The Beekeepers Tea Party was the anniversary event of the planting of The Far Orchard held at the Barn on 23rd April 2023.
Apple trees need cross pollination in order to produce apples and alongside the community network of The Far Orchard, a network of pollinators connect the apple trees. Thousands of insects get involved in moving pollen from one tree to another, but bees (including all the wild, solitary and bumblebees) do more than 90% of the work. So at a time of when the apple blossom was starting to form, the event aimed to deepen our understanding of the pollinating insects in our landscape.
Tea and honey tasting: Everyone was seated at a table with a beekeeper – both traditional and natural beekeepers – so participants were able to ask bee related questions over honey tasting, tea and cake.
Wildflower garden table: There was a table where participants could make their own seed packet and take away pollinator friendly seeds to plant to encourage wild pollinators.
Bee Hotel making workshops run by Caitlin Dick.
A bee hotel is a place where solitary bees can nest. Solitary bees aren’t like honeybees that live in hives. As their name suggests, they make their nests on their own and lay their eggs in tunnels, such as in dead wood or hard soil. A bee hotel mimics these conditions and provides long-term accommodation where a bee lives from the time it is laid as an egg, until it is ready to emerge as a fully grown adult. Theres instructions on how to make a simple bee hotel at the following link: https://friendsoftheearth.uk/bees/make-a-bee-house
Installations: There was a beautiful interactive documentary, The Pollinators of Slovenia on iPads with headphones and an installation exploring the future of pollinators. A large video screen projected slow motion footage of bees and other pollinators.
The Far Orchard Zone was a conversational space to explore The Far Orchard network in the longer term asking what matters to the network, what matters in our stewardship, care and connection with natural systems. There was also local honey for sale and a library with books to browse:
It was a great event with The Far Orchard Hosts reconnecting, sampling local honey, learning about different styles of bee keeping from traditional to natural, making bee hotels and taking away wild flower seeds to plant to attract pollinators. Massive thanks to the Barn for organising the event, for the wonderful table settings, the table service and organising the amazing cakes and thanks to all the beekeepers for their contributions.
“Thank you so much for a fabulous afternoon enjoyed by 3 generations of my family and so much informal learning for my granddaughters” Participant
“We thoroughly enjoyed the Beekeepers tea party this afternoon. Thank you for putting on such a lovely event” Participant
The Far Orchard 