2. We attended a biological bee keeping course in Coimbra botanical garden, the course was
split into 7 Saturdays spread over 6 months, it took you through all the different aspects of
beekeeping, from introducing a swarm to harvesting honey, to diagnosis and action in the
case of disease and the various products that can come out of the hive & what you can
make with them etc. We were lucky enough to be able to pay for the course by doing an
exchange for helping at the botanical garden (we did juggling, balloons and face painting at
a pumpkin party and gave plants and help to prepare for another course).
Our tutor Harald Hafner is a full time bee keeper with 200 hives he was first trained in
Austria and has also worked in Dominican Republic helping the locals start bee keeping.
3. In the first session we were introduced to We were then given an introduction to the
melifera iberica, the Portuguese native equipment necessary for bee keeping and
bee, and told the importance of the shown 3 forms of bee hive.
melifera species or honey bee not only
for the many products which they
produce but also for pollination of 78% of
the insect pollinated plants.
Lastly we sited a hive, learning what factors to
take into account and the best orientation to
have the door hole.
4. In the second session we
focused on creation of a
bee garden and learnt
about what types of nectar
& pollen producing species
are necessary for the bees
to have nearby.
Then we created a bee
garden in the botanical
garden with fruiting trees &
a set of small ponds as it is
very important that the
bees have water close by all
year.
5. In the third session we learnt about
the 3 types of bees in the hive,
worker, drone and queen, about
the processes of bee birth from egg
to larva to pupa to bee and that the
worker takes 21 days to form, the
drone 24 days & the queen 16 days.
We looked at the anatomy of the
bees and their functions within the
hive. We also learnt about the
reasons for and signs of a swarm
and how to use the swarming
mechanism to multiply your hives.
Then we had our first contact
with the bees, spotting all the
things we had just learnt and did
some routine work with the
bees.
6. On the fourth saturday we learnt
how to diagnose common
diseases and how to treat them,
organically and biomechanically.
We learnt about varroa and how to manage and
live with this largely unavoidable mite, that in the
warm seasons breeds at an incredible rate and
can literally suck the life out of the hive.
Then we worked with the bees again, this time
removing some drone brood as a bio-mechanical
intervention to reduce the number of varroa. We
also created some new swarms in smaller swarm
boxes.
7. The fifth session was all about the products from
a hive and the myriad ways in which they can be
used, whether to eat to the great benefit of our
health, specific medicinal uses and even making
candles, polish and waterproofing. We learnt
about, Honey, Pollen, Wax , Propolis, Bee Venom
and Royal Jelly
We then had a delicious taster of the honey which
was being gathered in the hives, eating big chunks of
honey comb and feeling a bit like Winnie the Pooh.
We also saw a demonstration of how to make a
healing balm using propolis which had already been
prepared as a tincture, wax, olive oil and honey. We
each received a jar of his balm and we have found it to
be really effective for every kind of burn, cut, sting or
dry skin condition. We then continued the honey
bonanza and had a tasting session of four different
honeys from different seasons.
Finally we visited the hives to observe the state of the bees,
replace some honey filled frames which we hadn’t managed
to eat and remove some more drone cell frames to continue
the control of Varroa.
8. On the last day of this course we had
a honey harvest celebration, watching
and being involved in the collecting of
the frames, spinning off or pressing
out of the honey, sieving and jarring.
The honey was particularly special
because it had all the diversity, pollen
and nectars of the botanical garden
and the many surrounding parks and
gardens of Coimbra. It really was
delicious and we ate so much and also
got to take our own jarred sample It was the perfect end to a really
home with us at the end of the day enjoyable course, that we would
recommend to anyone interested in
learning more about bee keeping.
Lowarn particularly enjoyed that last day
as he got the chance to go crazy on the
liquid gold as it came out of the press
and centrifuge and buzz around with
honey happiness for the rest of the day.
9. This is the Top bar hive Josh built.
We got the design for it from The back
yard hive company, it is a Golden Mean
hive and is based upon the dimensions
of the lower half of a pentagram. We
chose this style of hive because it
boasted max honey production with the
min size hive.
10. Bee Tea – Instead of the conventional smoker we decided to try another method of
distracting the bees when working in the hive. This is to spray a fine mist of slightly sweet
herb tea which not only wets their wing, making it impossible to fly, but also boosts their
health. We partly choose this method because we wanted to see if it would help with
keeping down the number of Varroa and also because we felt that using smoke was quite a
violent way of approaching the bees, akin to a fire alarm going off in your home every
couple of weeks. But with the tea, they seam to really like it and are a lot less aggravated
by it. It’s more like being bathed in your one of your favourite foods but a food that's good
for you too.
Bee Tea Recipe
Take one large hand full of seasonal fresh herbs favouring plants in flower (with a
predominance from the Thyme and Mint family, but it can also include Sage, Comfrey,
Yarrow, Cleavers, Nettle & Rosemary - not too much rosemary as it bitters the tea). Add this
to 3 litres of boiling water and leave to simmer for 5 mins and stand for 10 mins then strain
though a sieve. Put 1 litre into the pump sprayer for the bees, which is more than enough
for an hour of work in the bee yard (of the other two litres we all drink some as a health
boost and make kombucha with the rest). To this litre add two teaspoons of fructose or
honey and shake to thoroughly mix, this combination calms the bees & gets them busy
licking the tea off themselves. Also to this, at certain times, if there are signs of growth in
varroa populations, add a couple of drops of both Thyme & Peppermint essential oil.
