My wife very kindly bought me a natural beekeeping course for my birthday OR as she put it go and talk to people who care. Brinscall Hall is an educational retreat not far from Chorley in Lancashire and host numerous courses. This weekend it was the turn of the Barefoot Beekeeper himself Phil Chandler.
NB - It should be noted that picture quality is not great as they were taken on a mobile phone. Please be warned due to no fault of the photographer some pictures may contain fairies.
My wife managed through shear luck pick the exact course that I would have picked myself. The hives I have built have been to Phil's designs, with no mentor at hand Phil's forum has been my primary source of advice and support, and for a new beekeeper in his first spring the topic was spot on... Swarming, Splits, and raising queens.
The course covered all elements of top bar hive keeping with relation to the life cycle of the colony. Phil very helpfully looked at each possible approach from zero intervention of allowing swarming along with the possible positive and negative effects, right the through to queen rearing by grafting 80+ queen cells. Although I had my own ideas and feelings about the different ways of performing "artificial swarms" and splits etc to be able to talk them out in a group and obviously with the master himself was extremely valuable.
Unfortunately, the weather was too windy for us to open the Brinscall Hall hive and perform a split. Luckily though their hive contained a viewing window which allowed us all to have a peek inside. Despite the wind and rain the hardy little Lancashire bees were still flying and keeping busy. Phil's teaching style was extremely collaborative and conversational providing everyone with the opportunity to ask any questions about any aspects of bees and beekeeping. I found discussions on the thermodynamics of the kenyan top bar hive as a condenser brilliant, and I am extremely excited to see how Phil's new arched top bars perform. I even got the opportunity to talk with Phil about my idea for a two queen system with a long kTBH.
Brinscall hall has several top bar hives on site as well as a Warre and a few nationals. Currently just the one top bar hive in populated but I do not think it will be long before they build up their stocks. The gardens are beautiful and they have there own vegetable patches. Add to that the natural beekeeping courses and hive building classes hosted there and I think it is going to be tough keeping bees away.
I have been on plenty on courses, residential or otherwise, in my life and I was astounded at how much I both enjoyed myself and enjoyed the company of the people on the course. Everyone was so nice and although they were approaching natural beekeeping from a different direction and possibly for different reasons everyone seemed to share a feeling of purpose and responsibility. There was not one person who I wouldn't be happy to sit next to and dinner and here about their life.
Equally, the hospitality we received could not be faulted. The food was delicious and despite a vegetarian spread there was plenty of choice for everyone and the absence of meat wasn't felt by even the most ardent of meat eaters (ie me).
There were more cake supplied that any large group of people could usefully eat but we did our very best! Unfortunately, we failed to meet the challenge and some were forced to take some cake away for their long journeys home (as far as the Netherlands and Germany for two of our group).
Brinscall Hall will be hosting the Northern Gathering for Natural Beekeepers http://brinscallhall.co.uk/courses/northern-gathering-for-natural-beekeepers-august/ on Saturday 16th + Sunday 17th August this year which I am sure will be a fantastic event and if I can make it a chance to catch up with others from the course.
There was an email exchange at course end and I hope to keep in touch with the people who came and here about the exploits. Thanks everyone for memorable and extremely pleasurable weekend.
Amber particularly enjoyed the extra walks provided by Josh, the belly rubs given by Phil, and opportunity to chew on Ruth's toes. She said the bit about bees was alright too.
No comments:
Post a Comment