 This is Around the Northwest, and how about some homemade honey, some fresh honey from your own hive. If you've ever had an interest in that, there is an introduction to beekeeping, Taster Evening happening next Wednesday at half past seven. And I'm glad now that Colin McGuire from the Three Rivers Beekeepers Association joins me. There was supposed to be one other, but a few technical issues, but we do have Colin and we're streaming this as well on Facebook. So Colin, thanks for joining us. Thanks very much, John. It's lovely to be on talking to you. And talking about a subject that's obviously close to your heart because I'd say a lot of beekeepers are not in it for the money. That's one thing, John, that I'm not in it for, just for the love of it. I'm only in the third year. And that's probably one of the things that I really enjoy doing, you know, just for the love of it. Yeah, people goes on it. There's people who's on it the big way for honey production and stuff. And for money, but it doesn't register with me at all. But for most people, it would be a hobby. And if they get something out of it, they get their own honey, they're happy enough. That's a bonus. The honeys, the honeys, are we bonus now? If we had been down in Highland the day, you were talking about a taster, even, and then Doney Lipp, if we're in Highland the day, we could have brought you down someone you could have tasted. I don't love, I don't love it. Well, maybe they're in a jar down the road. Right, do, I do for sure. And tell me how much honey do you get? I mean, you said there that it's a bonus when you get honey, but is it almost guaranteed, or is it the amount that's just not guaranteed? The amount is not guaranteed, John. As I say, I'm relatively new in beekeeping. I've learned a lot about them. I've done quite a few courses on them, a geolarnal experience with my own hives and some of my friends. The honey last year, apparently for people who've been at it a lifetime, it was one of the worst years in about 40 years for beekeeping. Remember the real, not last year, sorry, the year before it, the first year of the pandemic, it was not under the COVID, it was the real number who had the real hot weather in March, April, and it just, it just seemed to, nothing seemed to work right, we bees at all that year. So last year was, last year was amazing for bees. Amazing. I think it was one of the best years in recent times. How much honey would you get from a hive? It depends on the strength of the colony, where you're located. I have a friend, a brother of mine actually, he has one hive and he could have took maybe 200 jars from that one hive. Some, yeah, some hives you might get 20 jars from. Are there different numbers of bees in every hive? Are some hives bigger than others, or is it just, or is it just how productive the bees are? A mixture of everything, John, a mixture of everything. You can get the start off, if you're starting beekeeping, you know, you'll start off with a very small colony, a nucleus colony, we call them, and then you gradually build it on the bigger colony. A full production colony could have 60, 70,000 bees in it. Right. You know, any change? Are they, are they dangerous because you think you hear about bees and you hear, but that's sort of a number and you're thinking, I'll stay well to hear them. Are they dangerous for you? And what about the neighbours? Are they, are they useless for the neighbours? No, no, not at all. If they're managed, it's all a bit managed, John. Yes, it's part of beekeeping, you get the odd-westing, you know, if you're working with bees, but generally, generally not. Now, I have, at home, I have eight hives at the back of the property. There may be 20 meters from the pario area. In the summertime, we're all set out, friends, family, villagers, and they don't bother them at all. If you don't bother them, they don't bother you. The last thing a bee wants to do is stingy, for if it stings your base. So that's the last thing a honey bee wants to do. So you don't have to be out smoking them all the time and stuff like that? No, no, no, no, no, no. If you're working with them, John, yeah, you would, sometimes, I tend not to use too much smoke. I tend not to use the smoker at all. Some people use it, those count them down a wee bit, you know, if you're working with them. So, but now, generally, as a real now, they've just, they've just been playing past me, minding their own business. You've been well trained. And is there a lot of work attached to it? Or is it a case of setting it up and then just letting them do it? There is a lot of work, John, and that's why we're trying to promote the course as well. Some people would maybe get on the bees, they would buy bees online, they would get bees, they haven't actually, what they're doing, not saying it in a bad way, but there's a lot of work managing them and you're on a bit neighbors and stuff. If you don't manage them properly, they can become useless, they can, you know, swarm, they could end up on somebody's house, but the whole idea is staying on top of it and you need to know the information and you need to know how to do it. And that's why we're trying to promote the course, you know, to teach people these things. But the end product makes it all worthwhile or at least mostly worthwhile and I'd say you're well in with the family if you're getting that many pots out of a good year then. No, spreading it around. Anyone, I haven't sold any honey, John. I've had a few jars of honey last year and I just give them to friends and family or anybody calls up to the house or they always go away with the jar of honey and they always come back looking for more. They say it's the difference in day and night and the locally produced honey than the stuff that you buy in the shops. It's a different product all the time, it's unreal. And I'd say you'd find different uses for honey, it's that good. There is, John, and actually without deviating or going away from the whole course thing and stuff. But we have a honey here in Ireland, it comes at the end of the years. It comes from heather, heather honey. When you mention honey, people start talking about manuka honey and stuff like that. But there's actually a big study done last year in Trinity where the heather honey would have more healing properties than manuka honey, you know, so it's good gear here. But Ireland is a country we don't promote it enough. We produce plenty of honey, but we just don't promote that fact. