My new grandson, Elliott Thomas was born last week - what a perfect Spring present - this little boy is surrounded by love, just like he should be - welcome to our wonderful world beautiful boy .. While I was over in Tauranga last weekend my son Cameron and I were out in his garden doing a spot of weeding and dead heading as you do, I found many bumblebees and honey bees on the Perris japonica - the sweet scent from this plant was very strong. I saw alot of small bumblebees so I 
gathered there must be a nest close by. After some swift talking I managed to convince Cameron that he didn`t need to go looking for it so he could spray it to kingdom come ! I really like bumblebees, in fact I have a small tattoo ( horror, gasp etc) of a Bombus terrestis on my upper arm - where it can be covered if need be !!
gathered there must be a nest close by. After some swift talking I managed to convince Cameron that he didn`t need to go looking for it so he could spray it to kingdom come ! I really like bumblebees, in fact I have a small tattoo ( horror, gasp etc) of a Bombus terrestis on my upper arm - where it can be covered if need be !! 
9 comments:
Congratulations on the birth of your new grandson!
In which area does your son live in Tga?
I grew up on Grange Rd, Otumoetai and my mother still lives there.
Thankyou ! My son and his wife live in Welcome Bay, Carly`s parents own the Palmers Garden Centre there and C and C own the cafe attached. My daughter Pip ( one of 3 sisters )and her hubby Matt and new baby boy Elliott live in Ohauiti, next suburb to Welcome Bay. I know Otumoetai, its lovely there.
I don't know that area so well. Plus I've been living in Austria for 13 years now and I've forgotten so much already....including a lot of my english vocabulary!
I came to study music here and ended up marrying a Viennese man. We have 2 small kids so that's why I'm a little bit hesitant about starting beekeeping just now and will do the course to really inform myself first. (Is it enough to check a beehive once a week?)
Perchtoldsdorf is gorgeous. This is where the Alps start. The village is famous for its' Heurigen which are basically wine restaurants. Very rustical, where the wine farmers sell their wine and now in modern times, offer great traditional food with it. (Schubert spent most of his life in Heurigen!) The woods are very different to the NZ bush! There's always a 'hut' on each walking track where the Austrians eat and drink loads. It's a really great lifestyle here. I just detest the winter. And the thought of going to check bees at -20° is not very enticing!
I think this is so hilarious chatting with you....NZ is such a small place, we're sure to have a mutual acquaintance there somewhere!
congratulations on the birth of your new grandson !!!!
pantelis from GREECE !!!!
“La Multi Ani !” it’s in romanian for “Happy Many Returns of the Day”
Congratulations! For your grandson
Thank you chaniabee and george for the hearty congratulations !!
It is a hoot julechen chatting to another New Zealander on the other side of the world, your village sounds lovely.We both probably do know someone !
In the winter you leave the bees alone, make sure they have enough food to last over the coldest time and keep them warm !! Checking once a week over the time of the nectar flow is fine, I only open the hives when I really need to, the least the better really, the little darlings can get grumpy !. It will be a wonderful learning expereince for your children, my 10yr old granddaughter loves coming with me when we `do` the bees.
So I started my beginner's beekeeping course yesterday and loved it!! 22 people were there which I found very surprising. Almost all of them just want to look after bees because they had noticed that there are less and less bees each year.
I've asked my husband and my Mum who is here visiting, for a beehive for my birthday. Let's see if I get lucky! All the gear is terribly expensive here. I think I'll need to travel east to buy it. (Will have to contact George in Rumania for some info I think!)
My mother bought me manuka, rata and pohutakawa honey with her. Scrumptious. I had acacia, orange flower and sunflower honey waiting for her. Sunflower honey is supposed to be very calming. The organic orange flower honey from Spain is simply amazing. It's like eating the flowers themselves. Shall I bring you some next year?! Oops. I guess I'm not allowed to bring it into NZ?
I found out that the beekeeping school in Vienna is the oldest in the world. The emperess Mara Theresia founded it in 1767. (If I remember the date correctly)
I am so envious of you !!! I would love to have some info on the bee course - do they have a web site, what did you learn, did you understand the teacher !!!
We should start emailing, i`m not sure how to put it on my blog, but will try and sort it out.
I tell you, it becomes obsessive this bee learning, I can`t get enough of the information. If you are interested I will send you a copy of the latest bee news letter I do for the local club.
You wouldn`t believe it I discovered a morning bee course out at Raglan on the 23rd Sept, its only $10 and is part of the environment centre in Raglan, another of my passions. I booked in while out there on Sunday helping my eldest daughter on her stall at the local market. Meg is an artist and teaches art at a High School here in Hamilton, she is very talented if I do say so myself !!
Your local honey sounds delicious, no, you can`t bring any into NZ, shame, but there is so much disease out there, we have varroa now because some got through, they are very strict on the borders, huge fines if you are caught with food, plants etc.
I am opening my hives this weekend to check for nasties and to see if the queens are laying. There are many bees out each day now, the willow is flowering and the nectar flow will start properly next month. It is a cool thing to learn about, which plants are flowering, if you need any help with botanical info just let me know. It would be interesting for me to learn about your area in the world.
I hope you get your hive soon and the gear, mind you, its a while away yet to your spring !!
I have attached my email to my profile - it was easy really - just hope I don`t get any crazies mailing me - bee people excluded of course !!
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