Start to read and write...

Hello readers,

Almost a month has passed before I came back to my blog.  Yes the holiday season was part of the reason it has been so long, but I could have been here sooner if I really wanted to.
I have been procrastinating... 

Weather Report:

This year hasn't been much of a winter at all...  Most of the beehives in Belgium have shown activity and mine are no exception!  Temperatures haven't been what you'd expect and there is a lot of concern there will be a great deal of losses.
So far I am pretty sure I lost one of my 6-framers and maybe 2 bigger colonies...  I hope that number will not rise any further since it's a long way till march...

As the weather report includes a short status on my hives I'll not do a hive report today.

Read and Write:

A new section I'd like to introduce in here, more to make me read all the papers, articles, magazines and what not I have collected over the two years of becoming a beekeeper than anything else.  But also a bit to see what I have collected and to summarise what is in there and how I feel or think about the subjects.

Today I'll start with an introduction to natural beekeeping by Phill Chandler, a 6 page long PDF that can be found on his website: http://www.biobees.com/

An introduction to natural beekeeping by Phil Chandler author of The Barefoot Beekeeper - an impression

The document tries to describe what natural beekeeping actually is for the author and creates a methodology to develop and renew the relationship we have as (natural) beekeepers with the bees.

It starts of by asking what Natural Beekeeping actually is and starts the answer with the focus of beekeeping.  In natural beekeeping that focus is on the bees and their well being rather than on the harvesting of a honey crop.  Putting this first he continues with asking questions with the housing we use for bees;  The so widely spread Langstroth-type boxes all have their focus on honey production, so is this type of beehive suited from the bees perspective?

The second topic states that bee-centric beekeeping is putting a stop to put chemicals in a beehive, as most consumers of honey aren't even aware that this takes place.  The comparison is made between factory farming and beekeeping (with honey as a main goal).  Added to the chemicals is the process that honey goes through on a commercial level, centrifuging, heating, filtering, ... all reducing the nutritional and healing value we as natural beekeepers love.

The use of chemicals is replaced by providing a more profitable environment for the bees.

A third topic points out that the term 'natural' is in fact a paradox, since there is nothing natural in keeping bees in a box.  This topic also wants to provide a short comparison between the 'conventional' and 'natural' way of beekeeping and gives this summary:

Natural beekeeping takes into account:

• the natural impulses and behaviour of bees (foraging, swarming, storing food, defending the nest, ...)
• the way the hive affects the bees
• the materials of said hive
• the amount of intrusions in a bee colony
• the local impact of the amount of bees present (to other pollinators)
• the balance between harvest and the needs of the bees
• the nature of any added input (feeding, medication, ...)

This summary is the basis of all following topics with the explanations where natural beekeeping and conventional beekeeping have their differences.  The most beautiful topic in these series for me is how we limit the interventions in a hive and use our senses rather than tearing the hive apart to see what's going on.  The most sad topic is the truth that 'professional bodies' advocate the use of 'treatments' and say you can't do without.  The more lengthy topic is built around sustainability.

3 principles for natural beekeeping are laid down, also to be found in his book 'The Barefoot Beekeeper': 

1. Interference in the natural lives of bees is kept to a minimum.
2. Nothing is put into the hive that is known to be, or likely to be harmful either to the bees, us or to the wider environment and nothing is taken out that the bees cannot afford to lose.
3. The bees know what they are doing: our job is to listen to them and provide the optimum conditions for their well-being, both inside and outside the hive.

It's almost as if I hear myself setup a guideline for my beekeeping:

1. Don't open a hive unless you have a clear purpose.
2. Don't use treatments in the hive, rather provide the resources in plants, water, soil, ... in the environment so the bees can collect what they want, or leave it alone as they see fit.
3. Only take what the bees have in surplus

Slightly different put, but all in all the same.

After summing these things up he warns for the danger in having rules and is in favour of a flexible learning system that is always improving itself.

As a whole we as humans need to change the way we interact with nature, mainly where production of food is concerned, but all in all, every one person that contributes is one that can bee seen by others and serve as an inspiration.

To end I would like to quote a single sentence : "Such is nature: Bees depend on honey for their survival; we do not."

I can only say that Phil Chandler is one of my inspiration sources and I greatly recommend you read, watch and listen as much as possible to the content he has put out there in books, a website, a blog, YouTube, a podcast and what not...

For me, that is all for today.

Bob Out