Now this was a first for me, I was never in an Apiary before, but it was with great excitement that I took up Larry’s invitation to visit his award winning Blissberry Farm in Mountcharles, County Donegal.
I’ve been a follower of Larry ever since we met some years ago when we were both facilitators on a HSE Healthy Gardening Programme, I’ve been intrigued with his mission of creating a sustainable Social Farm in Mountcharles.
I’ve broken my trip to the farm into a number of sections, as there is so much positivity and good work being undertaken that it would do Larry and Blissberry farm a grave injustice to cram it all into one post….so lets start with the Apiary, a 1/2 acre of the Blissberry Farm home to 1,000,000 bees…and some very happy beekeepers. I was surprised to hear that only 2 of the hives are Larrys, the rest belong to other people who home their beehives here so that they can capitalise on the food sources available to the Bees on Blissberry Farm. Bee Keeping classes and workshops run all the time at Blissberry Farm, you can get more information by contacting them here through the Blissberry Farm Blog
But all the posts will be linked here under Blissberry Farm
great info signs
an array of different hive styles
willow is an important food source
a new Queen settles in…
Gareth Austin is a Community focused Horticulturist based in Derry-Londonderry and voice of Gardening on the Mark Patterson Show on BBC Radio Foyle. Gareth specialises in Community horticulture, offering a wide range of events, programmes and acitivity on engaging people in the exciting world of Horticulture. Gareth lectures in Horticulture in the North West Regional College and offers school horticulture programs through the Western Education + Library Board. Gareth is passionate about changing land-use to a more positive use, urban food production and showcasing the flora of county Derry through the City of Horti-Culture programme of events.
