Dont Panic Mr Mannering!

If you've done the beginner's course, read through advice the association warns you about attempting to keep bees on an allotment and are still on course to have your dream Apiary on an Allotment then my one piece of advice to you is simply:

Have a backup plan.

On Thursday night my "no problem", allotment apiary suddenly seems to be heading towards "no way".

While I've not discounted the possbility that I'll be able to retain the site, I'll have to be honest and say that it doesn't really sound like they want me there at the moment and with that in mind I've spent the past couple of days trying to find a replacement site for my bees.

Avon Beekeepers might seem an obvious place to have started, but, I was mindful of the fact that I'm still very much an unknown quantity as a new beekeeper, haven't made too many contacts yet and will undoubtedly need some help along the way; hence beginning my beekeeping career by admitting that I'd lost my apiary site didn't seem the best course of action.

So I've been busy contacting a few carefully selected local farms and suppliers to ask if anyone might perhaps like a few beehives on their land. I've also had offers from other allotment plot holders on different sites and, as grateful as I've been for the offers of help, I feel that going down this road carries too great a risk of simply moving the problem from one allotment to another. This afternoon, however, I received a reply back from an Organic farmer sounding quite excited at the possibility of having a few hives around.

With the feeling of elation that it's all back on again subsiding, I've spent the evening doing some research in preparation for going to meet them for the first time to try and make sure I'm in a position to answer any questions that they might have. My first port of call has been to the Soil Association's Organic Standards for Producers to try and make sure that there are no implications for their status by my putting bees onto or next to the farm. As far as I can tell, the only implications with regards to Honey Bees are if I want to sell the hive products as organic. Just to be on the safe side, I've also put a query on the BBKA forums to garner the opinions of Beekeepers with more experience than me.

Time to go back to the shop for some staples and hive straps I guess.