News
Hello fellow beekeepers,
I thought in my first President’s Report that I would introduce myself. “I’ve been stung by the honey bee.”
I joined this fantastic club four years ago, and was overwhelmed by the kindness and support from all the wonderful people that form it. I participated in the bee course the club holds at regular intervals and that was it – I had to have bees and couldn’t wait to get my first hive.
Not all salvias (also called sage) flower year round, but this purple one does (see full newsletter). It provides bees with high nectar and low pollen. You can grow several salvias into a six foot hedge or keep trimmed to two feet. Plant your pruning as it grows easily from cuttings. In fact, if you plant a hectare of salvia you would yield 200 -400kg of honey!
In this region Swamp Mahogany (Eucalyptus Robusta) is starting to flower in April and may continue to August. The bark is rough, fibrous and greyish brown. The leaves are shiny on top and dull underneath with a leathery texture. The honey has a pleasant taste and is dark amber in colour. The honey is good for winter stores or spring build-up in dry weather. Light creamy pollen is also produced.
The weather included a downpour of nearly 400mm in the Bungawalbyn area one Sunday, followed by a real downpour from Cyclone Debbie a week later. The Bungawalbyn road, which had bad potholes and corrugations, was graded just before the first downpour. This produced bad washouts, and it has gone under again. It will be closed for a while. There is also the problem of getting out of the properties with 16 hives on the ute.
