Beekeeping Basics
The sweetest of all harvests goes to those folks who keep honeybees, and the time to prepare to undertake such a venture is now, including anatomy of a beehive, parts and members, how to learn more.
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[1] Bill McCullough, MOTHER's apiarist, blows smoke down the hole in a hive's inner lid before he...
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The sweetest of all harvests goes to those folks who keep
honeybees, and the time to prepare to undertake such a
venture is now. But first you should understand...
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The world of men is always uncertain, seldom inspiring,
often a source of discouragement and dismay. But the keeper
of bees, like anyone who has welded his life to the cycles
and patterns of nature, can always turn to his tiny
creatures and his craft ....
Even as a boy, driven by the passions and impulses that
make youth so tumultuous and blind and filled with folly, I
noted [the] serenity in beekeepers. From time to time I
would see one sitting out in his battered chair, basking in
the peace and sweetness of the setting . . . while around
him, in spring, the cherries bloomed and the bees hummed,
just as they had for a million springs gone by, and as they
will for more millions to come.
Richard Taylor
The Joys of Beekeeping
The picture of a serene individual calmly tending to the
"little golden folk" in his or her beehive presents a rare
and heartwarming example of how humans can sometimes work
in cooperation with the natural world. Yet although
experienced beekeepers may lyrically praise the
sweetness of both their labors and their harvests, most
people find the idea of actually caretaking a hive to be
quite intimidating.
Folks are often frightened by the mere thought of
tending to a colony of 30,000 to 80.000 stinger-laden and
venom-carrying flying insects. And individuals who do feel
inclined to learn this seemingly mysterious art find that
many beekeeping how-to guides plunge into such bewildering
barrages of complicated explanations that the books
actually add to the readers' muddle ment.
Well, in spite of the fact that bees do have stingers, that
many texts do seem—especially at
first —to be almost unintelligible, and that no
beginner can become an expert (and sagaciously serene)
beekeeper in a single honey season . . . it is quite
possible for an interested novice to learn to work bees and
harvest honey.
As long as there are nectar- and pollen-bearing flowers in
your area, you can become a hobbyist beekeeper and
successfully manage one or more hives to produce all the
fresh unadulterated honey you (and your friends!) can use.
This fact holds true even if you live in the middle of a
large city, as many urban beekeepers keep hives of
honeymakers on apartment house roofs or in attics! (Before
doing so, however, city dwellers should check their local
ordinances.)
This article, then, will introduce you to the
field of beekeeping. It won't pretend to reveal
all you need to know to undertake backyard
apiculture (much of that information can be had solely
through study and experience) . . . but it should give you
a feel for what's entailed in the endeavor and, perhaps, a
desire to try your hand at tending bees.
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