along with wild field mushrooms. In the manner of mushroom etiquette, all I...
The Birds, Not The Bees
It’s been a great summer for birds (as well as the butterflies and bees). Today from the windows at work we watched green and spotted woodpeckers – 2 families fledged a few weeks ago. The photo shows a crowd of goldfinches at the bird feeder looking for an easy meal...
What a difference a year makes!
What a difference a year makes; This time last year you’d have found us lamenting the floods, washed out events and drowned (literally) bees. How fantastic to be able to say what a wonderful spate of weather we’ve been enjoying and how great to see the bees looking...
Butterflies in Dorset
The sun has returned to West Dorset in time for the local Melplash Show … we’ll be in the West Dorset Beekeepers tent sponsoring a class for Beeswax, naturally … and selling balms, salves and polishes. But this weekend was about butterflies. There were lots of...
For our very 1st blog its definitely Spring!
It must be spring I can feel on my face today. The magnolia on the lawn has started to push its flower buds out into the world and the snowdrops are receding into the banks. I always use magnolias to remind myself that the bees are probably starting to build up their...