Teaching Apiary.
Do you belong to a beekeeping association that has its own meeting room and apiary, or perhaps just an apiary and storage shed? Lucky you, if so! Having opened up my own apiary to beginners over the years, I know what impact it can have on a colony and too much inexperienced handling can set it back and reduce honey production. Phil Collett (Apiary Manager of Dumfries & Galloway Beekeeping Association) in his recent blog explains how the teaching apiary at the “Bee Space” produced double the usual amount of honey during covid restrictions when there were no beginners handling the colonies.Oor Bees Blog; Part 2. (beelistener.co.uk) . Everyone has to learn though and if a training apiary is managed well it serves a good purpose and the bees are healthy.
In a recent interview with Yvonne Davidson, principal mover and shaker of the Tarland Bee Group, I couldn’t help smiling when she related a conversation held prior to setting up the association apiary. The Bee Group had just formed and an excited new beekeeper asked, “So, can we play about with your bees, Yvonne?” “Absolutely not!” replied Yvonne.
Yvonne exudes confidence and ability and is just the sort of person you would choose to be with in a crisis if you could. My bee buddy Cynthia is another of these remarkable people. Yvonne has had a head start over most people in beekeeping having started when she was around 5 years old. See her previous guest blog. https://www.beelistener.co.uk/beekeeping-in-scotland/yvonne-davidsons-guest-blog-my-life-in-beekeeping/ Yvonne kindly hosted a delegation of committee members from the Nairn & District Beekeepers’ Association last Sunday to help them discover how best to go about setting up an association apiary and meeting room.
Alison MacRobbie, our unique and super-competent secretary, Cynthia May, and myself, as chairperson, travelled up over the moors to Aberdeenshire and Yvonne’s home 60 miles away just outside the small town of Tarland. The day was mostly dry through ever threatening rain was not far off. We motored up to Tomintoul, the highest settlement in the UK, and on down to Cockbridge over a road that everyone in Scotland is familiar with from the radio weather reports and forecasts. During the days before climate change, the road was blocked by snow for months on end over winter and Tomintoul was one of the most isolated places on the map. We drove through the Lecht where the bare hills and redundant ski tows reminded me of days spent skiing there.
One of my favourite castles, Corgarff (small, white, and stark) comes into view as we descend very steeply from the hills to the Strathdon valley. Corgarff once housed the “Red Coats” sent north during the troubled times of the 18th Century. We pass through Strathdon and I stop a couple of times to check with locals if I am on the right track for Yvonne’s place.
We lunched in great comfort looking out of the windows towards Braemar and Lochnagar which was not quite visible in the mist. I’ve climbed it a couple of times and enjoyed spectacular views there. Time was tight with just 2 hours before we needed to head for home so we concentrated on the main fact finding. However, Yvonne led us out into her own garden and apiary where we discovered a clever trick of placing fibre glass mesh over the packet of fondant and below the layer of top insulation so that when Yvonne opens up to check on the state of fondant, the bees remain safely below the mesh.
Tarland Bee Group.
The association apiary is a stone’s throw from Yvonne’s house and just down in the valley in a secure area of a community apple orchard and garden outside Tarland on a private estate looking towards Lochnagar. The bee group (membership 40 at £20 per head membership per annum) is one of a number of stakeholders including; art group, tapestry group, gardening, and apple pressing group that comprise Tarland Development Groups Project.
This project was a long-term one taking 10 years to complete. The total cost of building work, including composting lavatory, was £80,000. The building is 11 x 4 metres including lavatory block. 30 people can be comfortably accommodated inside the classroom for lectures. There is electricity and running water. Electricity cost 13 p/day to supply, with costs for use added. The group was encouraged to have a “green” sedum roof which is very heavy and impacted on building design and is one thing that Yvonne would omit if there was to be a next time.
Active fundraising has been ongoing for 10 years led by Yvonne and colleague Lizzie Shepherd. There was a project manager to keep track of development. Several groups use this facility and it is well supported, so, if interest in beekeeping waned and the group disbanded, the others could keep going. It is important to note that fundraising was a major part of the project involving the usual community events like produce sales etc., however, applying for funding to various trusts was the key part. It was tiring and Yvonne was glad of a short break recently, but she has to get back to fund raising for larger storage premises and an electric extractor. A lesson here is always plan for more storage space than you think you will need. Although many different funding sources were used, the MacRobert Trust is their mainstay.
The carpark outside the main gate on short grass is adequate and unobtrusive. The main garden is open to the public at all times. They can walk among wildflower meadows in summer and enjoy raised beds of herbs and flowers in old bee hive parts. Informative signage tells the beekeeping story and empty hives of different types are dotted along the path to the building.
Signage.
An ancient holly tree sporting the reddest of berries stands beside the front door. It looks brilliant against a bruised black sky as rain threatens our sunny walk around the grounds. Originally, an old walled garden flourished here and the old wall shelters this apiary. The original bee boles hold empty straw skeps made by Bryce Reynard of Inverness.
We visit the teaching apiary to the side and south facing under a carport adorned with flourishing ivy. If Yvonne had known how dark it would be for finding eggs etc., she would have designed the roof so that clear Perspex made it lighter below. The apiary gate was padlocked and would have been perfectly secure if a small space at the side had been blocked. Vandalism is unlikely in this part of rural Aberdeenshire on a private estate but we would need to have our apiary totally secure as vandalism has been a problem for a couple of our members recently.
The Meeting Room.
Composting Facilities.
We are all impressed and very taken with the building and composting lavatory. The latter is so clean and lacking any unpleasant odour beating the typical “port-a-loo” hands down on lack of stinkiness.
By the way, the estate that owns the land is a generous one and the annual site rent is £1.
The Bee Group has been visited by Royalty and I can tell you that King Charles prefers runny honey on his toast if you ever get the chance to let him sample your harvest. He must have liked Yvonne’s because he is returning for another private visit.
On the dot of 2 pm, we thanked our host Yvonne, and colleague Marie Clark, and took our leave returning over the hills in the sunshine before darkness began to fall around 4:30 pm. Marie is on the steering group and has been 100% involved all the fundraising events and association teaching.
On the way home, we talked over what we learned and came to the following conclusions about the way forward for us.
Collective Conclusions:
- We agreed, that for our project to go ahead, we must have the full support of the members and a willingness not just to agree to change, but to actively become involved in some way in accordance with individual skills. This will involve members coming forward and disclosing skills so we can make a skills inventory and match up people to roles.
- Making this a long-term project is even more important than we previously thought, as is making every step a small one which should make the project less daunting. As the saying goes, “eat the elephant in bite-sized chunks!”
- To make it work, there needs to be a hunger among club members to develop and advance in beekeeping. It will take commitment and hard work from the members and can only go ahead with their support. Ultimately, the membership decides how their association functions and the committee will carry out its wishes. Naturally, I’m very much hoping that we do move forward, even a little way, during my term as Trustee.