Extracts from my interviews with bee farmers about the main threats to their livelihood
Bee Farmers: What do you fear?
Making money, Honey
What’s my plan? Well, since you ask, I shall enlighten you. I am not a commercial beekeeper. The main reason for me keeping bees is that I enjoy getting out of the city into rural Cheshire so that I can be closer to nature and feel the passing of the seasons as they happen. Town…
Bee a Botanist!
This beekeeping malarky is not a simple matter of putting bees in a box and leaving them alone; far from it. A lot of work and cost, in both time and money, goes into ensuring that our bees are booming and healthy and productive. Always remember the saying, “If you look after your bees, they…
Lies, Damn Lies & Statistics
I recently read a ludicrous article on BBC News, “Can Listening to Bees help save them – and us?” which continues the campaign of mis-information about honey bees. I used to think that this type of report, of which there are many, was just lazy reporting but now I am beginning to suspect a deliberate…
Happy to be a Brit
As I write this, the bells of Big Ben are chiming across London Town as part of the Remembrance Day commemoration, which is particularly poignant this year as it was precisely 100 years ago that the World War One hostilities ended. What a grim war that was. They all are. The “War to end all…
What’s Your Plan? (You need one)
I am back from my Californian adventure, which involved spending time with Ray Olivarez of Olivarez Honey Bees and Randy Oliver who runs the popular scientific beekeeping website and writes in the American Bee Journal. I learned a lot and added to the great material that I want to pass on in my forthcoming book….
Shaken, not Stirred
I am sitting at my desk in a delightful room in the Kimpton Sawyer Hotel in Sacramento, contemplating how to spend my last full day here in California. Tomorrow will be all about getting home. I will check out at about 10 am local time on Sunday and, even if everything goes smoothly, I won’t…
The “Fall Four” by sassafrasbeefarm — Beekeeping365
Here’s a repost from last year. I find it timely especially for those new at keeping bees. ~sassafrasbeefarm I find myself digging ever deeper into the void of my beekeeping knowledge. It seems the more you think you know, the more you realize you don’t know enough. That said, I’m forced into at least assessing […]…
California Dreaming
My adventures in which I meet my beekeeping heroes began with a trip to Vermont in the USA, in July 2017, and next week my final two interviews will take place in sunny California. I am seeing Ray Olivarez of Olivarez Honey Bees in Orland then Randy Oliver in Grass Valley. I will be landing…
7 Lessons from Beekeepers
I have been lucky enough to meet, interview, hang out with and in some cases work with people who have kept bees for most of their lives, and who are at the top of their game. Surely even I, a humble walrus, can do nothing but benefit from such experience? Recently I have been reflecting…