We have a small farm in south-central Kansas that has a variety of fruit trees. Two years ago, I took a beekeeping class and moved some hives to the farm for pollination and for the honey. The following year, we had an abundance of apples, and their size had nearly doubled!
I also built an observation beehive that hangs on the outside of the sun porch, where in the morning I drink coffee and watch the bees working. My grandchildren like to try to find the queen bee.
Roy Holder
Cheney, Kansas
Suggested Video
Suggested Podcast
Best Beekeeping Practices
Join Mother Earth News and Friends and Tara Dawn Chapman, who launched Two Hives Honey by running hive tours for meetup groups on two neighborhood hives in Texas and is evolved in a socially conscious business that aims to educate her community, support local businesses, and offer some of the most excellent honey Texas bees can make.
Best Vegetables for Canning, Dehydrating, and More
Learn how you can preserve your harvest, including best vegetables for canning, how to can fruits and vegetables, canning equipment, and more.
How to Be a Natural Beekeeper
Leo Sharashkin shares natural beekeeping techniques, capturing local, wild honeybee swarms, using horizontal hives, natural beekeeping benefits.
Related Content
Productive Backyard Perennials
Find tips from readers for backyard perennials, indoor gardens for kids, repurposed gift wrap, and upcycled seed starting containers.
Easy Bierocks: Kansas Traditional Recipe
As Kansas as Wheat, Sunflowers, and Dorothy
How to Capture Wild Bees, Take 2
The Editorial Director of MOTHER EARTH NEWS updates readers on his baited bee swarm traps that attract wild honeybees.
