Bungeons Farm Beeswax hand cream

I have finally got round to making some more hand cream. It is a great barrier cream as well as helping to heal  the inevitable nicks and knocks.
The hand cream is made from an infusion of marigold and lavender in oil, beeswax from our bees , and a small amount of honey.
The beeswax is either the the lovely white light bridge comb collected in the spring or the cappings saved  while extracting and put through my prototype small solar extractor (another use for a washing machine glass door)
The different oils and waxes give each batch of cream a different feel and purpose.

Poor mans capers

September for me is the kindest month of the year, Warm sunshine and so many rewards.
Nasturtiums are great in the garden, the flowers and leaves add colour and surprise to salads,  the seeds can be pickled then used as capers. Nasturtiums also help to control the cabbage white.
We have an abundance of blackberries a payback for a 3 winters spent coppicing. Blackberry wine is my favorite homemade wine and a winter without some would be grim.

We had a family morning sawing, stacking and carting wood , the bays are filling up and there is a stash in the dry we can process on a rainy day.

What has happened to the wasps ?

We have now finished feeding the bees , we just need to top and tail and treat for varroa and wish them luck for the winter.
There are no wasps anywhere, usually when feeding the bees we have to reduce the hive entrances and put out traps. There are also hardly any butterflies and not much fruit on the trees.
I have accepted I have no control over my Bantams , we have built them a large fox proof run, provided 2 cosy houses and still they roost in the trees, play chicken with the fox and lay where they want.

I can not bring myself to clip their wings. These are the latest additions to the colony , I thought the fox had taken her.
I am planning some more willow weaving workshops late September/October  so please contact me if interested.

Potato Harvest

We had 52.5mm of rain 2inches in our part of Suffolk in August including the hail.
I stuck to traditional varieties of potato growing Charlotte,Wilja and Kestrel but I still got blight it happened so suddenly almost overnight . Luckily the weather was kind so we removed all the tops ,burnt them and lifted all the potato's. The Wilja were disappointing and suffered the most slug/worm damage and don't taste nearly as good as Charlotte's. Overall  not many tubers were blighted and thanks to the rain a good size.