A recent addiction to the Goodful Facebook feed has had me sampling new recipes. A flourless recipe for Banana Oatmeal muffins caught my eye.

Eager to try it, I decided to follow the recipe to the letter but by doing a straight substitution of honey in place of the maple syrup the original recipe calls for.

Ingredients

• 2 bananas
• 2 eggs
• ⅓ cup honey 
• ¼ teaspoon salt 
• 2 teaspoons baking powder 
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon 
• 1 cup Greek yogurt 
• 3 cups oats 
• 1 cup whole milk 
• Your preferred topping: healthy or otherwise (I chose to finish leftover Mackintosh's toffees from Halloween)

The full instructions, including a helpful video can be found on Buzzfeed.

A successful change of sweetener and a very yummy treat!

These Bite-Sized Banana Oatmeal Muffins Are Perfect For Snack Time

We're based in Christchurch, New Zealand and its surrounding Canterbury area. Which means we're very prone to large earthquakes and plentiful aftershocks. This wasn't always the case, but since 4 September 2010 we've gotten pretty resilient to the earth moving under us.

It wasn't until the 22 February 2011 earthquake however that we got very, very serious about strapping our hives. A couple of the urban hives fell over in the 6.3 magnitude quake with boxes separated and bees strewn everywhere.

With the risk of queens being damaged or killed under these circumstances, we have a standing policy to strap hive boxes together no matter the size of the hive or its location,

For the most part we use galvanised steel straps especially designed for the purpose. But during swarm season our strap supplies get a little low and we end up using fabric ones for the smaller hives.

Today was like stepping back 6 years with a 7.5 magnitude, long-lasting and rolling earthquake hitting the South Island at 12:05am. We slept easy despite the quake and aftershocks knowing that all the hives have been protected against such an event. And a check of the apiaries in the morning showed everything in good order. Had any of the hives fallen over, then at least the damage to equipment and the bees would have been minimal.

As can sometimes happen at this time of year,  one of the urban hives produced a number of swarms which also means a parade of new queens have been hatched over the last few weeks.

Unfortunately, the latest queen wasn't laying and when beekeeper-in-charge, Cam, sought her out to see what was wrong, it was apparent that she hadn't mated. A virgin queen is to be expected not long after the old queen has swarmed but having given her a couple of weeks it became obvious that this queen had something wrong with her and needed to be replaced.

Had there been fresh brood in the hive Cam would merely have had to dispose of the queen and the hive would have produced an emergency queen. Unfortunately, weeks without a viable breeder meant that we would have to intervene.

It is easy enough to purchase mated queens and they get shipped to us in the mail, however, with plentiful swarms and a shortage of spare hive boxes and frames, it was decided to boost the endangered colony by introducing not just a queen but an entire hive. Effectively, we were reinstating one of the hive's previous queens and her bees.

Merging colonies is a tricky business. The queenless colony is apt to kill the introduced queen as an interloper and the bees will fight if you just throw them together. However, time for the queen's scent to permeate the hive will familiarise the bees with her. Separating the two colonies using newspaper is an old but very effective trick and one we've successfully used before.

By the time the two sets of bees have eaten through the newspaper, both colonies will accept the queen and become a single hive.

Andrew and Cam demonstrate how this is done in video.

It's turned into a beautiful spring day outside and the bees are enjoying the sunshine and the supply of dandelions. Our lawn is in need of a mow so is providing plenty of pollen and nectar producing flora at present.

This up close and personal video of a honey bee is worth watching in high-res. See as her proboscis (tongue) flick out as she gathers her honey-making supplies.

The bees from our urban hives have a fairly cushy life given the close and plentiful supply of flowers all through the year.

Tonight's invite to our friends Chris and Teresa's meant I dusted off an old favourite recipe I'd adapted from one given to me by my dietitian a good twelve or so years ago. This chicken recipe is always a popular item to have as entree or part of the buffet and I'm guaranteed a visit by my bestie if I let her know it's on the menu.

When I take this dish to a dinner party, I usually serve it warm as finger food and carry it between locations in a glass jar.

Instructions

For between one and two kilograms of chicken nibbles make a marinade using:

• 2 teaspoons of minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons of crushed ginger
• 1 tablespoon of honey
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons of orange marmalade

You can choose to soak the nibbles in the marinade for a few hours in the fridge but I tend to simply stir the marinade through before I put the chicken in the oven.

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius. Stir the marinade through the chicken until the nibbles are well coated before baking in the middle of the oven. I usually turn the chicken at twenty, thirty and then forty minute mark. On fan bake the chicken is usually cooked through at this point but I will leave it in, turning frequently until the moisture is gone and the glaze is sticky and golden/caramel.

Allow to rest before serving.

One of the things we’re often asked is how much it costs to buy a hive or set one up. The answer to that isn’t as simple as a figure or a range of dollar values because the hive itself isn’t actually where all the costs reside.

That being said, we do encourage more households to keep bees in the backyard. Bees in the neighbourhood can do so much good and commercial beekeepers are more inclined to place hives on farmland and remote areas where they can keep several hives together for efficiency. Bee populations in urban areas are significantly depleted and a single hive doesn’t require much space. A mature hive can introduce upwards of 50,000 bees into the area and service a radius of three kilometres or more.

So if you’re thinking of becoming a hobbyist beekeeper then these are the start-up costs to consider:

• A beesuit or equivalent protective equipment. We recommend the modern all-in-one overalls rather than half suits and complicated veils. You’ll feel far more confident all sealed in. New, these can be purchased for $80NZD on TradeMe but beware of the quality e.g. plastic zips, and from official suppliers between $130 and $190, depending on colour and style. Children’s beesuits are also available.
• Leather gloves: unless you’re around bees all the time and build up tolerance, you should wear gloves. It is inevitable when lifting frames and boxes that you will squash a bee or two every time you work the bees. Fabric and rubber gloves will not be sufficient. Leather is best, long sleeved. We prefer the vented variety because you get very hot in the midday summer sun. Anywhere from $25 to $40NZD per pair.
• A hive tool for working with the bees. That propolis is super-sticky and separating the boxes and prising out frames requires specialist equipment. If you’re only getting one, be sure to get the ‘J’ type variety with the hook. $12 to $22NZD depending on style and construction.
• A smoker - at some stage you will annoy the bees either because you’re inspecting the brood chambers or stealing their honey. $20 to $100NZD depending on size. You’ll also need a supply of sacking to smoke the hive, it calms the hive but don’t over do it. Less is best.

In New Zealand it is also a legal requirement to register and regularly inspect your hives. Although registration itself is free, a small fee is charged per apiary site to help fund the National American Foulbrood Pest Management Strategy Agency. We keep bees in five locations and therefore pay for five apiary sites. You are given a unique registration number which must be displayed at each apiary, on at least one hive. You also require annual American Foulbrood inspections and the subsequent submission of a summary of the inspection.

If you’re only looking after a single hive, then we suggest borrowing or hiring an extractor and related equipment when it’s time to harvest. If you have more than a couple, it may be worthwhile buying your own equipment which adds to costs and storage as appropriate.

Beekeeping has consumables: each year you will need to inspect your equipment and replace perished frames, boxes, floors and lids. You also need to treat for varroa mite pre and post season.

Finally we get to the cost of buying the bees themselves. I checked prices today and you can acquire a small starter nuc for $320NZD but this doesn’t include any actual hive equipment except around five frames. A ‘ready to go box’ kit can be purchased for around $150ND. To buy a more mature hive complete with bees, boxes, frames, floor, lid and roof can be around $650NZD.