Monthly Archives: January 2026

Stunning double rainbow

Just ignore the photo-bombing fingertip 😀

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Cutting a bit of Winter heating

Mostly sycamore. Happiness is a sharp chainsaw 😀

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Spring honey vs. Summer honey

Same hive, same location, just harvested a few weeks apart…

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Sawdust for the compost toilet

When the floor underneath one’s tablesaw looks like this: It doesn’t take that long to get a collection of bags together like this: Hopefully that should keep me going (as it were) for a while.

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DIY foundation

I have plenty of recovered beeswax sitting around, but conversion rates to exchange it for foundation seem pretty poor. I’m also given to understand that much of the foundation sold in the UK is produced from imported wax, so who … Continue reading

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The compost toilet is complete!

The “throne” is finally finished and in use thanks to some scrap phenolic ply and a cheap fake wooden seat.

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DIY Demaree board

Very simple this, but Demaree is a method of swarm control that I’d like to try more of in the future. The underside of the board has a rim to allow for a beespace and a 100mm-ish hole in the … Continue reading

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The accidental vintner

A somewhat unexpected turn of events has led to me being asked if I’d like to look after some (wine) grape vines in a local garden in exchange for the fruit produced. About 550 of them in fact, a mix … Continue reading

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Experimental PIR five frame nucs

I’ve been wanting to do this for a while, but for quite some time didn’t have a clear plan. Recently however it occurred to me that it would be possible to make a pair of five-frame nucs from PIR insulation … Continue reading

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Are benchtop crown cappers actually any good?

I’ve never been able to get on with them, much preferring a twin-lever capper that I’ve had for years. Sure, it’s not quite as simple to use, but it does seem to do a better job of putting on the … Continue reading

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