Not everything in beekeeping fits neatly into a management category. This section is for the wider conversation: interviews with beekeepers whose experience and methods are worth hearing about, reflections on the culture and contradictions of the beekeeping world, and the occasional long look at where the craft is heading and why. It includes pieces on how beekeeping advice is made and how to evaluate it critically — a recurring theme here, given how quickly new ideas can sweep through the community without much scrutiny.
If you want to understand the thinking behind the practical posts elsewhere on this site, this is a good place to look. Beekeeping is more interesting when you engage with the ideas and the arguments, not just the techniques. There are plenty of places online to find out how to do things; this category is more concerned with why.
I am recovering from a mild bout of walrus flu, which is a bit like man flu but heavier. I still ache like I’m 80, but today the sun is shining and life is for living, so what to do? I decided to wash my cars. This is therapy for me. Yes, I’m weird, but … Read more
I recently had my 54th birthday, which was a pleasant affair spent with family doing what walruses do best, eating and basking. Well, actually we ate tapas then laid about watching Guardians of the Galaxy 2, which is like basking but without the sun. I don’t know how Marvel Studios did it, but I reckon … Read more
I used to be a “striver”. I was always striving for something. It never really felt that great, all that striving; it felt like I was running on one of those airport conveyor belt walkways but going the wrong way, against the tide so to speak. Everybody else seemed to have a plan. They knew … Read more
Vermont based honey farmer and honeybee queen breeder Mike Palmer is a kind, patient and extremely knowledgeable chap. When I asked him what I could bring from the UK on my recent visit to meet him he asked for heather comb honey. Comb honey is what people who really like honey eat, because it is … Read more
I shouldn’t be surprised by this; trying to interview busy beekeepers in the middle of the beekeeping season is almost impossible. It would appear to be an activity best reserved for the winter months, when our buzzing little friends are tightly clustered in their hives, no doubt dreaming of the day it will stop raining. … Read more
I live beside a main road in South Manchester and, despite high panelled fences and a monstous privet hedge, I am very aware of the presence of neighbours on all sides. I like them. Neighbours I mean. They all seem to have small children whereas mine are adults now. Perhaps I am meant to have moved away, to the place where older people go, but for now I’m standing my ground…
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