Anything but standard honey

3rd April 2017

Last Saturday at the CERES Harvest Festival and practical beekeeper Benedict Hughes, unveiled the wonderful new Display Hive that he and the CERES Bee Group have finally finished building. Benedict and CERES CEO, Cinnamon Evans, told the story of the Display Hive listing all the people involved over the years and it reminded me of an old standard; a song played and reinterpreted so many times at CERES that its tune and rhyme feels like part of our collective DNA.

This is a song about the coming into being of things we hold dear. Like an old standard the song of the Display Hive was a work of many authors. A story of knowledge passed down and kept alive by previous generations of beekeepers and given value here again. A story of people giving what labour they could, adding their touches, big and small, before moving on. A story of happy coincidences, timely arrivals, gifts of money and materials breathing life and form into an idea, a vision that we now stand in front of today.

In the future thousands of excited school students and the next generation of eager beekeepers will peer through this glass, just inches from the hive and witness the builders making the comb, the cleaners preparing cells for larvae and nectar, the nurses caring and feeding the young, the fanners, with their wings a-blur, air conditioning the others. They won’t know about all the hands that put this hive here but they may take the idea, the vision and make the song their own some other time, some place else.

The CERES Bee Group is open to the public and meets on the 3rd Sunday of every month to introduce people to the art of bee keeping. The group has a small number of spare protective veils, just bring long trousers, boots and a long sleeved shirt, some rubber or leather gloves and a narrow brimmed hat.

Benedict Hughes is also running a formal workshop for beginner beekeepers on Saturday 29th April at CERES. Find out more here.

Have a great week

Chris