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Books on Beekeeping, Honey Bees and Honey
| Holley Bishop loves bees. No, more than that: she idolizes them. She marvels at their native abilities and the momentous role these misunderstood and unjustly feared creatures have played in the development of human history. And with her book, Robbing the Bees, she succeeds in making the reader love bees, too. Take this nifty bit of information, one of countless fascinating factoids offered by Bishop in her celebration of all things bee-related: "Because of bees' starring role in the drama of pollination, we humans are indebted to them, directly and indirectly, for a third of our food supply. Bishop charts the evolution of honey and beeswax harvesting through the ages, gives us an up-close look inside working beehives from ancient Egypt to the present day, interviews beekeepers, quotes bee chroniclers past and present (from Charles Darwin to contemporary Florida beekeeper Donald Smiley), reveals her rather clumsy foray into beekeeping in candid detail, studies bees' impact on religion and history, and provides a selection of innovative recipes calling for honey. Through it all, Bishop never loses sight of the star if the show--the humble honey bee--or the crucial but largely unrewarded role they continue to play on our planet. And she does it with snappy prose and keen humor. | ||
This book isn't just a guide to beekeeping or a honey cookbook; it's both. No other book on the market provides an in-depth review of beekeeping and what honey is good for and how to use it. Beautifully illustrated, the Backyard Beekeeper is perfect for the health-conscious person who wants to sweeten up their life by saying no to processed sugars and yes to eating organic, healthy food. This book is the complete "honey bee" resource with general information on bees; a how-to guide to the art of bee keeping and how to set up, care for, and harvest your own hives; as well as tons of fun facts and projects that are bee related. The second half of the book is the complete guide to honey. It reviews the different types of honey and their health effects as well as provides hundreds of ideas and recipes for using honey in recipes, cosmetically in facemasks and shampoos, and for medicinal uses. About the Author: After receiving a degree in horticulture from UW Madison, Kim Flottum worked four years in the USDA Honey Bee Research Lab, studying pollination ecology. After that, he spent two years raising acres of fruits and vegetables, where bees played a large role. He brings this experience, plus nearly 20 years of writing and editing articles for beekeepers in the monthly magazine Bee Culture. He is the publisher of books on honeybee pests and diseases, marketing, queen production, beekeeping history, beginning beekeeping, and the classic industry reference, The ABC & XYZ of Bee Culture. |
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| This up-to-date electronic book on CD-ROM has comprehensive coverage of USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) research, publications and reports on every aspect of bees and honeybees, beekeeping, apiaries, Africanized honey bees (known as "killer" bees), and colony collapse disorder. It includes extensive material on CCD and known diseases such as foulbrood; chalkbrood; nosema disease; parasitic mites, tracheal mite, varroa destructor, and more. There is material from the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in Tucson, Arizona, the Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics, and Physiology Laboratory in Louisiana, and the Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland. There is material on the role of bees in the pollination of agricultural crops and the production of honey and beeswax, morphometrics, scanning electron microscope atlas, natural history of the queen, workers, and drone, and genome research. This extraordinary, encyclopedic collection contains more than 19,000 pages reproduced in Adobe Acrobat PDF files. Colony Collapse Disorder threatens not only pollination and honey production but, much more, this crisis threatens to wipe out production of crops dependent on bees for pollination. Pollination is responsible for $15 billion in added crop value, particularly for specialty crops such as almonds and other nuts, berries, fruits, and vegetables. If research cannot solve CCD, beekeepers will be unable to meet demand for almonds and other crops. CCD symptoms include the rapid loss of a bee colony's population with very few bees found near colonies, the laying queen present with few remaining attendant bees, and honey and pollen not consumed by invaders. | ||
| In this easy-to-follow guide, Howland Blackiston, one of the nation's most respected authorities on the subject, takes the mystery (and the sting) out of beekeeping. Taking a step-by-step approach to successful backyard beekeeping, he gets you up and running with all the information you need to: * Build a hive * Establish your first colony * Inspect your hives with confidence * Maintain healthy colonies * Deal with pests and fix common problems * Harvest and enjoy fresh homemade honey * Bottle and market your honey Howland Blackiston covers all the bases, from bee anatomy, society, and behavior, to identifying and healing common illnesses afflicting bees. He also offers inventive solutions to most common and many uncommon problems you're likely to run into | ||
