A brief visit to the apiary to give the honey bees a supplementary winter feed. Above is Hive 3 with the roof just removed to reveal the crown board. The bees did not respond as aggressively as they did on the previous inspection. I think the red marks - the dots and splatters - may be where the bees have defecated. This may also be a sign of an increase in nosema - a parasite that causes nosemosis in honey bees. The parasite spreads via spores in the faeces of bees. Bees normally reduce the spread of nosema by defecating outside the hive - something they cannot do if the weather is too wet/cold for them to leave the hive.
Organiclea organised a seed swap event for their February open day. I took up some seeds, and some New Zealand Yam (Oca) tubers and Peruvian Ground Apple (Yacon) crowns to share as well.
The seed swap was followed by a talk from Taysir Arbasi (Zaytoun) and Mohammed Ruzzi (Palestine Fairtrade Association) about regenerative farming in Palestine. Seed saving, as part of the regenerative farming, was one of the many experiences and issues they talked about.
After the talk, the rest of the afternoon was spent repairing and preparing the raised beds in the polytunnel.
Sweet peas on the top shelf.
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