BEES
I've been reading and researching about honey bees for the last few
months. I'm still reading and researching but after double checking my
local zoning (no goats allowed sadly but poultry and bees are fine) I
really want to go ahead and start a hive this spring.
I also want to have poultry again (we had at various times in my childhood, ducks, turkeys, and chickens) but as that's a much greater investment of time and money (hard to leave your poultry for a long weekend without someone willing to check in on them etc.) I'm going for bees firstly.
Also bees are straight up fascinating.
Some of the books I've poured through in preparation are:
Beekeeping for Dummies
The Backyard Beekeeper
As well as countless posts on the invaluable site www.beesource.com and the incredibly valuable forum for the site.
Books I intend to read ASAP to round out my 'knowings' before I take the plunge, get a hive, and hopefully join the Pierce County Beekeeper's Association in order to learn more, order bees on the cheap and eventually (hopefully) rent the honey extractor owned by the organization and like, be an apiarist, are:
The Practical Beekeeper Vol. 1 Beginning Beekeeping Naturally (hopefully volumes 2 & 3 as well at some point)
Grit's Guide to Backyard Bees and Honey (I picked this up for a song in I think June, when the Mother Earth News Fair was at the local fairgrounds)
Beekeeping for All (I'm leaning toward a modified version of a Warre hive it's a bit like a Langstroth/Warre hybrid but want to see what I may be getting into first)
Better Beekeeping: The Ultimate Guide to Keeping Stronger Colonies and Healthier, More Productive Bees
I should note that a lot of these books have redundant information but so far each (Even those by the same author/s) have been worth reading.
I also found this incredibly charming title from 1914 (apparently originally published in 1901), The Life of the Bee by Maurice Maeterlink at the ginormous used bookstore I venture to every few months. It is practically and scientifically spurious but chock full of loving and vivid descriptions of bees. Mr. Maeterlink clearly loved and was fascinated by bees and nature.
Why bees? A fair question. I use beeswax for all kinds of neat things around the house and such so I could certainly use that up ironically it's the honey I'm mostly concerned about. Like most of us in the good 'ol United States I've grown up on a diet with a lot of refined sugar and never really developed the same taste for honey. Don't get me wrong I *like* honey but I just don't consume much of it. I use it in tea and occasionally on toast but that's really about it. So I may need to either let the bees keep the vast majority of the honey (I don't necessarily see a problem with this particularly during the first year) or make pals with some farmer's market stall owner or some such. Although, honey has far more applications than just culinary, in addition to being the only food we eat that is made by insects it also never ever spoils. It crystallizes but you can heat it right up and it'll liquefy again. Not to mention it has antibacterial properties and was and is a wound and burn treatment. It's kind of astonishing stuff.
Whatever the case since I can't have a yard-taming goat and I don't trust my brains to be reliable enough to remember to feed and water something that is wholly dependent on me (unlike our two cats, who, as cats do, absolutely make sure they are fed watered and pampered appropriately) bees it is!
I also want to have poultry again (we had at various times in my childhood, ducks, turkeys, and chickens) but as that's a much greater investment of time and money (hard to leave your poultry for a long weekend without someone willing to check in on them etc.) I'm going for bees firstly.
Also bees are straight up fascinating.
Some of the books I've poured through in preparation are:
Beekeeping for Dummies
The Backyard Beekeeper
As well as countless posts on the invaluable site www.beesource.com and the incredibly valuable forum for the site.
Books I intend to read ASAP to round out my 'knowings' before I take the plunge, get a hive, and hopefully join the Pierce County Beekeeper's Association in order to learn more, order bees on the cheap and eventually (hopefully) rent the honey extractor owned by the organization and like, be an apiarist, are:
The Practical Beekeeper Vol. 1 Beginning Beekeeping Naturally (hopefully volumes 2 & 3 as well at some point)
Grit's Guide to Backyard Bees and Honey (I picked this up for a song in I think June, when the Mother Earth News Fair was at the local fairgrounds)
Beekeeping for All (I'm leaning toward a modified version of a Warre hive it's a bit like a Langstroth/Warre hybrid but want to see what I may be getting into first)
Better Beekeeping: The Ultimate Guide to Keeping Stronger Colonies and Healthier, More Productive Bees
I should note that a lot of these books have redundant information but so far each (Even those by the same author/s) have been worth reading.
I also found this incredibly charming title from 1914 (apparently originally published in 1901), The Life of the Bee by Maurice Maeterlink at the ginormous used bookstore I venture to every few months. It is practically and scientifically spurious but chock full of loving and vivid descriptions of bees. Mr. Maeterlink clearly loved and was fascinated by bees and nature.
Why bees? A fair question. I use beeswax for all kinds of neat things around the house and such so I could certainly use that up ironically it's the honey I'm mostly concerned about. Like most of us in the good 'ol United States I've grown up on a diet with a lot of refined sugar and never really developed the same taste for honey. Don't get me wrong I *like* honey but I just don't consume much of it. I use it in tea and occasionally on toast but that's really about it. So I may need to either let the bees keep the vast majority of the honey (I don't necessarily see a problem with this particularly during the first year) or make pals with some farmer's market stall owner or some such. Although, honey has far more applications than just culinary, in addition to being the only food we eat that is made by insects it also never ever spoils. It crystallizes but you can heat it right up and it'll liquefy again. Not to mention it has antibacterial properties and was and is a wound and burn treatment. It's kind of astonishing stuff.
Whatever the case since I can't have a yard-taming goat and I don't trust my brains to be reliable enough to remember to feed and water something that is wholly dependent on me (unlike our two cats, who, as cats do, absolutely make sure they are fed watered and pampered appropriately) bees it is!
