backyard beekeeping

this is what David has to say about taking honey for hayfever.

"In respect to the use of "local" honey in the treatment of hay fever, there has actually not been any published research about its use for the obvious reasons that there is no money in it for the pharmaceutical industry and I am trying to track something down that can be officially said to support the belief. The nearest thing was an article in the Times a few years ago but that is not a respected or acknowledged scientific journal !"

and on buying local honey
"Nothing wrong with what you have said but very few supermarkets actually stock/sell local/English honey and the buyer needs to check the label.
Unfortunately, labels can be deceptive and whilst the honey might appear to be English/local, the words need to be read. If it does not say honey from Staffordshire, Cheshire etc with the beekeepers name - be careful. If it says honey from the EC and countries within the EC - it is probably not English honey. I saw some honey for sale at a store in Leek recently selling for £1.99 for a 12 once jar which is very cheap for English/local honey. It looked to all intents as if it was English honey, but on careful examination of the label, the letters EC were mentioned!"

i have asked david for a list of local beekeepers that sell their bees honey.

Bee Part Of It: campaign to help bees in Staffordshire

Planting the right types of shrubs and flowers keeps bees buzzing

Bees are the world's most important pollinating insects and are worth about £200m a year to British agriculture.

Their dramatic decline in numbers has become a cause of global concern.

Across the UK people are joining Bee Part Of It, a BBC project supported by wildlife presenter Kate Humble, to create local bee-friendly spaces.

"Most of our wild honeybees have died out and we, as humans, are very dependent on bees to pollinate food crops," said Kate.

"I realised that by becoming a beekeeper I could do something really tangible to help the fairly desperate situation that our bee population has found itself in.

"If you believe what Einstein is reputed to have said - we would only survive for four years if there were no bees in the world," she added.

The National Trust is one of the country's biggest landowners and a key player in efforts to reverse the decline of bees.

Staffordshire will be a hive of activity

Jonathan Duncan, Biddulph Grange gardener, is our bee buddy
The Trust has given Staffordshire a hive for the Bee Part Of It campaign.

It will be based at Biddulph Grange and gardener Jonathan Duncan will be our bee buddy, taking care of the hive.

The project will help raise awareness of the threats facing local bees and offer opportunities to get involved.
"Bee consciousness is vital and we want more people to understand the crucial role bees play in our food chain," said Matthew Oates, The National Trust's advisor on nature conservation.

"We can do simple things like planting bee-friendly plants and flowers to encourage bees into our gardens," he added.

Get involved

Audio
Bee Part of It campaign Arrival of bees
You can keep across the life of Staffordshire's Bee Part Of It hive with Stuart Fear on BBC Radio Stoke.

To be part of the campaign where you live, BBC Radio Stoke also has 1,000 free packets of wildflower seed mix for you to plant and create an environment where bees can thrive.

One packet of seeds is available per household and will be available on a first come, first served basis, from the beginning of June.

You can call BBC Radio Stoke on 01782 208080 to find out more.

Bees in decline

It's been widely reported that all native bees in the UK have been in decline for some time.

A combination of factors are believed to be responsible including a loss of wildflower habitats and the diversity of plants within them, the use of pesticides and disease - but recent poor summers have also caused enormous damage to honeybees, with a third of colonies lost in 2008.

BUZZING BEE FACTS
Honeybees are the only bees to produce enough honey for us to collect
There are 250 species of bee in the UK consisting of bumblebees, honeybees and solitary bees - with approximately 25,000 known species of bee in the world
Pollination delivers €14.2bn to the European economy, most of this is through bumblebees and honeybees
Bumblebees have smelly feet! They produce oily secretions to inform other bees which flowers have already been visited
Source: The Bumblebee Conservation Trust
Professor Francis Ratnieks of Sussex University is Britain's only professor of apiculture, the study of beekeeping. He said it's impossible to predict how the 45 new Bee Part Of It hives at National Trust properties across the UK will fare.

"You're not guaranteed anything. For a start, the queen could die, and if the colony fails to rear a replacement queen, the colony will die out.

"A colony can also swarm, meaning that half the worker bees and the queen leave to set up a new colony. This is nature and nothing is guaranteed."

Bee-friendly flowers

Owning a hive and learning to be a beekeeper has become a popular pastime, with many people taking courses run by the British Beekeepers' Association (BBKA).

"Our membership has increased by around 4,000 people in the last 12 months," said Martin Smith, president of the BBKA.

"A typical course might include a couple of days' theory and 10 practical sessions spread over the season.

"In terms of cost you're looking at around £500 to get yourself started as a beekeeper. It's important too that if you're starting a colony to try and source the bees from your local area," he added.

If becoming a beekeeper is a commitment too far, then planting bee-friendly flowers or creating a home for solitary bees is a less time consuming option.

"I'd encourage anybody who has the appropriate space to do a course through their local beekeeping association and start keeping bees themselves, but for some people that's just not practical," said Springwatch presenter Kate Humble.

It's easy to help

Try a beekeeping taster session during Bee Part Of It!
"However it's very easy for all of us to do our bit for honeybees, bumblebees and other pollinating insects by planting the sort of plants and flowers they love - either in our gardens or in pots on windowsills or balconies.

"To have bees visit you is like having nature's own expert team of gardeners working really hard for you as they help pollinate your vegetable patch, fruit trees, flowers - anything that depends on pollination," she added.

During Bee Part Of It!, BBC Staffordshire will focus on our hive and the honeybee, but it's important to appreciate that other bee species play a vital role in the pollination process.

Solitary bees have been found to be 300 times better at pollinating apple blossom than honeybees and there are vegetables, like tomatoes, that are only pollinated by the bumblebee.

A bug's life

A range of other insects also play their small, but vital part, in pollinating our fruits and flowers.

According to the charity Buglife, 90% of wildflowers could be threatened with extinction without insects to pollinate them. Honey, chocolate, coffee and silk are just some of the luxuries that wouldn't exist without invertebrates.

"Humans and wildlife depend for their survival on the pollination services that are provided by hoverflies, butterflies, moths and beetles as well as all the bees," said Matt Shardlow, ecologist and chief executive of Buglife, the Invertebrate Conservation Trust.

"The loss of wildflowers in the countryside has pushed many species to the brink so it's really important to plant wild type flowers and put them back into the countryside," he added.

above is from bbc staffordshire web site
http://www.bbc.co.uk/breathingplaces/beepartofit/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/search?keywords=honey