Description
Book SynopsisModern beekeeping, influenced by new technologies and breeding methods, has increased honey production but left bee colonies weak and vulnerable to disease. With the alarming decline of the bee population raising concerns about an impending ecological crisis, many beekeepers are seeking a more sustainable way of caring for bees.
Biodynamic Beekeeping is the first book to offer practical instruction on caring for bees using biodynamic theories and methods. By considering the influence of the movement of the stars and the planets on the bees' natural habits, biodynamics encourages beekeepers to be more in tune with their bees indicating, for example, the best days on which to inspect colonies or gather honey.
This fascinating book offers beekeepers detailed advice and instruction on how to work more holistically, including:
-- the challenges and advantages of breeding queen bees
-- how to artificially induce swarming to propagate colonies
-- how to use biodynamic ashing techniques to combat varroa mites
-- instructions for making winter-feed according to current biodynamic thinking
Trade Review'David Heaf has prepared this excellent and clear translation, enabling an English-reading audience to access for the first time this biodynamic approach, and translating into modern beekeeping practice Rudolf Steiners indications on the essential nature of the honey bee... Plenty of interesting ideas for the thinking beekeeper!'
-- Bees for Development Journal
'This book is ideal for the conventional beekeeper who wants to convert to biodynamic methods or for the biodynamic beekeeper who wants to learn more.'
--Cygnus
Table of ContentsForeword by David Heaf
1. The Start of the Bee Year
2. Caring for Bees According to Cosmic Rhythms
3. The First Spring Inspection
4. The Building Frame
5. The Urge to Swarm
6. Colony Regeneration and Propogation
7. Breeding Queen Bees
8. Honeycomb Construction
9. Honey
10. Feeding in Winter
11. Bee Diseases
12. Methods of Ash Usage
13. The Cultivation of Plants for Bees
14. The Conservation of Bees for the Future
Bibliography and Recommended Reading
Index
