3 minute read
Bookshelf
Buy these titles at www.beesfordevelopment.org/catalog or at our shop in Monmouth, UK
Natural beekeeping - organic approaches to modern apiculture
Ross Conrad 2013 revised and expanded edition 285 pages £26.50 (US$40; €31) C300
A wonderful, thoughtful and original book. Ross Conrad is motivated by the wider organic principles of fairness, and with great regard to our common environment, has proved that it is possible to keep honey bees in the USA without relying on synthetic chemical compounds. The original, practical information given in this text arrives directly from Ross Conrads’s own experience of running an organic apiary in Vermont. A very valuable guide to natural beekeeping, full of reference for bees, and excellent practical and feasible advice for beekeepers.
See our online store for the new DVD of a workshop by Conrad presenting his comprehensive survey of natural hive management (running time 3 hours 13 minutes) price £19 (US$27; €20) VID50
Keep bees without fuss or chemicals
Joe Bleasdale 2012 54 pages £7 (US$11; €8) B300
A modest but excellent book written for people who would like to keep bees but think they have insufficient time and resources to do so. Joe Bleasdale describes a natural and simple approach to beekeeping that can be summarised: allow bees to swarm, do not treat the colony with chemicals, and open the hive only when necessary. This short book describes simply the essential operations that a beekeeper needs to know: an encouraging guide for any beginner beekeeper. It is written primarily for a UK readership, but is widely applicable.
Natural beekeeping with the Warré hive
David Heaf 2013 105 pages £15 (US$23; €18) H810
Another excellent book encouraging the keeping of bees in a more natural way than has been practised in conventional beekeeping during the past century or so. The French priest Abbé Emile Warré (1867-1951) invented The People’s Hive, and this is now enjoying a resurgence in popularity, used increasingly by thoughtful beekeepers around the world.
This new book provides all the information needed to build Warré’s The People’s Hive and to obtain and keep bees in it successfully and naturally. Very highly recommended.
Bees and wasps
James Maclaine 2013 32 pages Hardback £5.99 (US$10; €7) M300
An Usbourne beginners book designed to introduce children to the world of bees and wasps: the differences between species, life cycles, pollination, solitary and colony life, communication, honey production and nest building are explained with plenty of photographs and a very easy to read text.
Beekeeping training for farmers in the Himalayas
Min Bahadur Gurung, Uma Partap Nabin C T D Shrestha, Harish K Sharma, Nurul Islam and Nar Bahadur Tamang
2012 178 pages
This training manual and curriculum relates to frame hive beekeeping in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region. A wide range of stakeholders, trainers, government organisations, NGOs, associations and entrepreneurs were engaged in the identification of curriculum needs and in development and testing of this curriculum. The manual covers the full range of beekeepingrelated topics, including the use of bees for crop pollination; production of honey, wax and other hive products; honey quality standards; and using value chain and market management to increase benefits for beekeepers. Also included is information on indigenous honey bees, gender and equity, integrated pest management, and bee-related policy. The focus is on participatory, hands-on training, with clear explanations and many illustrations.
Available on line at www.icimod.org/publications
Thanks to ICIMOD printed copies are available for distribution with BfD resource boxes to recipients in Asia.
On DVD
Top-bar beekeeping – organic practices for honeybee health
Les Crowder and Heather Harrell (50 minutes) £11 (US$29; €18) VID51
The excellent book was reviewed in BfDJ 105. Now the DVD is available in which Les Crowder shares his 30 years’ experience of working with bees in top-bar hives with a low-stress approach and no chemical inputs.
