Harvesting honey is a highlight of the beekeeping year and a fascinating experience that appeals to all senses.

The greatest happiness, however, is the moment when the garden beekeeper discovers the first "pens" (=eggs) in a home-grown offshoot, sees and greets the young queen for the first time, then marks her in a tube with a coloured platelet on her shoulders, and after a while lets her go back to her colony.

These are spiritual moments in which he stands before God's creation in awe, wonder and gratitude, feeling a joy greater than all the honey harvests together.