Blogfromthebarn

It's a hive of activity


I'm very aware that it's been a while since I mentioned my apiary efforts and since I know the lovely Mark is looking for beekeeping tips to help him decide whether to become a honey producer in the Trullo Azzuro, it's probably time for an update.



The story so far, I've a lovely polycarbonate hive which currently has no bees in it, I also have a traditional wooden hive, with a queen, a number of useless drones (male) and around 50,000 hard-at-it workers. I've been migrating the colony onto a new set of frames, (wooden structures that the bees can build honeycomb on) that will fit into the new hive. So far they've done a great job and I was thinking of splitting the bees between the old and new hives but beekeeping chum Ian has suggested that (since it's looking like a great summer for bees) we postpone the split for a while, harvest some honey "on the comb" and enjoy the fruits of our (their) labours.

I check the hive weekly, looking for signs that the current queen is of a mood to bugger off with half of the workforce, which apparently happens quite often, fortunately they seem happy in situ at the moment and I've made and installed a super, a rectangular box containing frames of very thin beeswax, this sits on top of the hive, and the bees have spent a hectic few weeks turning it into honeycomb and harvesting nectar and these frames are now pretty much full of honey.

We've gone for the simplest possible way of producing honey, simply cutting the whole thing, the honeycomb and all the honey straight out of the frame and into jars. last weekend saw Charlie and I, togged up in full protective gear, adding another twelve frames of challenge for the bees and then lumbering away giggling like white-clad thieving grizzly bears with the first full frame of honey. It looks right, it tastes like honey and it was very delicious on some greek yoghurt with fresh raspberries.

So, the beekeeping thing seems to be working, It's looking good so far but if there's one thing I've learnt about beekeeping it's that there are a heck of a lot of things to learn about beekeeping,

watch this space...

Labels: beekeeping, ChaCha, honey, Oakwood, Stuffy

posted by Stuffy @ 12:29 pm 0 comments

Movie review - and then Mrs Stuffy woke up and ... It was all a dream - Inception


There have been many films over the years which have addressed the challenge of the world of dreams. Perhaps it's because I very rarely remember my own dreams that I've always found these efforts to be less than satisfying. Although "The Matrix" did it well "What dreams may come" did it amazingly appallingly, "Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind" was, for me, dull and "The Cell" was quite silly and quite unpleasant.

I do like Christopher Nolan films, thus far without exception, and judging by the packed cinema there was a high expectation that this movie would be very entertaining. Sadly I found Inception a little curates-eggy, I enjoyed the visuals, I liked the cityscape folding on itself, the Escher staircases, the arrival of the freight train but I didn't enjoy the vast amount of explanatory dialogue, the unnecessary levels of complexity, the overlong action scenes.

The ski section would be great in a James Bond, but it was too long and and felt too indulgent, by contrast the weightless section in the hotel was genuinely novel and masterful movie making. The cast was impressive, Cotillard, Watanabe and Di Caprio, were workmanlike and although this role was wrong for Ellen Page both Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were outstanding and engaging.

The problem was the tale, the structure, the storyboard, it's a story, it should unfold, we don't need to have everything explained in advance, but, it should be a story that's followable. Dream's and the psychology of dreaming are complicated things.
When the world was much, much younger I remember spending hours with my English teacher, Mr Webb, known to the class as Caliban, who encouraged us to spend entire lessons arguing the idea that this world, the mundane, might be the dream and the night-time world the reality, it's not a new idea and I didn't feel that Inception adds anything to the genre that hasn't been explored before.

I've heard that people have been confused by this film, I can only assume that, like Mrs Stuffy, they slept through the bits where interminable (and flawed) explanations and expositions were delivered...

Oops, nearly forgot the Haiku

Woke from endless dream
but to find the dream went on,
on, and on, and on...

posted by Stuffy @ 12:13 pm 0 comments