Standing in the rain in a muddy field as the year draws to a close mimics rather neatly the start of 2017, featuring, as it did, the same muddy field and plenty of rain. This seems like a good time to reflect on the last twelve, hectic months at Suburban Bee Company.

Now, one of the lovely things about beekeeping or being guardians of a fruit orchard is the limited need to venture out during the cold and usually damp days at the start of the year. Perhaps a brief visit to the hives to check our slumbering friends have enough food or a touch of pruning on drier days. But mostly, having completed the hard work in the autumn, the winter months are a time for huddling indoors next to the fire and contemplating excellent new ways to combine our ingredients into delicious recipes.

This year has changed all of that. We had idly wondered about expanding the goings on at the honey farm to include livestock of a four rather than six legged variety. A split of opinion emerged as to whether sheep or pigs would be the right choice. Cue plenty of research and phone calls to local smallholders who were, and continue to be, a goldmine of helpful information, top tips and a voice of sanity when things get stressful.

And so, at the start of January we received a call to say that four Shropshire sheep were ready to collect from our local breeder. Surely we weren’t ready? Maybe a couple more weeks to prepare? No, the breeder assured us, we would never feel ready. Best get on with it, she said.

And get on with it we did. Standing in the rain on a blustery afternoon in early January, we released our new ram lambs into our hastily prepared sheep pasture. With some trepidation we commenced what has proved to be a crash course in the husbandry of livestock.

As to that difference of opinion over sheep and pigs? In March, two young Oxford Sandy and Black piglets moved into our new pig pen. Their arrival marked a deepening of our involvement in the smallholding of livestock but also, quite remarkably, and end to the incessant rain of the first months of the year. Look out here for more articles on the trials of first time smallholders.

By summer the suburban bees were in full swing. With the long, dry summer here this year our hives were incredibly productive. Not only have we generated a record honey harvest from our bees this year but we have also greatly increased the number of hives. Adding hives is a relatively pain free exercise, either by splitting our own busy hives to form new ones or the simple expedient of collecting swarms. Helpfully for us this year, most of the swarms we collected arrived from hives other than our own. But it is a truly lucky beekeeper who spots every sign that one of their hives is about to swarm. And true to form, we had one or two of our own hives up sticks and send out swarms. The photo with this article was taken as one of those swarms began its preparations for departure. We were able to retrieve the swarm and those bees now form one of the hives over-wintering with us.

The excellent weather in the summer and into early autumn encouraged our young fruit trees to produce a bountiful harvest given the age of the trees. We had the excitement of feasting on apricots, pears and plums. Our apples were collected and hand pressed, the resulting juice destined for the first foray into Suburban Bee Company cider.

As autumn drew on there were vines to plant and bees to prepare for wintering with last minute sugar syrup feeds and supplements to keep them in tip top condition over the months to their emergence in early spring 2018. And now, as livestock smallholders there are the regular visits to the sheep to ensure they are healthy and have access to grass and hay. Whatever the weather. However muddy it may be.

Hopefully the frantic pace at the Suburban Bee Company in 2017 goes some way to explain why our last blog was at the end of 2016. We can, however, promise may more recipes and news items in the future.

We hope you have also had an exciting and fruitful 2017 and we wish you a happy and prosperous new year!