No. 1 · April to May
Spring Blossom
hawthorn, apple, dandelion; pale and quick to set
Slow food,made by fastanimals.
Nine hives, one hill, and forty thousand opinions per box. We lift the lids, take notes, and take a little.
No. 2 · June to July
High Summer
lime tree, bramble, clover; the one for toast
No. 3 · August, on the moor
Ling Heather
thixotropic, jelly-thick, smells of the moor; pressed, not spun
Press a capped cell. It opens, it runs, the bees mend it.
House rule
We do not make honey. We collect rent.
The tenants number forty thousand to a hive, work until their wings wear out, and have never once asked what we do with it.
The calendar, as the bees keep it
A year at the hives
Twelve cells, twelve months. Pick one.
Our own figures, counted by hand
By the numbers
About
40,000bees in one summer hive, give or take a few thousand.
Roughly
9kgleft on each hive for winter. Rent is rent; we are not monsters.
Exactly
127jars last season. A good year. We counted twice.
One queen per hive
Ours wear a blue dot: the colour for a year ending in five.
How a bee gives directions
The waggle dance
- Straight up the comb means fly straight toward the sun.
- Turn the run forty degrees to the right of vertical and she means forty degrees to the right of the sun.
- The longer she waggles, the further you fly: about one second for every kilometre.
The hill, from above · drag the flowers
The comb, in the dark · she dances
Jars are few. That is rather the point.
What is left
- Spring Blossom227 g£7.50Fourteen jars left. Set soft, like butter.
- High Summer340 g£9.00Sold out until AugustThe toast people got there first.
- Ling Heather227 g£12.00Sold out until AugustPressed by hand, slowly, with swearing.
- Cut comb200 g£11.00Six pieces. Wax and all; eat the lot.
- Beeswax candlespair£6.00Dipped in December, when nobody needs us.
Noted.
One letter when the moor turns purple. Then we leave you alone.