For all the beekeepers and future beekeepers out there, this one is for you.
The benefits of bees are numerous: honey, beeswax and let’s not forget pollination. Raising honey bees increases pollination of flowering plants and honey bees are the heroes of pollination efforts for modern agriculture.
Anyone can master the skills necessary to be a good beekeeper. Your journey to successful beekeeping begins with preparation. We’ve compiled some of our favorite bee articles to help you get started with your bee colony, no matter where you live!
Beekeeping has been on the rise in recent years, and Ross Conrad’s book Natural Beekeeping has become a must read for enterprising apiculturalists who want to learn how to care for bees holistically and organically.
For all the beekeepers and future beekeepers out there, this one is for you! Your journey to successful beekeeping begins with constructing a suitable haven for honeybees, otherwise known as the bee hive.
Spring is here and I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to get started on all of the projects I mapped out during the cold winter months – including trying my hand at incorporating bees into my homesteading adventure! As a new-bee (get it?!), I need help to get started so I did a little rummaging through the CGP archives and stumbled upon some great insight from Deirdre Heekin. Happy beekeeping, ya’ll!
To a beekeeper, thousands of bees concentrated in one area isn’t a nightmare–it’s an opportunity to help the bees find a new home safely when necessary. However, not all beekeepers began their career being fans of bees. It takes a lot of time and patience to gather up the nerve to walk directly into a swarm and handle relocating these buzzing insects.
In recent years beekeepers have had to face tremendous challenges, from pests such as varroa and tracheal mites and from the mysterious but even more devastating phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Yet in backyards and on rooftops all over the world, bees are being raised successfully, even without antibiotics, miticides, or other chemical inputs. More and more organically minded beekeepers are now using top-bar hives, in which the shape of the interior resembles a hollow log.
Top-Bar Beekeeping author Les Crowder gives a hands-on workshop in the field, focusing on how to manage bees naturally using the innovative top-bar hive system.
Cows are the gold standard for milk production. They are the ultimate heroes of sustainable living! Explore the benefits of having a cow on your farm or homestead.
Thinking about building a greenhouse but worried about an uneven or sloped yard? Building a greenhouse on a slope offers a bonus: the ability to use gravity to harvest rainwater. Embrace the natural landscape and get ready to grow your garden dreams!
Ready to transform your gardening game? Revolutionize your gardening with permanent beds! They help improve soil health, ensure crop growth, and are extremely easy to design, even for beginners!
Invasive garlic mustard gets a bad rep, but did you know it’s edible from root to leaf? Garlic mustard can be consumed in its entirety and has great nutritional value. Plus, the flavor adds a punch of flavor to any dish!
