What has Fishing Got to do with Bees?

I have just read a blog and been inspired !! the blog was all about how to write stories for a blog. I am sure a lot of bloggers out there like me struggle to find fresh topics to write about and keep our followers interestedI know I certainly do.

So I am going to change tack a little bit and try to give you an insight to my world, of course there will still be updates about the bees and the honey but hopefully it will be a bit more personal, I hope you enjoy it!!

Fishing!

Not a topic I have written about before, so here goes.

Last week my hubby and I went to join my parents in a cottage on the Blairquhan estate near Ayr, Scotland.

This was our 3rd visit to the estate and I was looking forward to a relaxing few days fishing. I absolutely love fly fishing, a sport I got into late in life and have been doing it now for 6 years. My hubby was first interested and asked me to join him, he still goes fishing on the odd occasions but as he is not a very patient man finds it extremely frustrating especially when I hook into a trout and he doesn't :)

Why do I enjoy fishing?

I am the type of person that has thoughts running through my head day and night, could be to do with family, sometimes work or mainly about my hobbies of which I have lots. If I have a project on the go, I cannot stop thinking about it and find it hard to detach myself. This is the time to go fishing, even the drive to a lake or fishery is normally tranquil and my thoughts start to wander in another direction maily the first thought is Will  I catch anything today? .

Unpacking my gear and setting up my rod takes minutes and then its off to find a nice bit of water to fish, last week we fished the small lake at Blaiquhan where there are lots of small but elusive native brown trout.  I managed to catch and land 3 fish, 2 small ones around 1lb in weight and a larger one of approx 2lb, I am pleased to say all were returned safely.

The following day it was of to Coyle Water fishery this time with a bit of a competition going between hubby and me, as he hadn't liked the fact that I had caught the day before and he hadn't. He obviously fancied his chances on the larger lake.Neither of us caught anything in the first 2 hours so we had a break and a bite to eat from the picnic we had prepared, but I cant seem to sit down chatting or stop to eat for long as there are trout to catch.

My competitivness gets the better of me when I am challenged! soon I hook into a fighter and shout over to let hubby know I have a fish on!! he comes over to help me land it. As the fish gets a little tired of playing games and gets closer to the bank the net was put in the water, just as it is about to be scooped up hubby gets hold of the line, disaster !! he tried to pull it in and of course the fish un hooked itself and got away.
A few words were said and then I heard "dont ask for any more help in future you can do it on your own"
Hmm OK I will I though,t I will show you!

30 mins before it was time to pack up I ask how he is getting on, He had had a couple of knocks and just missed one, so with time running out I start to go through my fly box trying this fly and that fly, maybe I should try a dry or should I try a nymph?? You can see how I dont have time to think about anything else cant you!!

Well it was a buzzer that I caught the next fish on a beauty too, approx 31b in weight and would have made lovely eating but as we were on a sporting ticket it had to go back. Hubby says "Well done" but is not very happy. Unfortunately no more fish were caught that day and we went back to the cottage for a glass of wine. Cheers!!

RSPB nature calendar 2013 entered

First time for everything so I have entered the RSPB calendar competition with my honeybee photo. As a total amateur and up against some fantastic photos don't stand a chance but you got to be in it to try! Take a look at the entries and find mine it's by junctiongirl and leave a comment by all means

The deed is done- golden nectar extracted

The rain didnt stop all this morning and heavy showers were forecasted for the afternoon

Do we do it or dont we?

Yes of course we did, we couldnt help ourselves it was so exciting!!

Mel and Gary went to check the hives and see how many supers we had, whilst I prepared the utility room for the extraction process. I had been warned it could be messy job.

If you have never extracted honey before then be warned it creates a wholly sticky mess everywhere, despite how careful and prepared you are!

I had all the work surfaces scrubbed clean, all the utensils and buckets sterilised and the extractor thouroughly cleaned, the floor was covered in cardboard and newspapers, plenty of cloths and hot water at the ready.

 All set to go!

The supers were brought in and stacked ready, the first frame was picked out ready to be uncapped to allow the honey to flow freely when placed in the extractor.

You need a steady hand and a jug of hot water to dip the knife in and a board over a container to place the frame on whilst you cut away the cappings. Tilt the fram forward so the cappings drop into the container as you cut them away. Normally this can be done in one sheet if the comb is evenly drawn out, if not it will take several goes to do it. Remove as much of the cappings as you can, but try not cut to far into the honeycomb. Have more than one container at the ready as we ended up needing three.

As the cappings are removed hand them to a helper to place them into the extractor, repaeat until the extractor is full.

Now slowly start it up and watch the honey start to spin out, hitting the sides and flowing down into a golden pool at the bottom.

Watch the bottom of the extractor as the honey slides down, dont let the honey pool in the bottom to much before opening the gate and filling your bucket.

 Dont forget to place the strainers on first though!

Next close the gate on the extractor and carry on with the rest of the frames until all done, meanwhile the bucket of collected honey now needs to go through a very fine mesh strainer to catch any missed or remaining tiny bits of pollen before being left in a settling tank to let all the bubbles rise to the top.

The extracting process is quite long depending on how much honey there is to extract but dont try and rush it or cut corners, instead give yourself plenty of time and have few cups of tea in between as you stop and admire the golden nectar flowing into the buckets.

We filled to buckets then ran out of containers to store it in so had to improvise and put it in saucepans, thank god for stockpans and preserve pans dont underestimate how much honey you may get and get caught out like us.

Next there were the cappings to deal with lots of honey in the bottom of the basins there too!! and the wax is to valuable to waste but thats another story.

The biggest job was the clean up after, but we managed in the end. Now it's time for a well earned glass of wine whilst I admire our very own honey

How much honey did we extract??

Would you like a jar?

Guess the amount correctly and I will send the person who guesses the nearest,

wins a jar of Melys Honey.