The Wild Swarm

Since I moved to Newhouse Farm in February, hangovers have been a thing of the past because I decided to join James in giving up alcohol for several months. The aim was to be tee total until James' birthday at the end of June when we would celebrate our good behaviour with an alcoholic drink or two. However an unexpected reason for celebration, which must remain secret for the time being, meant that we returned to the world of alcohol slightly earlier than expected. It was with glee that I slurped a glass of bubbling booze for the first time in several months. And it was with remorse that I woke up the following morning with a fuzzy head and a dodgy tummy. Hangovers aren't pleasant, even at the best of times. But if I thought that I was going to be able to spend the day nursing my sore head in front of the telly, I had another thing coming. In the shadowy depths of a lane in Cornwall something was buzzing...

On the day following our celebratory drinking session the phone rang at Newhouse Farm. It was John, a local beekeeper, who told James that there was a wild swarm of bees in the lane behind his house. If we wanted these bees we should come and capture them before they moved on elsewhere. Since I've been living in Cornwall I've learnt that 2008 was a very bad year for bees all across Britain, with 30% of bee colonies being wiped out. This had certainly been felt at the farm as 3 of the hives hadn't survived the winter. So an opportunity to capture a wild swarm of bees to populate one of the empty hives at the farm was too good to miss, hangover or no hangover.

Dick was away on business, so it was up to James and I to capture the bees. We donned our white protective bee suits and dark visors, grabbed a tall ladder, and walked through the village to meet beekeeper John, looking like extras out of a sci-fi movie. I'd never seen a wild swarm of bees before, and I couldn't help but feel a growing sense of fear as we walked, as images of killer bees and angry swarms kept springing to mind. Could this thin white suit really be enough to protect me from a swarm of angry bees?! When we met John he pointed up into the branches of a tree overhanging the lane, and there they were, hundreds of bees clumped together, weighing down one of the branches like a large exotic fruit. I could hear them quietly humming away, and I noticed that we all started speaking softly and moving carefully so as not to disturb them.

Apparently contrary to popular opinion wild swarms of bees are actually fairly docile, because the bees are stuffed with honey. The swarm is looking for a new home, so the bees have bellies full of honey to sustain them for their journey. Bees filled with honey are less likely to sting, so even though this swarm looked intimidating there was no need for me to be concerned... or at least that's what I tried to convince myself! I'd never been stung by a bee, and I didn't intend to break that record this evening.

James told me that the key to working with bees is to keep as relaxed as possible. So I watched as James and John calmly made their preparations beneath the swarm. John assembled an empty hive to put the swarm in so we could transport it to the farm, whilst James erected the ladder beneath the swarm. John slowly climbed the ladder until his head was almost alongside the mass of bees. He took out his secateurs and started cutting at the branch that supported the swarm, with the intention of taking this branch and shaking the bees into the empty hive.

It was all going along with grace and ease until a clump of bees fell to the floor. BUZZZZZ! The clump that fell to the floor immediately swarmed into the air, emitting an unbelievable buzzing sound. They flew all over the place, and I saw them crawling all over James' bee-suit and across the visor of mine. "Just keep still and be calm!" I thought, noting how John and James had calmly continued their work as if nothing untoward had happened. The main clump of bees had remained in the tree, and John had managed to cut off a branch on which many of them had gathered. He climbed down the ladder, holding the branch and then shook it vigorously over the empty hive. The bees fell inside: some took to the air, whilst hundreds of others started climbing the walls of the hive. John explained that if the queen was inside the hive eventually the other bees would come inside and join her. If not, they'd return to the tree.

During the next half an hour John and James continued to collect the remaining bees from the branch of the tree. It seemed likely that the queen probably was inside the hive, because more and more bees began to collect around the entrance and go inside. James explained that the bees inside the hive would be communicating with the bees outside the hive, sending signals from their bottoms to indicate where the queen was and therefore to join them. Gradually the number of bees flying around began to diminish, and I was relieved to see that fewer and fewer bees crawled over our bee-suits. John and James placed the lid on top of the hive, and placed the remaining clumps of bees from the tree that they'd collected in a cardboard box at the entrance to it.

Finally, to my relief, the job was done. John said that he'd leave the bees to settle down over night, and then transport them to their new home at the farm in the morning. James and I folded up the ladder and set off back through the village towards the farm. It was absolutely fascinating, and more than a little intimidating, to see the wild swarm be captured... but as interesting as bees undoubtedly were I'd had just about as much as I could take on my first hangover for 5 months! These bees have now been successfully introduced to one of the empty hives at the farm, and it's wonderful to see them hard at work buzzing around the garden. Hopefully their colony will survive and it won't be too long before I can smother my toast with homemade honey!

Hangover Remedy
Earlier this year I helped to create a medicinal garden at Newhouse Farm. Over the past few months I've been growing medicinal plants to add to this garden, with the intention that we'll be able to experiment with plant remedies in order to treat common ailments. The medicinal garden is split into 6 different 'ailment beds', such as coughs & colds, bites & stings, headaches, and so on. One of the beds is dedicated to hangovers and energy restoratives, and it was my intention to create a hangover remedy ready for when James and I started drinking alcohol again. Unfortunately, due to us returning to the world of alcohol a little earlier than expected, I hadn't prepared my hangover remedy in time. So instead I thought I'd share with you this hangover remedy created by a blog reader called Maddy Jones. I haven't had chance to try this out yet, but according to Maddy it's the definitive hangover cure. Many thanks Maddy... I'm sure I'll be needing to try it out again!

Maddy's Definitive Hangover Cure:
2 tablespoons of grated ginger squeezed over a cup of boiling water
1 teaspoon of fennel seeds
1 teaspoon of milk thistle seeds
1 teaspoon of yarrow seeds
A handful of crushed peppermint and horsemint leaves
Squeeze of lemon
1 teaspoon of honey

The seeds can be put in a little muslin bag if you don't fancy having chewy bits floating around in your tea... certainly not a good idea if your tummy is feeling a bit delicate after the night before!