Practical advice for most amateur beekeepers is:
Don't design your own honey labels - get them from Thorne's.
And that's what Hamish Symington told us on the CBKA Improvers' course. He's a graphic designer, so he actually had designed his own labels. But designing and printing labels is a process that most of us are neither good at nor geared up for. However, after trawling through all the label designs that Thorne's website had to offer and many more besides, I found I just didn't really like any of them.
As things have turned out, working on the packaging design and branding for Copper Bee Apiary has been an unexpectedly engaging and enjoyable offshoot of beekeeping. For this I have to thank in large part Susan Harnicar Jackson, the artist behind the logo and label designs. Susan is a joy to work with, being creative, pro-active, responsive, thoughtful and enthusiastic. I am indebted to her for her striking honey label, which she has kindly allowed me to use on the website as well.
Receiving packages from America containing the latest labels and/or tags, always beautifully wrapped and presented, has been something to look forward to!
Do not imagine that all beekeepers are "saving the bees" - in some cases they are doing quite the opposite.
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It developed a bitterness, and tastes appropriately medicinal.
I had thought that the jug I used to make it would follow the one-way path that various other items have taken from kitchen to beekeeping kit, but it cleaned up well.
P.S. The keen-eyed will have noticed a beehive in each photograph of the tincture.
I sent a jar each of both this year's honeys to my Dad, perfumer Dr John King, and invited his opinions.
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Propolis is the reddish brown sticky resin that bees stick things together with, bung up gaps with, and strengthen wax with. Apparently they collect it from trees. I have seen propolis foragers in the hive - on their rear legs where the pollen basket is they have a dollop of propolis like a bead of glue.
One of the wonderful things about propolis is its scent. It is ylang ylang, vanilla, a pine forest on a hot day, and a glass of mulled wine. And it emits a toasted version of these scents when burnt with a blowtorch, which enlivens the task of sterilising a second hand hive or flame-cleaning a queen excluder.
Propolis is said to have antiseptic qualities. So when cleaning the Smith Hive in preparation for storage, I decided to "harvest" the propolis off it and make a tincture.
Except, I didn't get round to it for a couple of weeks. The propolis scratchings stayed in their jug at the back of the fridge, covered in cling film. Today I went back to it. In the history of science, this is how serendipitous discoveries are made. What I discovered is: propolis doesn't smell so good after it's been in the fridge for a couple of weeks. The heady and complex scent that I raved about above had changed - vanilla was still there, perhaps more so, but now it had taken on a sickly creaminess. My nose was disappointed.
Anyway, this meant there was less to lose by experimenting with tinctures. I poured vodka (40 % abv) into the jug. Not much happened. The propolis didn't dissolve. A few bits of dried grass and beeswax separated out and floated to the top. The propolis stayed at the bottom. The vodka turned slightly yellow.
A cautious sip...the taste is initially earthy, and there's the ylang ylang, then an after-taste reminiscent of plasticine. Not as bad as I feared. I shall leave it to develop in the jug for another couple of weeks and we'll see what happens.
I hope I never become blasé about seeing Queens
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