Page 17 - IFV Issue 3_2024

Lifestyle

THE BEAUTY • Johannesburg and Cape Town: https:// too much energy searching for flowers. It’s
product-category/beekeeping-courses/
important that the hard-working honey
OF BEE beeware.co.za/beginner-beekeeping- bees reserve enough energy to get back to

course/
the hive. Always have a freshwater source
KEEPING • Western Cape: https://www. nearby and plant the following, according
to your region and growing season. (Ask
honeywoodfarm.co.za/about/bee-
courses your local garden centre for advice on
hether you live on a plot or • KwaZulu-Natal: https://bushveldbees. which plants to grow where and when).
farm, in a townhouse or flat co.za/training/ Below are some planting suggestions:
W– the enchanting world of Acacia species, particularly Sweet Thorn
beehives, honey extraction, bee courses Tools and treasures (tree)
Buchu
and baked goods are all available to you. Beginner beekeeping courses in South Aloe species, especially Bitter Aloe (large
Here are the basics to get you going. Africa offer a hands-on experience where succulent)
There are specific by-laws for all tools, suits and hives are provided to Pink Mallow
beekeeping, stipulated by the obtain the best practical experience. Basic White Pear (tree)
False Olive (tree / large shrub)
Metropolitan Municipality Public Health. tools and equipment include a beehive Sagewood (tree / large shrub)
You can’t own a hive on your balcony in box, a colony, a bee queen, a bee suit, a Broad-leaved Bulbine (succulent perennial)
the suburbs, for example, but you can go bee brush and a smoker. Stalked Bulbine (succulent perennial)
River Bushwillow (tree)
on an epic bee keeping course and tend to Treat yourself and your family to the Forest Bushwillow (tree)
a hive away from home. For plot and farm treasures of your hive by investing in Campfire Crassula (succulent perennial)
dwellers, here is a brief overview of the honey extraction equipment. This enables Crassula Morgan’s Beauty (succulent
current laws: the making your own skincare products perennial)
Fairy Crassula (succulent perennial)
No person may keep bees on any and delicious baked goods. Red Alder (tree)
premises unless that person is the holder Have you ever tried raw honeycomb? Kei Delosperma (succulent groundcover)
of a permit authorising this activity, and This is a natural product made by Delosperma versicolor (succulent
every beehive is situated – honey bees to store honey and pollen, groundcover)
Hairy Dew Flower (succulent)
* a minimum of five metres from any or house their young. It consists of a Wild Rosemary (shrub)
boundary of the premises; series of hexagonal cells constructed Blue Honeybell Bush (shrub)
* a minimum of twenty metres from any from beeswax, which generally contains Trailing Gazania (groundcover)
Tree Fuschia
public place or building used for human raw honey. It is loaded with incredible Blue Justicia (shrub)
habitation or from any place used for the nutrients and delicious to eat. Feather Touch-Me-Not (shrub)
keeping of animals; and Did you know? You can purchase a Blue Water Lily (water plant)
* the bees are kept in an approved beehive queen bee and colony to easily begin your September Bells (tree)
Cape Scabious (perennial groundcover)
located in an area inaccessible to children bee keeping journey. Wild Scabious (perennial groundcover)
and animals, kept in the shade at all times, Succulent Bush Senecio (succulent shrub)
and supplied with a source of drinking Blooms for bees Ginger Bush / Misty Plume Bush (shrub)
water within five metres of the hive. If you’re looking to start a hive, contribute Arum Lily (bulb)
Buffalo Thorn (tree)
to one, support South Africa’s food chain
It is important for beekeepers to register or add to your garden’s wildlife, planting If you would like to home bees in your
with the South African Bee Industry blooms for bees is an essential service and backyard, you are legally permitted to
Organisation (SABIO) so that their set- part of the beehive process. After all, one have a bee hotel, which you can purchase
up is in accordance with the regulation in every three mouthfuls of food is due to from your GCA Garden Centre or build
standards. This is to ensure that all bees bee crop pollination. yourself. These structures home the
are cared for and to prevent accidents or Research suggests that bees prefer blue, solitary bee – one of 1300 species found in
injuries to one’s neighbours. If you can’t purple and yellow flowers. However, there South Africa. They do not produce honey
meet the beekeeping regulations but are exceptions such as orange Aloe flowers or have a queen, making them unlikely
still want to be part of the ‘magic’, join a and the white flowers of the White Pear. to be aggressive or sting. These bees like
beekeeping training course that will teach Bees also tend to favour flowers that stand their own home amongst neighbours and
you how to understand bee language, out from their surroundings, are planted in are still extremely important and efficient
harvest honey, and obtain hands-on blocks of colour, or are available in a large pollinators in our agricultural, natural and
experience in the field. group. This means that they can harvest urban landscapes.
• Pretoria: https://www.bhive.co.za/ more pollen and nectar without using up Text and photos supplied by Life is a Garden

The Villager • Issue 3 2024 • 15