January
The queen remains in the middle of a rugby ball shaped cluster of bees and will start laying new eggs to replace bees that died during the winter.
It's hard to say exactly how long honey has been in existence because it's so long ago. Paintings in a cave in Spain show evidence that humanity has been beekeeping since 7000 years Before Christ (BC). However, fossils of bees have been discovered and dated back to around 150 million years ago. It’s incredible to think that the magic and importance of honey in history originated so long ago!
The earliest record of keeping bees in hives comes from a temple called the 'sun temple' near Cairo in Egypt and dates back to 2400BC. Pictures of bees often appear in hieroglyphs in Egypt and were favoured by the Pharaohs and symbolised at royal level.
The ancient Egyptians used honey as a sweetener and as a gift to their gods and even as an ingredient in fluids used to anoint the body after death. Egyptians would cook cakes using honey as one of the ingredients and offer them to their gods as an offering to appease them. Later, the Greeks followed the tradition with their gods.
The Greeks saw honey as being important not only as part of their food, but also as part of their medicine for healing weakness. There is evidence of honey being used in ancient Greek recipes including honey cakes, and cheese and honey cakes.
In addition, the Romans used honey as a gift to the gods and used it extensively in cooking. Throughout the Roman empire the process of beekeeping thrived amongst the Romans.
Once Christianity was established, there was a huge increase in the use of honey and wax to meet the demand for church candles.
The advent of sugar during a period in history called the Renaissance meant that the use of honey decreased. In the 17th century, sugar was used more for sweetening drinks and foods.
For further information on bees contact the Welsh Beekeepers Association. The organisation works with a number of associations, including schools, to promote bees in Wales. https://wbka.com/
A very warm welcome from the team at Cardigan Bay Honey.
We are producers of quality honey, bees and beeswax products. Creature welfare is our priority.
Ceri is known in the bee keeping community for his natural and gentle bee handling skills. We are all passionate about protecting the health and strength of our growing number of colonies. Only the excess honey is harvested, in a good season this can be 4 times in the year.
Our products all come from our own bees and are ethically harvested and as organic as possible. Our honey is not adulterated in any way and it varies in taste and consistency throughout the year. We strain our honey just prior to bottling to retain the health and taste benefits.
We aim to always ‘tread lightly’ while enabling the pollination of our beloved West Wales countryside and to deliver hive products of exceptional quality.
Visit the website for further information and a weekly blog. Thank you for reading.
Ice Cream – A Taste of Honey
4 April 2022
Snowdon Honey Farm is a family run business, based in the village of Llanberis. Established over 30 years ago, the business has grown to become the remarkable, but unique, organisation it is now.
At Snowdon Honey Farm shop, all products are produced locally, as they believe strongly in supporting local business, stocking a wide range of honey, mead, fruit wines, chutney, ice cream and preserves as well as Celtic jewellery and other gifts.
There is also a beautiful tea room and small garden where you can enjoy a cream tea and home-cooked food with welcoming hosts.
This friendly centre is a focal point for promoting local bee products on the slopes of Snowdonia. The Welsh honey is used to produce a wide range of healthy produce and the centre is important for the promotion of bees in pollinating crops, flowers and vegetables.
Feel free to call in at any time!
Hurray for the Hexagon!
Honeybees are a very organised and capable society, and different bees will be responsible for specific functions during their life. This includes nursing, defending, cleaning, construction, serving the queen, undertakers and food gatherers.
The length of the life of a honeybee also varies, depending on the work or class of the bee. The queen can live for a number of years. Workers live for 6 weeks during the busy summer season, and between four and nine months during winter.
Although the honeybee appears to be busy only in summer, the reality is that it lives all year round, by clustering for warmth through the winter at a constant temperature of 93 degrees Fahrenheit in the centre of the cluster.
There are three classes of honeybees: queen, worker and drone.
Bees are something important to celebrate. Click on the link to find out more about the magical bee.
www.cynnal.co.uk/cliciadur/papurau/rhifyn_20/en/index.html?p=3