Urban Hum

We are busy collecting urban honey for the next The Olive Tree Market put it on your calendar and we will catch you there.

||Seven Days of Beneficial Bee Weeds|| Day 3: Cobblers Pegs aka Farmers Friend. I know I won’t win any popularity contests suggesting this one but bees really, really like it. How do you think we get so many of those pesky burrs caught in our socks. It’s an excellent source of pollen for them flowering all year round in mild climates. Like most weeds it is a coloniser of disturbed land helping stabilise the soil. It has been widely used as both food and medicine around the world. The young leaves are eaten in Africa and Asia and it is used in traditional medicine practices for its anti fungal and anti rheumatic properties. It is also an excellent source of iodine. Hopefully you will look at this weed a little differently from now on. #weeds #bees #pollen

|| Seven Days of Beneficial Bee Weeds|| Day 2 White Clover, another invader of suburban lawns and technically an imported species native to Europe. It is used widely in Australia for pasture improvement and cattle grazing. Incidentally the continued sowing of clover for pasture relies on honeybee pollination. Clover is a nitrogen fixer so is great for soil regeneration and is often used as a green manure in cropping rotations. For bees it’s the double feast, pollen for young and nectar for honey. Clover honey is particularly delicious and is often creamy in consistency. Because it grows via tough stolons it can handle close mowing. So let it flower in your lawn at the end of winter for the bees and then mow it to your hearts content through summer if you really have to! #weedsaregood #bees #clover #honey #pollen

My swarm bucket bolted to an extendable painters pole, don’t leave home without it! And remember, reduce, reuse and recycle @ecoriginals #bees #swarm #urbanhum

Free Talk this Friday. WALLSEND LIBRARY Interested in keeping bees, join local Urban Hum Apiarist Kelly Lees and find out what you need to know to get started on your beekeeping journey. Suitable for adults. Free. Bookings essential.

Today begins ||Seven Days of Beneficial Bee Weeds ||
Day 1: Cape Weed a member of the Sunflower family this plant is low growing and flowers through winter and spring. Native to South Africa it is considered an invasive species in most states of Australia and is a problem in some semi-arid areas where it out competes low growing natives. It also colonises over-grazed pastureland. Like most weeds it appears in areas that have been damaged by human or animal action and is an early returner, helping to stabilise the soil. In urban areas it is a lawn weed and let’s face it, lawn is over rated I’d much rather a field of flowers. This plant is an excellent source of pollen for bees, they collect it to feed to their young, they love it, my daughter loves it so you should leave it if you live in town.
#bees #beneficialweeds #capeweed #pollen

Thank you to all the beautiful people who came to @ourlakemac Living Smart Festival today. It was a cracker of a day, we loved talking to all of you. Thanks for supporting sustainable local business. Thanks too gobto the council teams who again organised a great day. #sustainability #ourlakemac #livingsmart

Swarm number five hanging on to their overnight cardboard box home for dear life. #bees #swarmno5 #spring #urbanhum

Join us next Saturday Living Smart Festival 2018 we will be talking backyard beehives. The Festival is always a great day out for the family.

We are @_hunt.and.gather_ today in Foreshore Park serving up local honey and delicious creamy chai. As part of our commitment to less waste your chai will come in an actual cup which you just bring back when you’re done. #waronwaste #urbanhum #honey #buylocal #realhoney #rawhoney

Two sisters from a swarm sharing a moment of communication. Bees talk via touch, dance, vibration and nectar exchange. The touching can take the form of attenating, where they touch each other with their antennas communicating pheromones and kinship. #bees #swarm #communication

Had to cut a few branches to get this one down #swarmno3 #springishere #swarm #bees

Spring has definitely sprung here in Newcastle. If you see a swarm of bees please call a Beekeeper who will give them a new home. There is no need to spray them, swarming bees are at their most docile with no home to defend. I scooped these girls up with my bare hands (not that I recommend you touch them unless you are a beekeeper). Swarming is a natural reproductive process, let them bee but call a Beekeeper. #swarmno2 #swarm #bees #springishere #urbanhum

Spending some time with other liked minded, amazing, dare I say passionate beekeepers as part of the Wheen Bee Foundations ambassador program. #bees #wheenbeefoundation #beeambassador #urbanhum @beeonethird @backyardbeekeepingballarat

These Newcastle East bees in the backyard of the lovely Bec from @estabar_ are on a good spring nectar flow. You can see the nectar being deposited in the centre of the frame and it’s almost honey and ready for capping. Bees have to ripen the nectar by fanning their wings to generate an air current which passes over the uncapped cells and removes water, turning nectar in to honey. The honey in the top corners has already been capped for later eating. #newcastleeast #bees #estabar #urbanhum

So spring is here. First swarm of the season, a football sized mass plucked off a mandarin tree late last night. Silly bees they were soaking wet but boy were they happy when I hived them this morning. Spotted a nice fat queen and they fanned vigorously to guide everyone home. Because I had nudged the queen with my finger the girls thought that was a great place to scent fan from! You can very clearly se the Nasanov gland in this little ones abdomen. #swarm1 #bees #springishere