Bees & Garden
Liz has always had an interest in gardening and producing food. From an early age on the farm to living in the city, it is an intrinsic part of her life.
Liz opts for a no-dig and organic system for the garden and allotment. Making her own compost, along with mulching the garden in the autumn or early spring with manure or organic waste. She grows on an allotment which offers unusual herbs, seasonal fruit and vegetables for the pot.
One of her favourite things about the garden is the tastes and smells that can be grown, from Old English Roses to edible flowers. She is committed to sustainable practices and because of this uses flowers from the garden to decorate your table and food or dries seed heads and flowers for hand-tied bouquets.
Low food miles along with low air miles for flowers, is a small way to contribute to sustainability in our beautiful world. Eating local and seasonally is a good way to eat healthily.
Bees
Liz has kept European Honey Bees for the last ten years. She is committed to sustainability and keeps the bees as close to nature as possible. The city is a good place to keep bees as the flora and fauna are diverse and offer a long nectar season. Some agricultural practices don’t offer such diversity, sometimes acting as a desert for bees and other insects.
Liz does not treat her bees with chemicals and opts for different management skills, such as sprinkling them with icing sugar to encourage them to clean each other to help with mite control. Also, Liz does not take all the honey off the bees leaving enough for the leaner times of the season and winter. She does not clip the wing of the queen bee, which she feels is cruel. This is often done so that when the bees swarm the queen can’t fly far from the original hive.
Her gardening practice is no dig and organic, offering as much nectar for the bees throughout the seasons.
Bees are fascinating, a male honey bee (Drone) is made from an unfertilised egg, so instead of having 32 chromosomes, it has 16 chromosomes. Also, a Drone does not have a sting. There is always a lot to learn from the community of honey bees.
The honey that Liz takes is used in cooking and distributed to neighbours and friends. The honey is just filtered and jarred. A delicious sweet treat.
