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Newsletter
So having moaned about the absence of summer just a few weeks ago we are now in the middle of a heatwave! We’re not complaining though – this is just what a British summer should be like. The garden is full of beautiful fragrances and the birds are so active now.
Saturday 3rd July marks the first of our regular summer markets here at Gaea’s Garden and the dates for subsequent markets are:
Saturday 31st July (now cancelled)
Saturday 28th August
Saturday 18th September
The markets will run from 10:00 to 16:30 on each day and entry is free. There are still places available if you are interested in having a stall - please contact us for more details.
The Gaea’s Secret Garden Café is now open and every day (except Mondays when we are closed) we are serving hot and cold drinks, homemade cakes, homemade soups and of course cream teas. At weekends we will also offer light lunches.
There are still a few places available for the Mongolian overtone & undertone singing concert with Michael Ormiston and Candida Valentino on the evening of Monday 26th July. We have seen them in concert several times and their music is beautiful yet fascinating. This will be an amazing evening and if you want to be sure of your place contact the shop in the near future.
It has been a busy time with the bees this summer. Our original colony swarmed as I was unable to inspect the hive for a couple of weeks. The queen and maybe 15-20,000 workers flew over the shop to a new home somewhere in the trees. When I did look inside the hive I found a number of queen cells so decided to take some of these out and create two new colonies. I’m not sure if I was unlucky or did something wrong but none of the queen cells worked so I was left with 3 hives without a queen. Luckily I was able to unite the three lots of bees and donate some eggs from our second colony and it looks as if they have created a new queen so finger crossed that they will now settle.
Having just got this lot sorted out I had a phone call to say there was a swarm in the back garden of a house in Aylesbury and I could have them if I wanted to go and collect them. It was a bit nerve-wracking, never having done it before but they were very gentle with me. An hour later I was on my way home with a small swarm of maybe 10,000 bees wrapped in a sheet on the back seat with a seatbelt on! A new hive was already set up for them and just as the light started to fade they all climbed up into their new home, complete with queen.
Then last Saturday evening I had another phone call. There was a swarm in Stoke Mandeville that I could have if I wanted to get them. So, off I went with a bit more confidence this time, only to find a huge mass of bees clustered on a four-foot section of tree trunk in someone’s front drive. Anyway again they were gentle with me and after an hour of chatting with a bunch of local children who were fascinated by what I was doing, it was back home with maybe 25,000 bees. There were so many that they didn’t all make it into their new hive that night! Anyway they’re now all settled so hopefully there is a queen with them.
Then, just to round things off, our second colony that overwintered here decided to prepare for swarming so I’ve just had to split that colony into two in order to prevent losing a swarm.
Phew!!!
Blessings to you all
Keri and Mark
July 2010
For a full list of all activities at Wendover Dean please download the .pdf file below:
For course bookings or further information
call Gaea at Wendover Dean - 01296 696789
