Some thoughts on mead and pre-industrial bee keeping

So, in a lot of mead recipes there's the direction to boil the honey with water and skim off the scum, which sterilizes it a bit and removes impurities. With modern beekeeping methods there's very little in the way of impurities, so this always seemed like a slightly redundant step to me. Until two days ago when I had to clean up a mess I let build up in a hive, and I ended up with almost 2kg of honey, and the associated wax... and a bunch of dead bees in it. Pro tip- bees are busy little creatures, and if you leave a bit of extra space on top for any reason they will build right up into it lickety-split.

Battening down the (garden) hatches for the winter

Here's a list of things you can do this month in your garden:

-Planting spring bulbs.

-Mulch up the base of tender roses to protect them from the freeze/thaw cycle- Use triple mix or clean topsoil. Rose shrubs and climbers should be fine without this.

-Dig in mulch and compost for the spring (so you don't have to do it when it's wet and partially frozen).

-Empty and put away anything that has water in it, such as hoses, and don't forget to turn off the water line in the basement that goes outside.

-Wrap up or put straw on plants that need extra winter protection.

-Plant garlic for the spring.

-Do a final and full weeding to get things ready.