Sunday 11 November 2012

Honey & hope

I had to share this with you ....just as I had to treat myself to a jar....


Its a jar of honey from the apiary where I've been learning about bee keeping all through this year.  You may well have read in the news about the dramatic reduction in honey harvest this year, well the apiary was no different to anywhere else.  The 9 hives managed to produce 16 jars of honey.  The best 6 of which were entered into the '6 identical jars from a branch Apiary' of the National Honey Show.  There were approximately 15 entries in this class from divisions as far afield as Norfolk as well as from Surrey, Farnham BKA won first place This was the first time Epsom Apiary had entered this class and came second!!

So it was with a little glow of pride that I thought I'd take a stroll down the garden and have a chat with the girls in the autumn sunshine.

It was only about 8'c today...one of those days where there just isn't any real warmth in the sun despite the clear blue sky.  

Becky's girls were out and having a little buzz around...


But there wasn't such a good sight in front of Amelia's hive...

 

Now I know that bees try really hard to keep the hive clean and so will clear out any dead and dying bees to keep the colony safe from disease transmission.. but this seems like an awful lot of dead bees to me.
What concerns me even more is the number who have simply died right on the door step...


But the biggest risk to the bees at this time of year is the over enthusiastic bee keeper. 
So all I can do is leave them be and hope they'll huddle in tight to keep Amelia warm and safe....

Not liking this not being in control :(




Sunday 4 November 2012

Cheeky Quilting

After this year's marathon quilting challenge I felt the need of something a little lighter and less serious on the stitching front....and when I least expected it .....I spotted these guys...

 

 

Who could resist such cheekiness?
And with a little bit of snuggly stuff for the back an idea started to wiggly its way from the back to the front of my head...


It didn't take too much quilting for some interesting outlines to start to appear ...

 

I tried not to feel a rising sense of panic at the growing number of  loose ends that started to appear (!) focussing instead on the lovely rainbow of colours from so many variegated threads wriggling together...

 

 

All things considered this is all heading nicely in the direction of a snuggly Christmas present for a cheeky boy (or two) ....



Saturday 3 November 2012

Sweet, Hot & Chilly

The Pumpkin crop continues....


Feeling the need for something sweet I had to try the pumpkin jam recipe from Grandma's jam recipe book...

 

Seems simple enough,  soften the pumpkin, add lots of sugar, stand back whilst the boil rolls for a while and fairly soon you have yummy pumpkin jam....


Now to the other end of the recipe age spectrum....a quick google brings up spicy pumpkin chutney.  An untested recipe from a corner of Delia's website...Have I got all the ingredients to try it out?


Oh yes!  lots of yummy smelling spices....

 


All these spices bubbling together is a wonderful warm tasty autumny smell....its gonna be a hot one!


Feeling warmed  by an afternoon of spicy smells I dragged the boys to the fireworks at the top of the road.
We are really lucky to have one of the biggest displays in Surrey in the field at the top of the road. I can't remember if its 20,000 fireworks or £20,000 worth of fireworks but its a big'un and my photograpic skills do it no justice what so ever  - so here's a tiny sample...

 

 


Note to self:  Think about asking Santa for a better camera....












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