On air on Byron Bay’s bayfm 99.9 community radio on 10 December, 2012
Today on belly we talked about our precious bees. Leah Roland from the Bangalow Cooking School shared some honey stories & honey recipes, but in the first hour of belly we focused mostly on the essential role they play in pollination. Without them our tables would be pretty empty. Some say the world as we know it will end shortly after the last bee disappears. But this is not a gloomy belly, there are many people getting together to help the bees. We met a wonderful panel of farmers and beekeepers, found out how we can get involved, & learned lots more about our Australian native bees. Kat came from the new group Mullumbimbees, Eric Smith and James Creagh from Federal, to talk about natural beekeeping of the European honey bee. Eric is a very new beekeeper. He has found that bees like very calm people, and he enjoys their company. Actually all the guests, and Sister Cath who has several native hives, seem to love watching the bees. Frank Adcock, farmer, native bee specialist & neighbour of Sister Cath’s came from Federal. It was good to see them share knowledge, & the love of bees, together as well as with listeners. We finished the show with a walk around Heather and Hugh Armstrong’s tomato farm at Cooper Shoot, where they also have the help of little blue banded native bees. Frank says they are solitary bees, but Hugh and Heather like the work even just a few of these little creatures do. All the more reason to have plenty of native and other flowers around our homes, and feed all the different types of bees.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BEES AND BEEKEEPING
There is loads of information about beekeeping both in books and the internet, but not all may work for you. Malcolm Sanfordn& Richard Bonney in ‘Storey’s guide to keeping honey bees’, start by saying:
“Like the bees in their colony working together to survive, no individual human can succeed alone when it comes to caring for this social insect”.
So we are very lucky that the Northern Rivers is positively buzzing with beekeeping mutual help groups. They have newsletters, workshops, order hive materials as a group, get together to make hives, and of course share lots of information.
James Creagh as the beekeeping prophet
James recommends you try to see the Queen Of the Sun – Documentary about the plight of bees with some positive approaches.
Planned screening in Mullum in February 2013. Date to be announced.
Queen of the Sun is also available as a book from your local library.
T Siegel and J Betz (ed) www.clairviewbooks.com
General info about bees – http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/livestock/honey-bees/management/responsibilities/backyard
Contacts for Mullumbimbees Natural Beekeeping group – mullumbees@gmail.com
http://www.facebook.com/groups/Mullumbimbees/?ref=ts&fref=ts
Workshop “Introduction to Natural Beekeeping ” – January 2013 Booking mullumbees@gmail.com
General Info about “Natural Beekeeping” – http://naturalbeekeeping.com.au/naturalbeekeeping.html
Nimbin Natural Beekeepers – jamescreagh@hotmail.com
Meet 1st Sunday of each month
Nimbin Natural Beekeepers - hive making work bee
Australian native bees
native bee box entrance
If you are in the Lismore/Casino area, our guest Frank Adcock is not only a farmer and native beekeeper, but a teacher.
Caring for Native Bees – Tutor Frank Adcock
The course introduces you to Australian native beekeeping and gives you the knowledge and confidence to care for your bees. You will be studying the stingless social species trigona carbonaria, a true blue Australian bee which is native to our area. These little creatures are amazing to watch as they work, they don’t sting so the honey can be harvested safely, and they are great pollinators of local fruit and nut trees. If you think you might like to give a hive a home, come along to this
when & where
Lismore Saturday 9 February,2013 and Saturday 11 May, 2013
Casino Saturday 23 February, 2013.
There are lots of photos and information about native bees on this website:
native bee box in 8 year old macadamia trees
Even for those of us who don’t intend to formally set up a native bee colony, it’s a good idea to get to know them, so we don’t mistakenly kill them thinking they are wasps. I had a chat to Kerry & Lorraine from Monty’s Strawberries at the farmers market. They decided to get some native bees this year, after seeing very few honeybees in their area. They are very happy with them, not only because the strawberries had a great season, but because their grandkids can play among the bees with no danger of getting stung. We are lucky to have several stingless bees in Eastern Australia, including the commercially used variety trigona carbonaria. Frank told us that in Brisbane, native bees are colonising water meters, not an ideal spot. But if we put a specially designed box or two in the garden for them, they will set up there in preference to odd little locations around human houses.
PLANTS FOR BEES
James Creagh and Peter Stace (who is from Jiggi near Lismore), are putting together a list of plants that bees love. The more food is available for bees, the more honey there will be for all of us, but more importantly, the more healthy productive plants, both in home gardens and local farms.
This list is a work in progress, feel free to contribute.
