Beginning my Beekeeping Journey by Becky of Wild Oak Wood
The first in a series of regular guest posts from Becky Brown
This guest article is by Becky of Wild Oak Wood, who will be updating us every couple of months or so on her beekeeping journey from southwest France.
We’re deep into spring. Like every year the wildlife is going crazy and it’s a full time job keeping on top of our land. Although I was born and raised a city girl in NW London, in 2013 we decided to move our young family to SW France, seizing a once in a lifetime opportunity that we haven’t looked back from. Four years into our new French life we bought the home we’re in now, an old farmhouse on the edge of a quiet village. We’re deep in farming land, our neighbours are often cows, and our home came with five and a half hectares of land that we’re learning to look after.
Our business plans to set up a small campsite, nestling bell tents under our woodland trees, was squashed at the beginning of this year, due to changes in regulations and our land being for agricultural use only. We’ve mourned the loss of our dream, but we’ve quickly turned our attention towards to our land. This currently means we’ve added a few animals into the mix. We’ve always kept chickens for eggs and this spring I’m thrilled to have begun my beekeeping journey. We’ve just acquire five goats to help us tame our wild woodland and next on my list is runner ducks, which we’ve kept before.
Bees had been on my wish list for a while. What I didn’t realise about bees is how quickly they would take over my life. I’m devouring books, have started an online course, and am getting advice from local beekeepers. Having bees feels like a huge responsibility, and learning about them has opened my eyes in ways I wasn’t expecting. In just three short weeks the bees have already transformed the way I think about the countryside that surrounds us. Where I once saw glorious fields of green, I now see that they are lacking in the diversity that bees need. I crave to know what these fields looked like in the early days, before modern farming practices took hold.
Most of our land is untouched and wild, full of oak trees. It’s not uncommon for us to see animals such as deer, wild boar, hares and pheasants roaming the land. At this time of year, the woodland is difficult to get into due to the undergrowth, but we do have two fields that I have plans to transform, starting with the smaller one where our new beehive sits, humming away in the corner.
This small field is going to be my bee garden. My first task is to plan the layout and start creating beds. I’ll be looking at what pollinating plants we already have that bees love and that thrive in our climate, which this spring is currently pivoting between hot and sunny mornings and thunderstorms in the afternoons. I feel that plants such as lavender, sage and buddleia will feature heavily, and I’m thinking big plots with large quantities, rather than tamed flower beds with a few of each variety. I hope you’ll enjoy coming along this journey with me as I learn to care for my bees and help them in the small way that I can by attempting to grow plants that they love.
How I’ve started my beekeeping journey…
Current Read: Planting for Honeybees by Sarah Wyndham Lewis*
Online Course: Gartur Stitch Farm’s Online Intro to Beekeeping Course
Top Tips: Beekeeping Made Simple is a great YouTube channel for beginners
About Becky
Becky is a city-turned-country-girl living in SW France with her husband and three kids. You’ll find her in the coop collecting eggs from her chickens, hoping her goats don’t escape into the veg patch, and forever trying to find a quiet moment to read. She’s thrilled to have begun her beekeeping journey and is eagerly awaiting her first jar of honey! Find out more at the Wild Oak Wood website.
Follow along with Becky’s journey over on Instagram @wildoakwood
Join in with this weekend’s Nature Chat
Look out for the Nature Chat thread this Sunday and share something you’ve noticed in nature this month…
*Disclosure: If you buy books linked to this Substack, we may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops
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I’m looking forward to following along! I’ve loved seeing more and more bees in our suburban garden and am eager to learn more about them 🐝