Bookshelf

DR SARA’S HONEY POTIONS

Sara Robb

2009 122 pages £12 (€18) Code: R450

Sara Robb is an expert soap maker who has developed a thriving business in the UK based on toiletries - soap, bath bombs, bubble bath, creams and lip balms, made from her own recipes. In this new book she sharesmethods and recipes for making products containing honey and beeswax.

Everything is explained in a clear way. The scientific explanations and methods given are very well written, particularly concerning soap making, with useful appendices for calculating recipes correctly according to the oil being used. Not all ingredients will be available everywhere, but everyone will be able to source some of those listed. The production of cosmetics and toiletries is one of the best ways for beekeepers and their families to add significant value to honey and beeswax. A new and excellent resource of recipes for modern, appealing products. Very highly recommended.

QUEEN BEE - BIOLOGY, REARING AND BREEDING

David Woodward

2009 138 pages £21 (€31.50) Code: W700

Everything that a beekeeper keeping Apis mellifera bees of European origin needs to know about rearing queens. Queen bee biology is clearly explained, as is queen rearing in frame hives, either with or without grafting (the transfer of larvae from normal brood cells into queen cell cups, using a grafting tool). Day-by-day instructions make the process clear and understandable. All necessary additional information is provided, such as bees’ need for good nutrition and how to capture and transport queens. Bee breeding is a complex field and the information given here is the right amount to inform, yet not overwhelm, with methods given for defining selection criteria, and implementing a programme. Instrumental insemination of bees is described: rationale, equipment and methodology.

Starting with the cover’s great picture of queen and workers, this clear text is well illustrated and provides a useful guide for beekeepers.

HONEY IN MODERN WOUND MANAGEMENT

edited by Rose Cooper, Peter Molan and Richard White

2009 216 pages £29.95 (€45) Code: C900

This scholarly looking and written series of articles is a welcome point of discussion for this subject. The medicinal and culinary uses of honey have been well known for millennia. There is much current debate about the anti-micro-organism properties of honey and this book provides current evidence to support these claims. It is noteworthy, as stated in this book, that there have been 16 randomised control trials, published in the past five years alone, showing that chronic wounds were healed after honey treatment. The book goes into a good amount of detail with each chapter having a comprehensive list of references. The diverse set of topics, from obvious areas like ‘Why honey works’ to more unknown ones like ‘Honey and radiotherapy damaged tissue’ make this book a comprehensive guide to honey and modern wound | management. believe that the editors have got right, and this book does, indeed, do as it says “on the tin”!

Reviewed by Dr Ronald Pritchard

THE BAREFOOT BEEKEEPER

Phil J Chandler

2009 (3rd edition) 110 pages £13 (€19.50) Code C440

A refreshing new look at beekeeping in the 21st century, advocating simplicity in methods and making beekeeping accessible to everyone. The author proposes that by placing the needs of the honey bee colony first, and our own needs second, we can dispense with complicated and expensive equipment, and maintain healthy bees with minimal use of chemicals and medicines. Not a rule book, the proposed approach is based on a set of principles which broadly advocate allowing the bees to live as naturally as possible, with minimum interference — even if this means less honey for the beekeeper. The horizontal top-bar hive is introduced with good explanations of how it works and also the benefits of allowing bees to make their own comb. The author does not suggest we neglect bees: rather that we learn to listen to them. Extremely readable, the book is ideal for bee enthusiasts who aim to help conserve the honey bee, and harvest some honey as an added benefit. One fault, no page numbers!