Josette, who lives in Bromham, says she hopes to harvest some honey from our hardworking bees from July onwards. We’re now buzzing with excitement about the prospect of sharing our home-grown honey with our community and customers!
Josette (pictured above on the right) tells us about her passion for these incredible creatures and her high hopes for a flourishing bee community in the wild flower haven of our wonderful grounds and its environs:
“I came to beekeeping 10 years ago. My interest was sparked by a friend of mine who kept bees.
“We have three beehives at Emmaus Village Carlton, two are working hives and I am just waiting for a swarm to fill the last hive.
“The hives have settled well this spring and finding plenty of pollen and nectar in the local gardens and Emmaus site. Bees can fly up to three miles to collect what they need for the hive.
“There is one Queen bee and around 10,000 worker bees, with a few dozen drones. The bees all have their own jobs to do in the hive and the whole thing works like clockwork when things are going well.
“The fascination that I have with bees has grown over the years and I find I am always learning new things as I go into another year of caretaking the bees.
“The spring and summer are busy times for checking the health of the bees and adding ‘supers’ – top boxes to give the bees space to store the honey that they fill in good weather. We are hoping to start spinning honey early July at Emmaus.”