The Cottage Smallholder


stumbling self sufficiency in a small space

Bees and not to bees

Today’s article is brought to you by Danny (that’s me – seems weird to be referring to myself in the 3rd party). Fiona is unwell as per the previous post, but is recuperating rapidly.The big news is that a swarm of bees arrived in one of our two vacant hives. Both our old colonies died off in the freezing cold of January. We had hoped that a stray swarm might take up occupancy and it has come to pass. Happy Days.

I remember the old rhyme that I learned when I was knee high to a potato stalk back home in rural County Cork:

“A swarm of bees in May is worth a cock of hay.
A swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon.
But a swarm of bees in July
Is not worth a butterfly.”

A hay cock is also known as a hay rick in some parts.

So, a lucky silver spoon day chez Cottage Smallholder. But a small downside was that Fiona returned from her stroll in the sun through the garden to report that one of my potato stalks had been snapped, possibly by an exuberant Min Pin. Still, 49 is better than 29.

Even worse news is that Fiona’s laptop will not boot up, even in safe mode. She revealed that it had died during a major automatic update from Micrsoft two days ago. I guess it must have died during the important install session after it had downloaded all the updates. I sense a sharp intake of breath by our PC repair man tomorrow, followed by an estimate equating to a weekend for two in Monte Carlo. We shall see.


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13 Comments

  1. Jo @ LittleFfarm Dairy

    Hi Danny –

    thanks for the ongoing posts – & the updates on Fiona’s health (may she get well soon).

    What/how Did you feed your bees over the winter? Careful planning now, might help this swarm survive into next Spring – it’s frightening how many colonies are being lost at present & what’s really worrying, is that nobody’s quite sure of the reason….

  2. jackie

    Well done Danny, you are doing a sterling job – thought of you guys when buying £2.50 (marked down from £7.50)’not exactly condemned but beyond hope’ Kosovan (yes Kosovan ) red wine from Waitrose. Do you know, it is actually drinkable!!?

  3. Natasha

    get well soon fiona!!

    well done danny for keeping up the posting !

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