A couple of weeks back we took a drive into the country to visit the Honey Bee Heroes in Stanford, to learn about bees and about adopting a hive. Hood 7 has been wanting to adopt a beehive for the longest time, and we were planning to hike 13 Peaks again at the end of last year to raise some funds, but the Covid Christmas Fairy visited us, and all plans of intrepid adventures were put on hold. So we were thrilled to be re-inspired, with a visit to the Honey Bee Heroes. So watch this space… there is definitely an adventure on the cards for us.
Honey Bee Heroes
We have been following the Honey Bee Heroes on instagram for a while now, they have lots of interesting facts to share about our local honey bees. And if you follow along you will see that they often have free workshops on a Saturday, to teach the public all about our local bees and beekeeping.
Upon arrival we were seated under a shady Oak tree to learn about our local bees, the Cape Honey Bee. Collections of facts for all the fact lovers… absolutely intriguing information. There is so much to learn about bees and so much that is still a mystery.
And then the next challenge was to hop into bee keeping suits, for our tour of the hives. Gotta say that as someone who battles to find a bathing costume that fits, this was my biggest worry of the day… turns out they have suits in every size and it was nothing to worry about.
Safety is paramount and they make sure that you are completely zipped up, gloved up and if your boots don’t cover your ankles then they will provide you with boots as well.
The Tour of the Hives
I have to say, these folk are not afraid to answer questions, along with our tour we asked endless questions and they were all answered completely… no honey bee question was left unturned.
First we were introduced to the hives… and then a complete tour… of a number of hives…
How to get into the hive…
And then exploring their miniature world…
Looking for the elusive queen of the hive…
Fascinating: which bees do which job, their life cycle and their habits…
And by now our interest in bees has become a lot more than idle curiosity, which is often the case… the more you know the more you want to know!!!
Honey Tasting
After our tour of the hives we headed back for the shady oak trees for a honey tasting. And that was a whole new experience…
Whoever knew all the flavours… Citrus, Blue Gum, Multi floral, Fynbos and even Onion.
The colour counts, the flavour matters… a lot!!!
Loads of Delicious…
And platter of honey comb…
Of course we had to buy a massive jar…
Intriguing to listen to all the facts and the story of each of the honeys…
Dream a Little Dream
So Hood 7 has a dream to raise the funds to sponsor a bee hive on the farm… and I can see the appeal. You can read about their program to sponsor a bee hive over here on their blog.
Photographs from our Visit
Click on the image above to see all the pictures from our visit. If you would like to visit the Honey Bee Heroes then head straight over their website and contact them. We discovered one of their free Saturday Workshops on instagram, follow them there and look out for these.
Massive thank you to the team at Honey Bee Heroes, for an amazing and inspirational day out. It was a fantastic day and a very special outing for us… we look forward to an adventure and raising the funds throughout the year to get Hood 7 her name onto a hive!!!