Until quite recently my beekeeping was an interest and the honey my bees produced was given away to friends, family and people in the village where I live.
Also postmen, DHL delivery drivers, BT engineers and the nurses who came to look after a neighbour all enjoyed my honey for free.
I had tried selling honey outside my house primarily to people who came to pick up their kids from the school in the Close but as not everybody paid, I reasoned why try and sell it and get stressed when people didn't pay for it when I could give it away for free and not get stressed. Made sense to me.
Some of my bees were kept on the land of some friends who as well as running a veg box service where a box of fresh local vegetables were delivered to you once a week, also ran a Garden Shop at a local garden centre selling all sorts of local produce. Their son also helped me with the bees.
They asked me if I could supply them with honey which I was more than happy to do but I remember feeling a momentary slight pang of unease.
I had read a book on 'natural beekeeping' in which the author suggested that beeks needed to decide if they were 'bee keepers' or 'honey producers'.
I consider myself very much a 'bee keeper' and so as long as my bees are healthy and viable, the amount of honey I get from them is secondary and if things are tough for them then I will have to disappoint DHL delivery drivers et all.
One of the things I tried this year was to produce cut comb which is essentially a slab of honey comb, wax and all, in a plastic container. A while back I had tried specialised wooden frames which didn't work well so I decided to use unwired, thin foundation in the frames. I would then use a form of biscuit cutter to get the comb.
This went well and I produced a number of what looked satisfactory combs and I even got some labels printed.
My wife was helping with a musical festival in Clophill and thought she would take some of our honey and cut comb to sell. Although for some reason it is considered a 'premium product' its not widely available so I had no idea what to charge and took to Google for information.
One beek said he sold loads of it at Farmers Markets he went to to and even though I am a 'bee keeper' not a 'honey producer' for some reason I thought 'Mmmmmm Farmers Markets - what are they all about?'
So I Googled 'Bedfordshire Farmers Markets' and there were loads of them.
I knew about the one in the centre of Bedford in the pedestrian precinct and thought 'No thanks' but there was one at Willington Garden Centre which is quite close to me. They seem to sell more soft furnishings, children's toys and pink Pringle jumpers than plants but it seemed a reasonable place to start.
At that point I completely missed the warning sign saying 'Warning Slippery Slope Ahead!!. Its very steep and its very slippery. If you have an obsessive nature please turn back now' and emailed them. I explained I didn't produce a lot of honey but they were very nice about it all and said I could have a stall if I wanted one.
I then missed the next warning sign saying 'Warning - you have just ignored a slippery slope sign. If you proceed you will spend large amounts of time and money and risk ridicule from friends and family'.
I emailed them back saying I would like to have a stall at the next market.
What could go wrong?.................................................
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