The Practical Beekeeper
The
Practical Beekeeper: Beekeeping Naturally
by Michael Bush is the epitome of a self-published book. (Yes, I
do include my 99 cent ebooks in this category.) The text is chock
full of very good information that you can't find anywhere else, but is
definitely a bit rough around the edges.
First of all, the author
is up front about the fact that the majority of the information can be
found for free on his website.
I've spent years dipping into his informative website and was quite
willing to pay a bit of money to have that information distilled into a
more linear format.
Unfortunately, I felt
like he didn't distill all that much.
There's no index, and the book is divided into beginner, intermediate,
and advanced sections, each of which covers most of the same topics in
different degrees of depth. So, to find out what Bush thinks
about strains of bees, I had to read the entire table of contents and
then flip through three different sections of the book. I even
noticed a few paragraphs that were included, verbatim, in multiple
sections.
Meanwhile, the book is
hardcover and large print, which means it's
hefty and sells for the scary price of $49. In retrospect, I
might have been better off with the ebook ($29 on his website) since
the photos are black and white and only moderate quality (meaning they
wouldn't lose anything by being viewed in eink.)
Whichever format you
choose, though, I highly recommend The Practical
Beekeeper to any intermediate beekeeper who's struggling to navigate
the maze of creating a chemical-free apiary. The book appears
daunting, but is actually an easy read and will definitely open your
eyes to
concepts you'd never considered.
| This post is part of our The Practical Beekeeper lunchtime series.
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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One thing I'm not sure I understand about bees (I know very little) is why one would want to keep an apiary and deal with the associated challenges instead of just planting bee-attracting flora in order to ensure pollination in the garden. Are there any advantages other than fresh honey and a reliable pollinator source? Is it more a concern over declining bee populations? For some reason, I just haven't caught the bee bug yet. [Pun totally intended, and yes, I do realize that bees are insects, not bugs :)]
~ Mitsy
It's all about the honey. I was raised on honey and prefer it to sugar in a lot of dishes (like butternut pies and fruit leather.) Unfortunately, you can't buy real honey, except occasionally at a farmer's market or fruit stand (where you can be pretty certain the beekeeper used pesticides). So, if you want real honey, you have to raise your own.
If you don't like honey, attracting native pollinators is probably better for the earth.
Makes sense. I love honey, too, but got used to using agave nectar back when I was vegan. I've read how it's not any better for you, though, than high-fructose corn syrup, so I'll either need to find a local source (someone has a bunch of hives down the road from us, so maybe I can barter with them), use maple syrup, or just delve into beekeeping!
~ Mitsy