Mead flavoured with fruit is known as Melomel. I’ve got 6 blackcurrant bushes in my garden; I planted them in 2004 as cuttings. Each year now, in July I make between 10 and 30 gallons of wine from the currants they give me. Instead of sugar I use some horrible honey I bought in haste – I’m drinking my mistake. If you’re out there Frank – you know who you are – cheers!
If you have a wine hydrometer, you won’t need me to tell you how to use it and you can be more precise about how much honey you want to add.
Here is the recipe:
Ingredients
3lb blackcurrants
3.5lb honey
1 gallon water
Red wine yeast and nutrient
Pectic enzyme
Method
Mash the fruit in food grade plastic bucket. Do not use metal – I use a plastic bottle full of water as a pestle;
Boil honey and water in a large pan, remove scum and pour still boiling over the fruit;
Cover with a cloth;
When cooled to blood heat add pectic enzyme as per instructions on container and leave for a day;
Next day add the wine yeast and yeast nutrient, stir and cover;
Keep covered in a warm place, stirring once per day, for 5 days;
Strain into a demi-john, fit airlock and leave till it stops fermenting and wine clears;
October is the last month for the beekeeper to ready his or her bees for the winter. The ivy will be coming to an end soon and the bees need to have enough stores on board to carry them through the winter. As the temperatures begin to fall, they spend more of their time clustered and feeding syrup is no longer an option. Any hives that are still light could be bolstered with some frames of stores from elsewhere.
A rock on the roof might keep the roof on in a gale but if the stand is toppled the hive will burst asunder and the bees will be exposed to the weather so rope or strap your hives if possible.
They say a mouse has the ability to flatten its head and can pass though any holes bigger than the thickness of a pencil so any entrances thicker than that will need mouseguards. A mouseguard is a strip of metal perforated with bee-sized holes which can be pinned over the entrance to prevent mouse invasions. Mice can destroy a hive of bees in the winter.
The straw skep is a familiar part of the beekeeper’s equipment. Nowadays they are used primarily to gather summer swarms and winter cobwebs but in the past, skeps were used to hive bees all year round. Continue reading Skep History→
Winter is coming but when the temperatures is up – 14 degrees C or so – the bees will continue to work the ivy (Hedera helix) especially in sunny intervals. It flowers between September and November – even December in a very mild year. They can take quite a crop from the ivy and it is great fodder for the winter. You will know if your bees are working it because there will be lots of yellow pollen going in which will give the bees a great boost Click here for a pollen load picture or click the photo below for a close up. Standing by the hives the reek of the ivy honey can be very strong. Continue reading Ivy Honey→
Flyaway hair? Try this recipe I found this morning. It takes minutes to prepare and will hold the most stubborn hair in place.
Ingredients
15 grams grated beeswax
4 teaspoons coconut oil
Method
melt the beeswax in a glass jar or bowl over a pan of hot water;
when melted – add the coconut oil;
when that too has melted – stir well and pour into a shallow jar;
If you want to add fragrance – cool slightly and stir it in just before bottling.
To use, scrape a little out with a teaspoon – or a fingernail if you’ve got one of those long curved ones. Spread it out over your fingertips then rub it through your mad hair.
PS If you don’t like the consistency you can always melt it down and add more beeswax or coconut or fry an egg in it.
