Wild Margate is run by Margate based artist and beekeeper Dominic Rose and a small number of colonies of honey bees kept in Cliftonville.
Bees have been around for about 120 million years, approximately the amount to time it took for the shells of sea creatures to form the chalk cliffs of Thanet.
Bees transformed the world. Plants evolved flowers to attract early bees, their nectar offering an incentive in exchange for pollination services. Without bees human survival would be far from certain, and we would exist in a world without flowers.
Honeybees make up only 5 of around 20000 species of bee worldwide. The European honeybee, Apis Mellifera is not endangered though wild populations are less common than they once were.
I have been keeping bees since 2008. Their behaviour continues to fascinate me and I consider working with them part of my art practice. The bees I keep can be seen on various flowers all over Margate. The honey they produce can be found in a few local shops – Turner Contemporary, Dory’s, The Graingrocer, K G Winters as well as Union Yoga in Ramsgate.
If you want to buy it direct from me, or if you are interested in Stocking Wild Margate products, or for any other information on bees or my products, email
honey
@
wildmargate.co.uk
The honey comes from around 4 hives I keep in Cliftonville. My methods are low intervention and I minimise any action which prioritises the beekeeper over the bees. All my colonies are in standard beehives but I run the hives without manmade foundation. This means all the wax is completely natural and should be free from all pesticide residue. The hives are, as far as possible replicate the natural honeybee nest, the bees decide their own cell size and the number of drone (male) bees, drones are often unfairly treated by beekeepers as they do not forage for nectar. I do not use Queen excluders so the queen is able to roam freely and lay eggs as she chooses. The colonies thrive in this system though it does require more patience and effort from the beekeeper.
The bees produce honey in late spring and summer only. I always leave the bees sufficient honey to overwinter without feeding sugar. Over-harvesting would leave them at risk of starvation in the winter months. The flavour of the honey changes throughout the season depending on which plants and trees are flowering. If conditions are suitable, each year I try to produce a small number of jars containing natural comb as well as ivy flower honey, a very particular monofloral honey produced in September.
Alongside honey I have also developed a small range of products, including beeswax food wraps, leather and wood polish and naturally fermented mead vinegar.
The food wraps are made with vegetable dyes made with plants from the garden or grown locally and certified organic cotton. The patterns are made by creating colour resistant areas by selectively soaking them in molten wax. This wrap, as well as being the ultimate accompaniment to your sandwich is the ultimate sustainable wax wrap.
The wood and leather polish is made from pure wax, pure turpentine and carnauba wax. There is no better way to treat your antiques or leather boots and is completely free of petrochemical solvents.
In 2018 I started making mead vinegar. I have been interested in wild fermentation for many years and have made mead since my early days of beekeeping. The mead I make is a pure unpasteurised honey diluted with water and left to ferment with the help of wild yeast naturally present on the flowers the bees have pollinated, and present in the honey. The mead then goes through an acetic fermentation and left to mature. The whole process takes a minimum of 24 months and results in a beautiful mellow vinegar with a residual sweetness, full of the flavour of Wild Margate Honey. As far as I know I am the only producer of Mead Vinegar in the UK. Due to limited stock it is currently only available at The Grain Grocer, 216 Northdown Rd, Margate.
Follow me on Twitter