February has come and almost gone in the blink of an eye. A sure sign, me thinks, of getting older has to be when you can’t remember January having ever been in the calendar and already it’s nearly March so February’s all but a blank too! Thank goodness I keep notes for these monthly blogs or it would be 2021 before I know it and I wouldn’t have written a thing!

With love being the main focus in February I was delighted when I came across this fabulous image of our wonderful honeybees and their comb. The more cynical among you might say it’s an edited image but I can assure you I’ve found heart shape comb in my hives before now, but it’s never been positioned such that it could be held up to be photographed like this one. Whatever one’s opinion it made me smile so thank you honeybees and whoever took the image and I hope it makes you smile too… But how about this incredible photograph.? The beekeeper forgot to put the frames in his hive, so the bees just free-styled, building a structure that would best handle temperature and ventilation… Clever honeybees… I cannot help but feel tremendous love for our wonderful girls for all the selfless work they do for the survival of their colonies and species and, by way of nature, our planets survival too.

I’ve done some lovely talks so far this year with the following groups: High March School - I gave two talks there on one day. A wonderful talk at Bourne End Evening WI - they were a lively lot! An intimate event given by the members of The Wendover U3A Gardening Group; charming ladies all with a wonderful host and probably the best ever Victoria Sponge Cake I’ve tasted. The Halton Brownies and the absolute highlight being The Amersham Brownies which Amelie arranged for me to talk to. She kicked the evening off with a talk about the honeybees to earn her “Speak Out” badge which is, in the words of the Brownies about ‘Saying what you think and sharing your opinions is important to get your point across. Speaking out draws attention to something that’s wrong or that you think is great. Spread the word, speak out and make a difference.’ Amelie gave a wonderful talk and quite rightly earned her badge!

Exciting things ahead as always.

I’ve organised talks at 6 branches of Waterstones in Bed, Bucks and Herts in order to “Creat a buzz about the honeybee” in the home counties. At this juncture I feel a Buzz Lightyear moment coming on… “to the home counties and beyond!” - Buzz being a rather appropriate name don’t you think? -

My itinerary, so far, is as follows:

WATERSTONES CHESHAM

Saturday 18th Apri

WATERSTONES BERKHAMSTED

Saturday 25th April

WATERSTONES ST ALBANS

Saturday 2nd May

WATERSTONES HARPENDEN (THE BOOK SHOP)

Saturday 9th May

WATERSTONES HIGH WYCOMBE

Saturday 16th May

WATERSTONES BEDFORD

Saturday 23rd May

A huge shout out and thanks to Waterstones for supporting me in my endeavour.

I’m going to be on Three Counties Radio, Nick Coffer’s show, on Tuesday 14th April @ 1.00pm to talk about said tour, so do tune in if you can. I’ll remind you nearer the time make no mistake… So thank you to them for their support too. Oooo and did I mention I’ll be on Steve Parker’s show on Uxbridge FM on Monday 23rd March at 11.30?

This Queen Bee’s definitely spreading her wings!

So that’s all been about me. “How about the honeybees?” I hear you cry. Well, they’re still tucked up. Mine have survived Storm Ciara and Dennis, although quite a few beekeepers lost some of their hives which is terribly sad. At this time of year we’ve hefted our hives and put fondant icing on top to ensure that even if they have stores, there is extra there, just above the cluster to keep them going if it gets too cold to use their stores. I went to my apiary today and all three, touch wood, are doing very well. My queen should be starting to lay a few eggs each day and the hives are still female only places, with the workers taking cleaning flights on warm sunny days. I’ve seen honeybees on the heather in my garden a couple of times when the wind and rain have stopped and the sun’s come out for a brief moment. They’re not called ‘workers’ for nothing… they don’t waste a second of their time. For the beekeeper there’s little to do except prepare all the equipment you’ll be needing with the onset of spring.

Finally, I always like to end on a fun or sweet note. People ask me “What age is Betsie for?” I can’t answer that question. It’s for whoever picks it up and delights in the beautiful pictures and sweet story. The picture below is of my gorgeous niece - Lilly - who is nearly three. She loves the pictures, her Mum reads her the story and learns about the honeybees…Boom!