Bee Keeping in Dorchester and Weymouth
The work on the schedule for the Dorset County Show goes ever on and here is the latest version. Note that to make life easier for all those who are interested I have amended the title of the file to include the date on which it was published. That will help you check you have the latest.
There is also a link now to the entry form.
For those offering to help there is a form here.
Keep your eye on this site as this is where you will find the latest information.
I said that the Honey Show Schedule would soon be here and here it is.
In fact this is a newer version so make certain you have downloaded this.
I also said that there are a lot of classes and here are just a few of them:
1) Two 454g jars of light honey
2) Two 454g jars of medium honey
3) Two 454g jars of dark honey
4) Two 454g jars of crystallised (not soft set) honey
5) Two 454g jars of soft set honey
6) Two 454g jars of chunk honey
7) Three identical jars of honey, 7
8) One frame of comb honey suitable for extraction
9) Two containers of cut comb honey, between 200g - 250g in weight
10) Two sections, square
11) Two sections, round
12) One cake of beeswax
13) Five blocks of beeswax, approximately 27g each
14) Five pieces of identical decorative moulded beeswax
15) Two identical beeswax candles,from a plain mould
16) Two identical beeswax candles, not moulded
17) One bottle of dry mead
18) One bottle of sweet mead
19) One flower made from beeswax (may be coloured)
20) One photograph of interest to beekeepers.
21) Shop counter display of honey.And that is not all. There are loads more.
For the complete list and a fuller description get the latest version here.
Not long now to the Dorset County Show. OK it is not till September but if you are thinking of submitting an entry in the Honey Show then you should be thinking about it now.
The show is the weekend of the 5th and 6th of September with the Honey Show on the 5th September.
Entries will need to be in the Honey Show Marquee by first thing on Saturday 5th September.
Entries will be judged by Chris Rawlings from Trowbridge.
Prizes will be awarded about 4pm on the Saturday.
If you think this is all about jars of honey then think again.
It is early days and we are still firming up details but watch this space.
Just as an example of what is possible here is a single winning entry from the Bath and west Show.
If you are a teacher or have any involvement with younger people have you considered the BBKA web site. They have a raft of materials to educate and entertain. As we approach the time when the Yellow Legged Hornet could be a real threat to us the BBKA have put out a set of teaching materials under their "Pollinator Protectors Project". It is worth having a look.
If you want to broaden your scope then there are several other ideas on the same page under the "Educating Youungsters" tab.