The various chemicals used in beekeeping have, for the past decades, held Varroa Destructor, a mite, and other major pests at bay, but chemical-resistance is building and evolution threatens to overtake the best that laboratory chemists have to offer. In fact, there is evidence that chemical treatments are making the problem worse. Natural Beekeeping flips the script on traditional approaches by proposing a program of selective breeding and natural hive management. Conrad brings together the best organic and natural approaches to keeping honeybees healthy and productive here in one book. Readers will learn about nontoxic methods of controlling mites, eliminating American foulbrood disease (without the use of antibiotics), breeding strategies, and many other tips and techniques for maintaining healthy hives. Conrad’s reservoir of knowledge comes from years of experience and a far-flung community of fellow beekeepers who are all interested in ecologically sustainable apiculture. Specific concepts and detailed management techniques are covered in a matter-of-fact, easy to implement way. Natural Beekeeping describes opportunities for the seasoned professional to modify existing operations to improve the quality of hive products, increase profits, and eliminate the use of chemical treatments. Beginners will need no other book to guide them. Whether you are an experienced apiculturist looking for ideas to develop an Integrated Pest Management approach or someone who wants to sell honey at a premium price, this is the book you’ve been waiting for. |
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| A beekeeper for over 13 years, author Richard E. Bonney owns Charlemont Apiaries in Charlemont, Massachusetts. He has authored two books, Hive Management and Beekeeping, which reviewers such as The Speedy Bee have given much praise: "Delightfully readable...full of answers...written in a refreshing and authoritative way that demonstrates the depth of the author's experience... [Bonney provides] the kind of information one needs to understand beekeeping." The Library Journal has also complimented the book: "This useful book is crammed with helpful hints... [Bonney] discusses the 'hows' and, most important, the 'whys' of effective hive management." Richard is a beekeeping teacher at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. He was named the Massachusetts Extension Specialist-Apiculture in 1991 and writes regularly about beekeeping. | ||
| A Honey of a Tale!, August 29, 2004 Reviewer: Readers "Colleen and Gerhard" (Canada) The author's account of his career as a beekeeper will appeal to a wide variety of readers. It is a delightful blend of both humorous and sobering personal anecdotes and exhaustively-researched facts about honey. You can't help getting drawn into Ron's life and the diverse personalities he encountered across North America. His engaging writing style makes this book one you'll want all your friends to read. | ||
| From Book News, Inc. Details the inner workings of the honey bee colony, drawing on 15 years of experimental studies conducted by the author. Draws on the literature of biology, sociology, and operations research to explain hive organization, and compares the honey bee colony to other functionally organized groups such as multicellular organisms, colonies of marine invertebrates, and human societies. Includes b&w drawings and a few b&w photos. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or. | ||
| Diana Sammataro and Alphonse Avitabile have revised and expanded their clear and comprehensive guide to cover changes in beekeeping. They discuss the crisis created by the parasitic bee mites. In less than a decade, for example, Varroa mites have saturated the North American honeybee population with disastrous results, devastating both managed and wild populations. The new edition of The Beekeeper's Handbook covers mite detection and control as well as the selection and testing of bees that may have some tolerance to mites. Serves as a comprehensive well-illustrated introduction for beginners and a valuable reference for the experienced beekeeper. Outlines options for each operation within beekeeping, listing advantages and disadvantages of each alternative. Provides easy-to-follow directions and diagrams. Includes glossary and updated bibliography suggesting more detailed information on the topics discussed. | ||
| In her widely acclaimed A Country Year , Hubbell wrote about living on her 100-acre honey-producing farm in the Ozarks. Here she introduces us to the tasks and pleasures of beekeeping. Hubbell manages 300 hives, some on her own farm, others scattered about the countryside on land she rents for one gallon of honey a year. Beekeeping, we're shown, is a marvelous example of symbiosis, advantageous to humans, bees and crops. Noting that the end of one honey season is the start of the next, Hubbell begins with autumn when she checks the hives and prepares them for winter. She takes us, step by step, through the construction of a hive, explaining terms used by beekeepers. Spring brings re-queening if needed, and late summer, the harvest. Hubbell describes the collection and extraction of honeyhot, hard workto complete the season. Beekeeping has to be the apex of animal husbandry; it is a wondrous subject, and Hubbell does it justice. Portions of the book have appeared in the New Yorker . | ||
| There has been a recent spate of books on bees and honey, perhaps reflecting a growing interest in the origins of common foodstuffs. This new addition to the genre comes with a twist, as Buchmann is not only an amateur beekeeper but one of the foremost authorities on pollination and pollinators. Bees, as the world's foremost pollinators, are Buchmann's lifework and his obsession, and that blend of science and passion makes for a lively read as he looks at the intertwined lives of bees and humans. Humans around the world learned to keep bees in various forms of hives, and Buchmann examines the evolution of beekeeping and the yearly chores of the modern apiarist. Cooking with honey, sampling types of honey from around the world, and the medicinal value of honey and other bee products round out the text. Appendixes include a glossary and a list of resources, which, with a nice bibliography, complete what may be the single best book on bees for most libraries. | ||
