Rebel Bee

Bees + Honey

  • The Joys of Beekeeping

    The Joys of Beekeeping

    Driving back from the Orchard apiary to the hives in Bee Nirvana, I feel it. The contentment. The Joys of Beekeeping. As the peace envelopes me I class it a halcyon day. A balmy 6oC sunny and calm after the previous night’s rain and a cold snap the days before with temperatures below freezing. I…

  • Bees and Christmas Cake

    Bees and Christmas Cake

    You may at this stage not want to hear about, see or smell another crumb of Christmas cake but did you know that Christmas cake with its layer of almond icing and sweet fondant topping does not conjure up cosy notions for beekeepers. In fact, I’m feeling guilty now for eating the almond icing on…

  • I definitely need this one. Don’t I?

    I definitely need this one. Don’t I?

    “It would make the perfect beeswax candle present for my brother. Actually…wouldn’t it be great to make a whole set of beeswax candles for him? He’d LOVE them.”  Click. There! Done! I’ve justified my purchase which of course is (yeah right) totally altruistic. I’m not doing it for myself. I am not buying yet another…

  • Bees don’t hibernate

    Bees don’t hibernate

    If you want proof….. I blame myself. D’ya know the way when you KNOW the usual behaviour of someone/ something/ somebees but expect for once in their lives that this time they’d behave differently (probably because I was in a good mood) and well, they don’t. They are true to form and, in my case,…

  • Listen

    Listen

    The apiary looks lonely, there’s no leaves on the trees, no flowers in the grass or on the bushes, there’s a chill in the air. The hive lies quiet and lonely and there’s no sign of life. Leaning down I pin my ear to the side of the beehive and I hear a faint woosh…

  • A winter tale

    A winter tale

    “Hey!” “Get off my head!” My sister runs on, ignoring me. I don’t really mind, I’m as tough as nails even if I’m only just emerging from my cell.  The word “cell” doesn’t do justice to the snug, warm, incubation chamber that enveloped me as an egg, then larvae and finally pupae during the last…

  • Dipped beeswax candles

    Dipped beeswax candles

    How could you every bring yourself to burn a beeswax statue of an elegant maiden or a nativity scene or cute little duckling? The candles on display at a honey show are gorgeous. The variety of shaped moulded candles are unblemished and perfect. There are small beeswax animal shapes with little wicks sticking out of…

  • Floor wax

    Floor wax

    On my hands and knees scraping the hardened rubbery, yellow/brown substance off the floor I promise to ban myself from the kitchen. The trouble is that I like honey but I love beeswax. It brings out my creative gene…there’s so many things that can be done with beeswax, apart from lodging blobs on the floor!…

  • Double, double, toil and trouble

    Double, double, toil and trouble

    It’s Halloween and it seems apt that I find myself hovering over a cauldron with wooden frames sticking out over the edge of the bubbling mix of hot water, soda crystals, foaming melted wax, propolis and bee detritus.  I am sure medieval witches were beekeepers as the charming of bees must have seemed as mystical…

  • Framed

    Framed

    My mind drifts as I reach for the next frame that needs to be cleaned. This one was an old brood frame and has hard black comb. Each of the 4,500 individual cells on each side of this Langstroth brood frame is a polished dark brown or near black colour. In the hive it would…