It's a woman's world when it comes to self-sufficiency

"Anyone that can put on a lick of mascara without blinding themselves has the skills to keep bees."These were the sage words of advice from head Belvedere bee keeper Jim Donohoe on Sunday morning as the four finalists began their first task in the "Win a Self Sufficiency Garden" grand final.Christine Brunkard, Virag Hogan, Melanie Fox and Audrey Brown went head to head in a series of tasks designed to discover who had the greatest natural affinity for self sufficiency.The four women gathered with their families just after noon on St Valentine's Day to meet with the panel of judges who were the Belvedere Beekeeper, Jim Donohoe; local farmer, Gerry Bane, Belvedere; garden designer and horticulture consultant, John Smyth, and Mary Kelly, of Belvedere House Gardens and Park.First up, the four women competed against each other in trying to remove and replace a single frame from a beehive without touching the sides. These frames weighed up to 8lbs and needed to be removed between just a finger and thumb.Bees cannot stand even the smallest vibration or knock in their hive and a microphone was fitted to the hive to amplify even the slightest movement or touch as the ladies gently slid the frame out to inspect them and return them.Then it was out into the freezing February air for the task designed by Gerry Bane.There are two donkeys, three goats and two sheep in the small paddocks beside Belvedere. Gerry wheeled out a large bin of feed and giving out buckets asked the four contestants to guess how much feed would be needed to feed all seven animals for one day."Too little and they won't be happy and too much will also make them unhappy. So it is vital to strike the right balance. It's a guesstimate so do your best," Gerry told the four women. When the buckets were filled with feed, Gerry then allowed the four contestants to enter the paddock and get up close and personal with the hungry farm animals, keeping a watchful eye at all times.The third taskmaster was also the toughest as John Smyth brought the four ladies down and set them a time challenge for bringing earth by wheelbarrow up a steep hill and double digging and levelling a bed ready for planting.After these three challenges there was nothing in it between the four competitors, so it was all down to a questionnaire that was filled out by the entrants and their spouses when they first arrived."This is bound to cause trouble on the car ride home," said Bartle D'Arcy, General Manager as he opened their sealed envelopes. For every question answered the same by husband and wife, the wives would receive one point towards their final score.The husbands and their wives each answered questions such as wife's favourite colour, who would your wife most like to meet, name of your wife's favourite perfume, which flower your wife would grow in her garden, a song you would describe as "your song" and where was your first date.Ironically, given the day that was in it, none of the men managed to choose correctly for their wife's favourite perfume, Three of the men chose correctly for the flower they would choose to plant in the garden and every single one of them knew which person their wife would most like to meet.Only one husband knew where his wife squeezed the toothpaste from and only one other chose the same song as his wife as "their song".This round produced a clear winner, drum roll please, Melanie Fox from Gaybrook. Melanie took a coveted 10 out of 10 feeding the animals and drew with Christine in the difficult bee task and just pipped the other three in a poor soil round.But in spite of the Hogan family gaining 7 precious points in the last round, Melanie held the lead she had accumulated through the afternoon.So between now and the Self Sufficiency Show in Belvedere House, Melanie Fox will have her back garden transformed into a smallholding, a self sufficiency paradise for her family to enjoy. Her prize includes garden design, raised vegetable beds, orchard, soft fruit, patio area, composter and home brew kit for wine and beer making.The prize also includes a five day course for two in "The John Seymour School of Self Sufficiency" at the Killowen Small Holding and bee-keeping training at the Apiary in Belvedere house.The runners up all received their choice of a stunning wonderful flower display created by Richard Haslam, Chelsea Gold Medal winner, as well as Thomas Bently hand tools, John Seymour Self-Sufficiency guides and a family season ticket for Belvedere House Gardens and Park."There was a great camaraderie between the four women and they all worked really hard at each of the tasks. But there can only be one winner and that was Melanie Fox, so congratulations to her. We will be starting this week transforming her back garden but I understand that all the families struck up a great friendship here today and they will be coming along to see the work being done," said Bartle D'Arcy, General Manager Belvedere House.