Overview

In backyards and on rooftops all over the world, the top-bar hive design is revolutionizing the art and practice of beekeeping. With top-bar hives the bees naturally construct their own wax combs rather than relying on prefabricated frames of plastic cell foundation in a typical box-type hive. And top-bar hives are now being used to raise healthy bees organically, without the use of antibiotics, miticides, or other chemical inputs. In this instructive video, New Mexico beekeeper Les Crowder shares his thirty years' experience in developing best practices for working with bees in top-bar hives. Les and Heather Harrell, authors of Top-Bar Beekeeping (Chelsea Green, 2012) discuss everything from hive management techniques to how to harvest and process honey and beeswax to the best plants to grow for the foraging bees. The natural, low-stress methods outlined in this video are perfect for home or hobbyist beekeepers who have the time and interest that's necessary to manage bees intensively and holistically. The material will also be valuable for home orchardists, gardeners, and permaculture practitioners who are interested in bees as pollinators, as well as for their honey and beeswax.

Full Product Details

9781603584807

Table of Contents

Reviews

Library Journal- Top-Bar Beekeeping shares New Mexico beekeeper Crowder's best practices gleaned from 30 years' experience working organically with top-bar hives, the one-story frameless hives in which bees build combs downward from horizontal wooden bars at the top of the structure. Top-bar hives are a less expensive way to get started in beekeeping. The video shows methods for establishing bees in such hives, managing bees and combs, and harvesting honey and wax, plus natural methods of pest control and planting forage crops for healthy bees. VERDICT These two outstanding videos for those interested in exploring beekeeping were inspired by same-titled print works by the beekeepers and are highly recommended for general audiences. (reviewed with Natural Beekeeping)

Author Information

Les Crowder has devoted his entire adult life to the study and care of honeybees. Dedicated to finding organic and natural solutions for problems commonly treated with chemicals, he designed his own top-bar hives and set about discovering how to treat disease and genetic weaknesses through plant medicine and selective breeding. He has been a leader in his community, having served as New Mexico's honeybee inspector and president of the New Mexico Beekeepers Association. He is an avid storyteller and has spoken annually at the NM Organic Farm Conference for over fifteen years. Les is also a certified teacher and enjoys teaching children Spanish and science. Heather Harrell moved to New Mexico in 1996 from her home state of Vermont to pursue her masters degree in Eastern Classics, having long had an interest in the art of meditation and yoga and a yearning to pursue a career in academia. Her love of nature soon had her pursuing a life as an organic farmer, focusing on flowers, then medicinal herbs. Over time, and through her work with honeybees, she has moved her focus to the study of multi-use permaculture plantings, which support a diverse network of interrelationships in the natural world. Along with a wide variety of vegetables, she grows medicinal herbs, which offer nectar and pollen to pollinator species. She is very interested in how soil biology is affected by using biodynamic methods of planting, and is currently studying compost teas incorporating various types of manures and plant materials.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available