Read all about it!

Whilst we don't like to brag we're feeling pretty chuffed with the lovely photos of Honey HQ in the Observer Food Monthly this weekend. We're flattered to be featured in their 50 top foodie picks for bittersweet Dorset Bell Heather. We're also seriously considering making Alexander McQueen company garb after Wallpaper's stylish shoot of Sarah Burton's S/S 2013 collection amongst our hives.  The question is can we put McQueen on the tax return? 

C: Manuel Vazquez

C: Manuel Vazquez

Check out the other 49 foodie picks, which include some other Spa Terminus residents: 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/mar/17/50-top-foodie-picks-observer-food-monthly

The Awakening Month!

The Awakening Month!

March is not showing any signs of warming up and neither is London Honey HQ, so we're pulling ourselves through with dreams of wild flower meadows. We're partial to a bit of guerilla gardening so we thought we'd have a bash at making our own seed bombs. Now I've mentioned the b word we'll probably get picked up by the secret services - but it's bee friendly flower power we want to spread not war! The seed bomb seems to capture the imagination more than a pack of seeds and being encased in a nourishing blend of clay and peat free compost we feel the meadow seeds have a better chance of getting going in a bomb. You can either hurl your seed bomb towards it's desired growing spot for the full feeling of being a botanical revolutionary, it'll break up on impact, or crumble it up and pat it down slightly onto the soil.

The seed mix contains over twenty types of flowers so I'm excited to see which seeds come up in my patch. To name just a few there's Wild Carrot, Meadow Buttercup, Bladder Campion, Sorrel and Cowslip. With such variety there are flowers good not only for honey bees but for the bumble bees & solitary bees. It's partly about tongue length you see, if the bee's tongue (actually called a probosis) is too short for the particular flower it can't reach the nectar - bit like trying to reach that last bit of ice-cream in a narrow sundae glass if the spoon's not long enough. Plus the flowers will be staggered across spring and summer to provide for bees for longer.

If you want a guide to gardening for the little ladies then we are enjoying "Plants for Bees" by Kirk and Howes. It covers honey bees, bumble bees and solitary bees and includes edible plants and trees. The positive thing about Spring being slow to kick off is there is time to catch up on gardening plans! Our homemade bee bombs are currently only available direct from us on a Saturday at Spa Terminus.

toodle pip

Light at the end of February

February is always a tease. You think you’re through the worst of winter, you can

almost smell spring, maybe the odd daffodil, but it’s not quite there yet. I might want it to be spring already but if it warms up too early the ladies start flying and use up precious energy and stores.

There is definitely a primal need for light and warmth for us all though!! There’s too little sun at this time of year but beeswax candles bring a glow into my life with their warming honey kissed flames. It’s easy to forget how important wax used to be as a form of light before electricity but it was quite an industry in itself. 

You might not know that bees gather a whacking 6lb of honey to produce 1lb of wax; it is secreted from glands under their abdomen. Precious stuff. We melt down all the waxy scraps left from cutting honeycomb and old comb that we’ve extracted across the year. 

We attended an event at the Wax Chandlers hall a couple of weeks ago; it was a really positive meeting with the Bee Farmers Association looking at commercial beekeeping apprenticeships. Watch this space! The surge in interest in beekeeping has been great but according to the Rowse employee at the event a staggering 90% of the honey bought in the UK is still not produced here! We can only hope that if we have a good summer the bees can get out of their hives and we can have a go at that figure.

The Wax Chandlers have been involved in the candle trade for hundreds of years and according to their website beeswax traders used to be known as cirgers, from the French word for a type of candle – cierge. Anyway, this is my extended lead in to telling you that we’re going to bring the wax and honey trade into the 21^st Century by launching our own online shop for all things London Honey Company!! So you can now get your honey and candles by post! Check out our new little online shop...