Sustainable beekeeping, chickens, and baking
I guess when most people consider keeping bees for other-than-honey purposes, it's the connection with pollination and plants that springs to mind. This is a really powerful aspect of regenerative beekeeping, helping us to evaluate what is flowering and where, and when, and whether or not the bees regard it as a favourable source of … Continue reading Regenerative Beekeeping: Forage
I last went to see these bees in August last year (read about them here) and I was really hopeful that they'd made it through the winter. The landowner had said she hadn't seen much activity, and the cold snap we had a week or so ago had doomed a few colonies I know, so … Continue reading Spring Check of the Selmeston Bees
I've had a fascination with hedges for many years, and feel profound dismay at the sight and sound of the annual flailfest along the roads and lanes here in Sussex. I still have my "The History of the Countryside" by Oliver Rackham which was a course textbook for my Agriculture and the Environment degree at … Continue reading Regenerative Beekeeping: Hedges
Wax is produced by bees to create their home. The external walls of the cavity they occupy (be that hive, tree, chimney) will have been assessed for suitability by the scout bees before moving in, and as the combs will form an essential part of the bees' "body", it is equally essential that the cavity … Continue reading Regenerative Beekeeping: Wax
Ok, shameless plug here. When Lockdown started way back in March last year, I had to cancel all my courses and workshops, and my usual mentoring visits were suddenly compromised, as in spite of completely justifiable "essential journey to tend to livestock" it was still a journey. In addition to my reluctance to increase my … Continue reading It’s been a year!
I love a bit of synergy. I read a blogpost from George Young, aka Farmer George about gene editing. This phrase (it's an excellent post: do please take a look) is particularly resonant with me: Of course, he continues to highlight the numerous ways that nature actually has everything it needs and more to keep … Continue reading Bees, Chickens, and Worms
Those of you who have been following my blog for any length of time will know that I am a champion of small-scale, observational, hands-off beekeeping. But as my background is in agriculture and ecology, I am primarily concerned with how honey bees work and impact the wider environment, hence my interest in both keeping … Continue reading Sustainable Beefarming
Bee colonies require a number of elements in their favour to overwinter successfully, and despite the go-to solution of copious feeding, this is only one part of what gives honey bees the gumption to get through the cold damp winter. The colony below has been in this hive for 5-6 years and the combs have … Continue reading Dismantling a Winter Loss
This post looks at how honey bee hives can be used for purposes beyond the obvious honey production, particularly with respect to farmers and growers using regenerative principles to help heal the land. We observe the natural behaviour of the bees in and around their hive and use this data to evaluate the landscape, and … Continue reading Regenerative Beekeeping: Pollen
This is the big, necessary and progressive brother of sustainable beekeeping, and to me, represents a crystallisation of what I have learned through observing both my own bees and other colonies in all manner of hives and situations. So, how can beekeeping *improve* the environment where we run our hives? Agriculture, development, and a myriad … Continue reading Regenerative Beekeeping