Collecting the Honey

Last weekend we robbed the bees of their honey. About a month ago the husband could see that there was a lot of honey to be harvested but the weather wasn't good in July so the bees ate quite a bit of the honey themselves. So we didn't get as much as we thought we were going to but, nevertheless, it's just great having our own honey.

Here are some of the frames before the honey was extracted.

The beeswax will also be used. We don't waste anything!

The honey has to be strained through two very fine sieves to remove any little bits of wax and any little bits of bee.

This year we bottled some of the honey in these hexagonal jars. They hold about three quarters of a pound. The other jars that we use hold a full pound.

You can look back at last year's post about harvesting honey to get some more information.

The weather has improved slightly this month over July. We get some nice sunny, even warm, days but also so much rain. Everywhere is starting to feel and look autumnal. A couple of weeks ago I took these pictures of our holly; berries already. Lots of the trees have their berries too. Some of the leaves are turning colour and starting to fall. It's been a very strange summer!

There's our wee dog hiding in the hedge!

Remember I told you about the field next to us being used as a 'maternity' field? Well, there ended up being three calves and their mothers. Here they are all together.

This one is a beautiful colour.

These two are very alike. You'd almost think they are twins but they're not.

Look at that wee face! Love the eye patches.

They've all been moved to another field now, a bit further away. Some day the calves will be separated from their mothers and we'll have to listen to them lamenting over their loss. It's so pitiful.

Thank you all for your lovely comments about the sea glass shawl. My big blanket is finished too but I still need to block it. The thing is, I don't really know how I'm going to manage it; the blanket is enormous! Maybe this evening. 

Anyway, all the best for now. Bye!

Beekeeping and a Crocheted Cushion

There has been some necessary beekeeping going on. Hives have been split in an attempt to stop the bees swarming. So far none of the hives have swarmed. We've heard that just about every other beekeeper in the county has had a swarm this year.

Hopefully I'm not speaking to soon, but it looks like we're going to have a really good honey harvest this year. You can read about last year's here. Actually, looking at those old photos has reminded me that there is crocosmia to come soon round the bee hives.

I was trying out a pattern using some left-over yarn. After a while I thought I'd make it into a bag. In the end, though, I decided to make a cushion. It's all wavy on the front and just plain stripes on the back.

The cushion has found a good friend to care for it in the Manor Nursing Home in Rathfriland.

Short and sweet this time. Thanks for your comments; I always appreciate them so much.

Almost Spring

Welcome back everyone and an especial welcome to my new followers. I'm so pleased that you all liked my crocheted Granny stripe blanket. Your comments were so kind.

Although we are having some really horrible weather these days, it is undeniable that it is almost Spring. In between the howling wind and lashing rain (like today!) we get some beautiful sunshine and calm lulls.

The garden is also proof that Spring has just about sprung. I took a walk round the garden the other day to take some photos.

Can you see the honey bee in this crocus? This is a close up of some of the flowers in the bed above. The whole bed seemed to be humming because there were so many bees in the crocuses. Honey bees love crocuses; especially the purples ones, it seems.

There's another bee among the yellow crocuses.

Ha!! A bee coming into land! Can you see it?

This hellebore is the latest addition to our garden. We bought it recently in the market in Banbridge. I love the colour of it.

Lots more daffodils still to bloom. I can't wait for them all to come into full flower.

So many of the Spring flowers are yellow, aren't they?

Well I hope you enjoyed that quick look round the garden. No doubt I'll be back some time with lots more flower pictures.

My Aran coat is coming on well. I'm surprised at how well, given the number of times I've left it to the side to work on something else! The back, a front and both sleeves are finished. That just leaves the other front and the collar to do. And the putting together, of course. I was worried about having enough yarn so, after finishing the first sleeve, I did a calculation. No worries. There will be plenty to finish my coat. All you knitters and crocheters know that what I really mean is that there will be plenty left over to use for something else! I have some other colours in this same type of yarn and quite a lot in a very similar yarn. Maybe another blanket?

Snowy Days

Welcome back; it's lovely to have you visiting again. When I tried to do this post a few days ago, I couldn't load my photos because of a server error. I've no idea what caused it or how to fix it. Thankfully I have a new iMac, just set up today, and I'm able to load my photos without any problem.

On Friday last the husband was off for the day; I'm always off on Fridays. We were going to take the trailer and get loaded up with wood blocks but we woke to a white world. We decided that discretion was the better part of valour and didn't try taking the car out with the trailer attached.

We leave plenty of food for the wild birds and they really needed it. The feeders are next to our beehives.

 I couldn't resist taking some photos as it looked really lovely.

 All of a sudden the snow started falling again. It was beautiful to watch though it made everything look like the world was in black and white instead of colour.

The poor wee birds. They still had to come looking for food even though it was snowing.

These two daffodils are the only two in the garden that are blooming!

Now it just so happens that on Thursday last week (the day before it snowed), I saw a pattern for crocheted socks in the Simply Crochet magazine. And, I saw where Daisy had actually crocheted said socks. In fact, she has since crocheted another pair for her mother. Well, when I saw the snow I knew what I simply had to do; crochet a pair of cosy socks for myself. I couldn't start right away as we braved the elements and went out for coffee. It was actually Friday evening before I could finally get out some yarn, my hooks and the pattern and get started. I thought it would be a good idea to work the two socks together. So make the toe for the first sock, make the toe for the second sock, work the first stripe of the first sock, work the first stripe of the second sock and so on. Things went really well until I had done the number of rows stated in the pattern before I was supposed to turn the heel. I have long, narrow feet which necessitated me having to work an extra five rows before the foot section was long enough! That held me back!! I crocheted like someone possessed as I really wanted to get them finished before going to bed. Anyway, I turned the heel on both socks and crocheted the number of rows that were supposed to be completed before the rib top. Again this was too short for me and I needed an extra three rows. Too late though for Friday night and I had to leave them to finish on Saturday.

The snow was still about on Saturday as there were some more snow showers overnight. It was a beautiful day so, after being out in the morning, I spent the afternoon in the kitchen. I made more blackcurrant cordial and a batch of cranberry sauce. We had some with Sunday lunch and it was delicious.

Then I also baked apple and blackberry tart using fruit from our garden. This is the first tart ...

... and this is the second.

Side by side!

These were also delicious even though I say so myself!

What about my socks? I got them finished on Saturday evening and took some photos on Sunday morning.

The socks are very cosy and I just love looking at them. They make me laugh every time I see them. I'm hoping you'll let me know what you think of them.

I'm just so excited to be able to get back to my blogging with this new iMac. It's taking a bit of getting used to but I'm picking it up pretty quickly.

Something else exciting happened. I won a giveaway! And my prize arrived today. It is a beautiful pink rabbit that Suzy very kindly sent me. You can see the rabbit here but I will also be taking photos of it and letting you see how lovely it is.

That's all for now. Thank you for all your comments and a welcome to new followers. I hope you are managing to keep warm wherever you are and hopefully not too warm.