Category: Uncategorized
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Published in RTE.ie, 10 Nov 2024 We present an extract from The Keeper of the Bees, the new book by Eimear Chaomhánach, Illustrated by Jane Carkill. Beekeeper’s daughter and student of folklore Eimear Chaomhánach shares memories of growing up in a beekeeping household, collecting swarms with her father and learning how to harvest honey, while looking…
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Published in Good Food Ireland, April 2025 Easter signals the true arrival of Spring. Snowdrops are the first to turn on their lights, closely followed by the daffodil, crocus, bluebell and grape hyacinth. As the landscape awakens, the bees emerge from their hives, eagerly seeking that early nectar source. A time of hope, renewal and…
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Published in BBKA News, the British Beekeepers’ Association Magazine, Dec 2024 I first came across the British Bee Journal in 1986. I was about ten years old when I went to a local Christmas bazaar in Dublin. In a room dedicated to the sale of books, I found a stack of well-thumbed, sun bleached British…
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Published in the Irish Times, 16 April 2025. The buzzword ‘superfood’ re-entered everyday vernacular in the 1990s. At the time, I was unfamiliar with what this marketing term represented: namely, a bunch of foodstuffs that were touted as having superior health benefits by virtue of their nutrient density. Elevating foods to superfood status was not…
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Published in the Irish Times, 29 March 2025 The Keeper of the Bees by Eimear Chaomhánach (O’Brien Press, €19.99). Bees are alchemists, turning pollen and nectar into wax and “liquid gold” honey. They love the colour blue, gather closely and slow their wing beats for safety during forest fires, and like to be kept up…