If you want to know if you’ve got the tea right then taste it, it should be strong but not
unpalatable.
11. Bee Keeping and Social Networking
Rosie goes bee keeping in Colmeal
Bee Keeping is a practise which is very much alive here in the Serra of Central Portugal. A
few months after arriving in this area I was able to attend a free 50 hour bee keeping course
in Colmeal, the local village. This was the first course of it’s kind run by an association called
ADIBER in this Junta (Local council) and it was attended by local people, many of whom were
already keeping bees or their families had done so for many generations.
The course was taught in Portuguese so for improving my communication skills it was
fantastic. It was also an incredible way to become involved with the local community,
something which is really essential to any functioning system. I met the Presidente and
various other key workers from the Junta plus many people from the village and surrounding
areas. It really helped to start making connections with people and for them to not see me
as so much of a stranger. This aspect alone made the course hugely worthwhile.
In terms of structure, the course started on 24th Jan and ran for four weeks, three days a
week with sessions from 6 until 10 in the evening. This was quite intensive for both Josh
and I as I was reaching brain meltdown with so much Portuguese and Josh was dealing with
getting Lowarn to bed on his own when Lowarn was previously only used to me. However,
the challenge was beneficial on all accounts.
12. As for the content, the course was very informative in describing many fundamental aspects
of bee keeping such as the anatomy, behaviours and life cycles of the three different bees in
the hive, optimum site and orientation for a hive, traditional beekeeping, protective clothes
worn, necessary climactic conditions and personal mental state beneficial to visiting and
opening the hive. It would be fair to say that a lot of the methods prescribed for
maintaining the health of the hive and dealing with the bees (for example forcing bees to
swarm by killing the queen in order to multiply the number of active hives) were fairly
conventional and largely focussed at the commercial beekeeper. There was a heavy reliance
on chemical treatments and the methods seemed, to me, to be forcing the bees into
massive production rather then working with their natural habits and traits to enable them
to be healthy and numerous and hence highly productive by default.
In summary, I was very grateful to have the opportunity to attend this course, it was a great
way to kick start our learning about bee keeping, I supplemented my learning by reading
books in English which we already had. The course gave me some useful information about
the basics and also an insight into conventional methods. It was also very positive to be part
of this new venture in the local area and to add my support in numbers to the possibility of
it happening. The fact of attending the course may help in official ways at a later date and I
may still find use for some of the strategies taught at some time.
13. We also had a one day outing to visit the apiaries of the teacher and see
active hives in a few different situations. This got me into the local paper
and meant further contact with the other course participants.
14. Bee Gardens
As shown in the example from the botanical garden, it is possible and of great value in
certain situations to create a bee garden planted out with pollen and nectar giving
plants and trees and ensuring a supply of flowers throughout as much of the year as
possible. However, rather than creating a specific bee garden, we have decided
instead to compile a list of plants that we might use throughout our land design once
we have one. We feel that in any design we made, a bee garden would also serve
many other functions and at times would be a forage zone for food crops and culinary
and medicinal herbs and a fodder space for the chickens and the horse (in some parts
and at certain times), it could also have some aquaculture with fish. All in all,
personally, we would provide for the bees and their needs in block plantings
throughout a design, putting certain species in places where they serve as many other
purposes as possible, e.g. Placing a line of willow pollards along permanent fences at
the edge on pasture, giving shade & extra chop and drop feed for the horse, providing
craft materials & fuel for the rocket stove, stabilising the slope, cleaning ground water
as well as being an early source of pollen and nectar for the bees.
15. Trees Climbers
Bee Plants Shrubs Herbaceous
•Crab apple & Apple (Malus •Grape •Eleagnus species – Autumn Olive, •Strawberry
sylvetris) •Kiwi Goumi Berry... •Thyme
•Locust •Passionfruit •Lavender •Bee balm
•Orange (citrus spp.) •Wisteria •Rosemary •Mint
•Pear (Pyrus commumis) •Pumpkins and squashes •Sage •Angelica
•Peach (Prunus persica) •Peas •Raspberry •Borage
•Apricot (Prunus armeniaca) •Runner Beans •Black current •Catnip
•Tulip tree •Cucumber •Gooseberry •Chicory
•Plum (Prunus) •Ivy •Logan berry •Chives
•Lime tree / Tilia •Honey suckle •Heather – The area in which we •Coltsfoot
•Hawthorn •Jasmine live is very rich in wild heather all •Common Mallow
•Willow over the mountains.
•Cornflower
•Cherry (Prunus avium) •Bramble – W
•Corn Marigold
•Chestnut (Castanea sativa) •Broom – W
•Corn Poppy
•Almond ( Prunus dulcis) •Buddleia
•Dandelion
•Alder Bulbs and Tubers •Blackthorn
•Sunflower
•Elder •Holly
•Evening Primrose
•Mulberry (morus spp) •Bluebell •Hyssop
•Field Beans
•Acacia Species •Crocus •Mahonia
•Flax
•Hazel (Corylus avellana) •Grape Hyacinth •Wild Clematis
•Forget me nots
•Horse chestnut •Snowdrop
•Snowflake •Golden Rod
•Maple •Globe thistle
•Poplar •Squill
•Solomon’s Seal •Himalayan Balsam
•Rowan •Honesty
•Pecan (Carya illinoinensis) •Hollyhock
•Lupin
•Marjoram
•Meadowsweet
•Nasturtium
•Self heal
•Sweet Violet
•Valerian
•Vipers Buglos – W
•Clover
•Woad
