In 2024 Fife Beekeepers Association are hoping to set up a new teaching apiary on the Balcaskie Estate in east Fife. We plan to document our journey here on the website.
We had our first site visit on 14th January and began to plan the work we would need to do to develop this open field, with young trees, into a site that could accommodate hives and bees and beekeepers.
We plan to remove the existing trees and replant these around the perimeter of the site, together with mixed hedging….this will provide a wind break and enclose the apiary.
We need to do lots of groundwork to the site to make it into a usable place for an apiary. This will involve creating an entrance, leveling the ground, putting in some drainage and laying down hardcore…..lots of work!
As we are very excited to undertake this work we thought we would share our journey with you all, so please do keep checking back to see how the apiary develops over the coming months.
An update on our developments. Unfortunately the apiary site discussed above proved to be too boggy, so a new apiary site was chosen.
A group of association members got together one Saturday in March and planted literally hundreds of hedging plants to begin to enclose the new teaching apiary site.
Biting wind, cold and rain could not dampen the spirits of everyone involved. It just goes to show what can be achieved with a small group of volunteers. Well done to everyone involved….an excellent job! A big thank you to you all 
Can’t wait to see this hedging grow now!