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the local. But it seems to be coming around, people are coming around here now and there's a lot of people, a lot of shops are stocking local honey and people, there's a lot of cost, you know, and it's not, it's a premium product, John, but people are realizing that once about once that they're going back and buying it again and again, which is great. And heather honey even better than manuka honey and we know what the price of manuka honey is. So, you know, if you're able to keep your own bees and make your own honey or maybe there's different types of honey, you could say heather honey, so there must be other types as well. Well, that's basically where it comes from, from the heather and the mountains, you know, but yes, they have different tastes of honey, different types of honey throughout the year. You know, you have spring flowers and then you would have your summer flowers and then autumn and it comes from everywhere. So every jar of honey could be, every batch of honey could be a different taste, you know. It's really interesting. And is it a lot of money to get started? I mean, how much would a hive cost you? Can be expensive to get on that, John. You can get on that, all guns blazing. I could cost a lot of money. A hive, something starting off, you know, the time you buy your first hive, your bees, your equipment, your PPE is such, you know, I would say a minimum, maybe 600 pounds, you know, but you could spend up to a thousand, 1200 pounds, get them started off. But that's an initial cost, yeah, yeah. And then as you build up, you build up your own bees and stuff in, so it doesn't be as costly, you know. They sort of, they provide for themselves then. Yeah, yeah, it'll be tempting to put a wee charge on the pots, even if you haven't done that to date. But if anybody's collecting pots of honey from you, feel free to give a donation for the bees. My intentions is, I suppose next year, this year, I was building them up a lot. But personally, my intentions next year, I'll have a lot of honey next year too. So I'll probably try and get a few local shops and stuff, you know. So we'll see. We'll see. The plants don't always work, do they? No, no, no. And especially when there's different elements that play, I suppose, you know, like the weather and, you know, the form of the bees and whatever, because it sounds like it, you know, it's not black and white that it might depend on where your hives are located, what the weather's like, you know, what kind of form the bees are in. It's a mixture of everything, John. It's a mixture of everything. Everything could be rolling, sweet one week and the next week, all hell breaks loose. So it's a matter of keeping on top of it. But I suppose that's why we're in it. And every day is a school day, no matter what you're doing. But I'm actually doing this preliminary course starting next week, you know, for beginners or people that are looking to get on it. We're actually doing another course at the minute that I'm doing it myself. That's, you know, the next level, if you like, it's a level three course on them. And it really goes on the depth about the home bees and stuff. And that's just their fascinating, fascinating way to think through there. But for those who want to get started, the introduction next week would be brilliant. It's a taster evening and what's involved, it's just sort of outlining a lot of the stuff we talked about the cost and the amount of work that's involved and things like that. There is. They, I suppose for everything else, COVID and stuff, this last couple of years, the whole thing has been up on arms. We were plowing on there on Zoom and stuff, you know, but next week on the 16th in the Donald up, you'll see all the information on the, by the way, on the Three Rivers Facebook page. If you just type in Three Rivers Bees, Three Rivers Beekeepers Association on Facebook. There's contacts there. There's an email address and stuff like that. So anybody has any kind of interesting message to page, they can send an email and stuff. But as regards next week, it's basically an open evening. There are people that have signed up for the course. They're more than welcome to come face-to-face. Maybe somebody's thinking about going to Bees. They can come out. They can have a talk and, you know, find out a bit more about them and maybe make up their mind if it's for them or not. You know, we're really looking forward to getting back to meeting people face-to-face again to where, to be honest. So that's the idea of that evening. Come out, ask the questions, see what's involved in it and basically make up their mind. Okay, it's next Wednesday evening, half past seven in Donnie Loop. And for more information, just put in the Three Rivers Beekeepers Association on Facebook and you get all the info and more on there. Colin, the best luck with next week and beyond. I will send a jar down to me, Paul McDovey. He can leave it for you. Brilliant. I look forward. I mean, he doesn't need it on the way down the road. He'll have to get one too. John, thanks a million for having us. ESP, with the help of the Climate Action Fund, has been making significant improvements to the electric vehicle