Flowers:
Alyssum, Balsam, Aster, Catmint, Cornflower, Convolvulus,
Cornflower, Cosmos, Crocus, French Marigold, Mallow, Nasturtium, Poppy,
Sunflower, Zinnia, Nasturtium , Sunflower
Shrubs:
Fuchsia, Geranium, Hebe (Veronica), Hollyhock, Kniphophia
(Red Hot Poker), Lavender, Marjoram, Salvias, Rosemary, Thyme, Veronica, Citrus
Natives:
Banksia, Bottlebrush, Calistamons, Eucalypts, Wattles,Flame Tree
Eucalypts – Most honey produced in Australia is produced from the nectar of Eucalyptus trees.
Herbs:
Lemon Balm, Basil, Hyssop, Lavender, Marjoram, Mint family
(Labiatae), Oregano, Rosemary, Sage, Savoury, Thyme, Oregano – have large numbers
of bee attracting flowers, Borage.
JAMES’S QUICK MEAD RECIPE
Mix 1 part cappings with 4 parts water.
If using honey use 1 part honey to 6 parts water.
Allow to stand overnight covered with cotton cloth.
Drain off wax next day.
Optional add juiced fruit in season e.g. Mulberries, plum, jaboticaba,ginger etc.
Allow to stand for a few days checking each day for taste. Depending on the temperature it will begin to ferment in a few days. Stir each day you check and when tasting good bottle up. The longer it ferments the more alcohol content in the mead.
LEAH’S GREEK HONEY & WALNUT BISCUITS
“Melomakarona” which happens to be a Greek Christmas Cookie
1 cup olive oil
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice and the zest of 1 orange
1/2 cup brown or white sugar
4 ½ – 5 cups self-raising flour
1 cup of walnuts coarsely ground
1 teaspoon
¼ teaspoon of ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Syrup
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup of honey
1 cinnamon stick
½ cup chopped walnuts, extra
1. Preheat oven to 180C (or 160C for fan-forced).
2. Make syrup ahead of time so it can be cool. For the syrup, combine sugar, honey, cinnamon & water. Bring to boil for 5 mins.
3. Mix the oil, orange juice, zest, sugar, nuts, spices and flour until smooth. The dough should be soft and not sticky you may need extra flour
4. Shape biscuits into elongated egg shape (approx 30-40gram each) Place on a lined baking trays lined with baking paper. Be sure not to over crowd as the biscuit will double in size in the baking process.
5. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden. Remove hot biscuit and place a few at a time in the cooled syrup. Allow the biscuit to drink up a little of the syrup.
Remove and place onto a cooling rack. Sprinkle top with ground up walnuts whilst still wet.
Once cooled, store in an airtight container.
Makes about 60 biscuits that keep well for a week great with a long black! Or a macchiato
Recipe by Leah Roland Bangalow Cooking School
BELLY BULLETIN
Happy Hanukkah to our Jewish bellysisters. Hanukkah the Jewish festival of lights is on right now. It is the time to light candles, sing, give gifts, & eat food fried in oil, especially olive oil, including fried potato pancakes and jam doughnuts. Also eating cheese products is popular. Now that’s a good way to celebrate.
If you like to eat & drink with artists check out the open evening this Thursday on the Byron arts & industry estate arts trail. Lots of galleries will be open & will have nibbles,& drinks, at some places you can take food to share & enjoy the art,entertainment, film screeenings, & company. Check out local papers or www.facebook.com/byronartstrail
Francisco Smoje’s last pop up dinner of the year will be in Federal this Saturday 15 December at 7pm. Lots of lovely ripe tomatoes on the menu. BYO, $55 a head, vegetarian optios will be available, bookings essential. More info & to book:
0416057705 www.facebook.com/FranciscosTable
BELLY TOMATO SAFARI
berry tomatoes
Heather & Hugh in the tomato jungle
A big thank you to Heather and Hugh Armstrong of Coopers Shoot Tomatoes for the tour of their farm and their advice on growing good tomatoes in our veggy patches.
You will find more audio from the visit in last week’s belly post.
If you only have a few minutes, listen to their top tips from 14 years of tomato growing, and their favourite ways to cook tomatoes, in this audio clip:
audio – tomato growing and cooking tips
If you have a bit more time, join Hugh, Heather and Sister T on a tour of the farm. This is a longer interview of the tour than the one I played on belly, but for copyright reasons it doesn’t have the safari music samples. I hope you enjoy your visit, it starts with a discussion of some of the animals that help out on the farm, from cows to bees.
audio – Sister Tess on belly tomato safari at Coopers Shoot Tomatoes
ox heart tomatoes
BUZZING MUSIC
Arthur Askey – the bee song
Itzak Perlman performing Rimsky-Korsakov’s flight of the bumblebee
Jez Mead – beard of bees
Slim Harpo – I’m a king bee
Taj Mahal – Queen bee
Francois Couperin, a little mead flavoured medieval magic – tracks from Concert Royal No4 in E minor, performed by Le Rondeau de Paris
Van Morrison – Tupelo honey
Minipop – my little bee
The Rolling Stones – dead flowers – sorry it was short Hugh, we talk too much!
Love and chocolate flowers (that’s to attract the bees that make nutella), sister T
