Happy Christmas/Pagan Winter Festival….

[Moobee]

Wishing all my fellow beekeepers, a very happ-bee Christmas, good strong surviving colonies in Spring, zero varroa (!), healthy bees, plentiful forage, a warm & sunny spring & summer and lots of honey in 2023.

 

[Erichalfbee]

 

[pargyle]

Happy Christmas to you all - I've just sat down to enjoy Christmas eve ... all my veg prepped ready for tomorrow, gravy made, turkey ready to go in and a bottle of sherry already started ... Bit of a Xmas tradition for me... usually manage half a bottle whilst I cook. Grateful that we have a roof over our head, food on the table, heat and clean water ... there will be many this Christmas without any of these.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Happy Christmas to you all - I've just sat down to enjoy Christmas eve ... all my veg prepped ready for tomorrow, gravy made, turkey ready to go in and a bottle of sherry already started ... Bit of a Xmas tradition for me... usually manage half a bottle whilst I cook. Grateful that we have a roof over our head, food on the table, heat and clean water ... there will be many this Christmas without any of these.

I've prepped my veg too. Leek, Brussels, King Edwards, Sweet potato, Squash, Carrots, Elephant Garlic and Onion all home grown. A sirloin roast from a neighbour three miles away..slaughtered five miles away from the farm. Home baked Panetonne ready to make bread and butter pudding with custard made with our own eggs and fresh raw milk and cream from the farm a quarter of a mile away.
I ordered some cabling to stream programmes from my iPad through 4G ( no broadband here). It arrived this morning so we can avoid the dross on live TV.
New book to read too....


Bees vaped....see you in spring.
Happy days

 

[fian]

Happy 380th anniversary of the birth of Isaac Newton.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Just popping up the chapel to have one last look at the fire before having a quick power nap in readiness to open up and lead the 0630 'plygain' service in the morning

View attachment 20221223_213816.mp4

 

[Antipodes]

We would have needed heaters on if Christmas was last week, when it was barely above 10 degrees, but it is Christmas morning here now, the weather has warmed, and the forecast is a beautiful and sunny 25 degrees and the bees got foraging very early.

 

[Wilco]

Merry Christmas to all.

Just back from the midnight 'mass' service. My first attempt at a Christmas cake is iced, marzipaned and drowned in brandy (in reverse order), Christmas puds and mince pies made (the latter just in the nick of time with an 'I've left them in the oven and gone out' moment thrown in for good measure), presents sorted, most of the Christmas cards distributed and watched a cartoon version of A Christmas Carol with my girls. Off to see my side of the family 'later on' and roped in/volunteered to help mum cook- sadly not as locally sourced as some of the above but did get a traditionally reared and relatively free range (until bird flu restrictions) turkey from the local butcher. Sleep well, have a wonderful day everyone, I hope you all get the bee kit you really wanted and a moment to pause and think of who Christmas starts with and why.

@Antipodes it's above freezing so heaters are off again here. Steady 10°C so shorts weather (which made changing fondant tubs earlier slightly more interesting).

 

[OXFORDBEE]

Seasons greetings to all. Wax processing today and a cocker to walk before friends come round for lunch. She’s a working girl so bounds of energy. Recon when I get back I’m the one slumped over the Turkey while she’s still bouncing about and got her nose into everything!

 

[Moobee]

I've prepped my veg too. Leek, Brussels, King Edwards, Sweet potato, Squash, Carrots, Elephant Garlic and Onion all home grown. A sirloin roast from a neighbour three miles away..slaughtered five miles away from the farm. Home baked Panetonne ready to make bread and butter pudding with custard made with our own eggs and fresh raw milk and cream from the farm a quarter of a mile away.
I ordered some cabling to stream programmes from my iPad through 4G ( no broadband here). It arrived this morning so we can avoid the dross on live TV.
New book to read too....

View attachment 34759
Bees vaped....see you in spring.
Happy days

Yum! What time shall I pop over??

 

[Ian123]

Happy Christmas….I hope everyone has an enjoyable day…Relaxing I’m not so sure as currently being peppered with a Nerf gun…….Ian

 

[Newbeeneil]

Happy Christmas….I hope everyone has an enjoyable day…Relaxing I’m not so sure as currently being peppered with a Nerf gun…….Ian

Your typing is good considering you are probably taking cover behind the sofa!

 

[Ian123]

I

Your typing is good considering you are probably taking cover behind the sofa!

Not my first Rodeo!

 

[BeeAdmin]

Happy Christmas everyone!

 

[Wilco]

I

Not my first Rodeo!

Are you returning fire?

 

[Ian123]

Are you returning fire?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Ah what a sweetie!

 

[Kaz]

I'm in NZ for Christmas this year so I'm already on boxing day. Christmas day was spent dune surfing and visiting the sacred Maori site of Cape Reinga and Spirits Bay, the northernmost tip of north island where the Maori believe their spirits leave and return to their homeland after death. I was fascinated by the Bee activity, the area is planted beautifully and the manuka was literally covered in tiny bees collecting nectar and pollen (not a honey bee in sight), while the honey bees were all over the NZ Flax. Couldn't stop watching them

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Wax processing today and a cocker to walk before friends come round for lunch. She’s a working girl so bounds of energy

she probably senses it's boxing day tomorrow (all mine seemed to know the date) and an opportunity to do what they were born to do

 

[Antipodes]

I'm in NZ for Christmas this year so I'm already on boxing day. Christmas day was spent dune surfing and visiting the sacred Maori site of Cape Reinga and Spirits Bay, the northernmost tip of north island where the Maori believe their spirits leave and return to their homeland after death. I was fascinated by the Bee activity, the area is planted beautifully and the manuka was literally covered in tiny bees collecting nectar and pollen (not a honey bee in sight), while the honey bees were all over the NZ Flax. Couldn't stop watching them

Across the Tasman I was surprised to see this bush covered in beetles...but just a couple of honey bees.