| When we buy a bottle of honey, we don't give it much thought. We might give it more consideration, though, if we were bees; it requires nectar from a staggering 10 million flowers to produce one liter of honey! With droll narration and amazing up-close photography, Nova looks at the world inside the hive and the incredible array of instincts hard-wired into each bee. The hives are run like military operations, with guard bees at the hive's entrance, workers toiling away inside, more workers making the rounds for pollen, and drones impregnating the queen to ensure future generations. The documentary follows the life and times of a hive even as they give up one location and relocate (with bee engineers taking measurements to start construction of a new hive). As with many Nova segments, the nature photography in this documentary is nothing short of astonishing. David Ogden Stiers provides the narration. --Jerry Renshaw - Using specially developed camera lenses, NOVA brings you the most intimate--and most spectacular--portrayal of a working bee colony ever filmed. | ||
| Post-husband, pre-rest-of-life, Rosanne Daryl Thomas and her seven-year-old daughter move to a small New England town. When, on a whim, she decides to take up beekeeping, her daughter is so proud of her that she can't back out-no matter how bumbling and unprepared she is. Thomas learns much from the Bee Master and other locals intrigued by a novice woman beekeeper who needs their help-at first. As she finds her courage, Thomas also finds herself embracing a life she never dreamed of. Entering the mysterious world of bees, she begins a relationship with nature that mingles science with mythology, wonder with humility, and motherly devotion with a search for new ways of seeing and untried possibilities. She learns that beekeeping, like life, can never be mastered. There is always room to make another mistake, and with each mistake comes an opportunity. Along the way, she gets her share of stings, some honey-and, perhaps, a little bit wiser. With a novelist's eye for detail, and prose that intimately engages the reader, Rosanne Daryl Thomas opens the mysterious and seductive world of beekeeping to a whole new audience. (6 1/4 x 9 1/4, 240 pages) | ||
| The honeybee isn't native to the U.S., but it's hard to imagine the country without it. Like cattle, another imported species, the honeybee helped transform what European settlers saw as a vast wilderness into a land of milk and honey. First-time author Horn, who learned beekeeping from her grandfather, provides a wealth of worthy material about bees in America, from the use of the hive metaphor to justify colonization in the 1500s and 1600s, to bees' role in pollinating the prairies and orchards that we now take for granted. She discusses the attitudes of native peoples toward the insects; the beekeeping practices of African Americans, women and new immigrants; advances in beekeeping technology; the role of honey and beeswax in the U.S. economy; and the use of bee imagery in the arts. While Horn's affection for her subject is always evident, her efforts to tie beekeeping to every aspect of American life are sometimes strained-as when she writes that "because major social rifts [in the 1950s] were threatening to tear apart the 'good life,' this country's arts environment used the honey bee to negotiate difficult power struggles between races, between spouses, between political parties, between generations, [and] between legal rulings." Horn's thesis is better served without such overreaching and unconvincing claims. B&w illus. (Mar.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. | ||
| Nothing sweetens and satisfies like all-natural honey. In this delightful cookbook, Doris Mech, a professional beekeeper and purveyor of fine honey, shares 236 of her favorite recipes that use honey as the primary sweetner. Recipes include breakfast dishes, berads, salads and dressings, main dishse, vegetables, cakes, pies, cookies and other desserts. Among the recipes are: Banana Sunflower Seed Pancakes, Grandma's Little Honey Buns, Cranberry Honey Loaf, Herb-Glazed Teriyaki, Raspberry Honey Cake, Red White and Blueberry Pie, Granola Honey Drops, Sesame Honey Candy. Filled with time-tested advice on cooking (and canning) with honey, Joy with Honey is sure to have honey lovers buzzing! | ||
| It's almost unbelievable how much honey has been a part of our history. Edible honey was found in King Tut's tomb. Honey's anti-bacterial property makes it useful in preventing infections. Honey is predigested, making it healthier than other types of sugars. Local honey minimizes attacks of hay fever and allergies. The list goes on, and is covered in this wonderful new edition that focuses on the healthy aspect of honey and bee products (bee pollen, royal jelly, beeswax, and more). All the wit and wisdom of Lonik's Nature and Cooking series, plus over 200 award-winning recipes. | ||
| Bishop looks at bees from a personal angle; as a transplanted New Yorker, she wanted to try growing something on her Connecticut weekend--getaway farm. A neighbor introduced her to bees by way of his homegrown honey, and she was hooked. As part of the process of learning about honey and bees, she spent time with a commercial beekeeper in Florida. She also researched the role of honeybees over thousands of years and multiple cultures all over the world. Bishop's journalistic ear for local culture is put to good use in her descriptions of the fast pace of harvesting tupelo honey (an extremely time-dependent crop) in the Florida panhandle. Interspersed with these stories of professional beekeeping are looks at the history of honey and how various peoples have robbed bees of their produce, as well as the reminiscences of Bishop the novice beekeeper, the mistakes she made, and what these mistakes taught her about bees. | ||
| As Ellis points out, wherever bees are, whether jungle, tundra, or forest, they find nectar to turn into honey, honey that tastes of mint, or grapes, or oranges, depending on the flowers the bees have visited. Ellis, a columnist and food writer, has created a marvelous combination of natural history and social science as she explores the ways of bees, honey, and humans. The history of bees and flowers are inexorably intertwined--flowers need bees for pollination; bees need flowers for nectar. And as shown in Paleolithic art, humans have stolen honey from bees for millennia, and as early as the ancient Egyptians began to create homes for bees to encourage them to live nearby. Ellis follows the course of beekeeping, even visiting modern beekeepers on Manhattan rooftops. |
© 1995-2007 Albert W. Needham