Tuesday, January 29, 2008

We've got Hives! and lots of other bugs!












Finally after many years of unforgivable procrastination we have finally got some beehives. Alfred Wittosch a local beekeeper from Otway Apiaries delivered our first hives about a month ago and today resplendent in his brand new outfit he gave us our first taste of fresh honey.
Fresh almost pure nectar straight from the comb that can only be compared to the taste of the first extra virgin oil directly from the press.
It was too young but we just could not resist a sample. Alfred explained that the bees concentrate the nectar and reduce the water content from about 60% to less than 15% by fanning it to give us what we call honey. Alfred is one of those people who for me rekindles the passion that we can lose sight of in pursuing this sometimes frantic foodie life. He loves his bees.
By the time we re-open [probably the first week in May] [more details later] we should have enough to be self-sufficient in this divine seminal sweetness.
But there are many other bugs here too... the spiders were at it last night.
With certain weather conditions we get a lot of small beetles that are attracted to the house lights and somehow our resident arachnoids know when and where to web.

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