The Benevolent Bee

"Get the buzz on bees, honey, hive behavior, and all the things you can make with bee products in The Benevolent Bee. A honeybee hive produces much more than honey; it also produces pollen, propolis, royal jelly, beeswax, and bee venom. And humans have found uses for all these products. The Benevolent Bee will describe how and why the bees make these products, how they've been used by humans throughout the ages, and how beekeepers harvest the products. It will also present simple do-it yourself recipes for using the products in health and wellness, body care, nutrition, and craft. Beekeeper, herbalist, and artist Stephanie Bruneau explores six amazing products of the honeybee hive--honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly, beeswax, and bee venom. Learn how to make a salve for burns and a cough syrup from raw honey; how to make a tincture, an infused oil, and a mouthwash from propolis, the anti-bacterial "bee glue" that lines the inside of the hive; and much more"--

A beekeeper and herbalist shares how you can use six products of the beehive: honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly, beeswax, and bee venom. Not all new beekeepers realize that a honeybee hive produces a lot more than just honey. While your hard-working ladies will produce delicious honey, the hive as a whole also produces pollen, propolis, royal jelly, beeswax, and bee venom; all very useful things for humans, if we know how to use them. The Benevolent Bee describes how and why the bees make these products, how they’ve been used by humans throughout the ages, and how beekeepers can harvest the products. It also presents simple do-it yourself recipes for using the products in health and wellness, body care, nutrition, and craft. You'll learn how to make salves for burns and a cough syrup from raw honey; how to make a tincture, an infused oil, and a mouthwash from propolis, the anti-bacterial “bee glue” that lines the inside of the hive; and much more. Get crafting now, it’s all already in your hive!

Common Sense Natural Beekeeping teaches aspiring as well as experienced beekeepers how to keep their bees healthy and productive without depending on unnatural chemical or human intervention.

The most joyful emanation produced by a colony of bees is known as the “song of increase”—declaring that the hive is flourishing and the bees are happy in its abundance. Song of Increase takes us inside the world of the honeybee to glean the wisdom of these fascinating creatures with whom humanity has shared a sacred bond for millennia. Within these pages is a bee-centric approach to living with honeybees, rather than advice for simply maximizing the products they provide. Jacqueline Freeman takes us beyond traditional beekeeping and offers a way to work in harmony with honeybees for both their good and ours. “Our way is one of kind observation,” she explains, “where we create supportive homes and fields for bees to live in, as well as tend the heartfelt relationships we form by being together.” Song of Increase focuses on hidden aspects of apiculture that lead us naturally to more sustainable practices. Freeman illuminates the unity consciousness that guides every action in the colony and how this profound awareness can influence the way we see both the natural world and ourselves. Each chapter presents a wealth of information about the life of bees, including Freeman’s personal insights and direct teachings received from the bees themselves.

Whether you are a novice looking to get started with bees, 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. Now revised and updated with new resources and including full-color photos throughout, Natural Beekeeping offers all the latest information in a book that has already proven invaluable for organic beekeepers. The new edition offers the same holistic, sensible alternative to conventional chemical practices with a program of natural hive management, but offers new sections on a wide range of subjects, including: The basics of bee biology and anatomy Urban beekeeping Identifying and working with queens Parasitic mite control Hive diseases Also, a completely new chapter on marketing provides valuable advice for anyone who intends to sell a wide range of hive products. Other chapters include: Hive Management Genetics and Breeding The Honey Harvest The Future of Organic Beekeeping Ross Conrad brings together the best “do no harm” strategies for keeping honeybees healthy and productive with nontoxic methods of controlling mites; eliminating American foulbrood disease without the use of antibiotics; selective breeding for naturally resistant bees; and many other detailed management techniques, which are covered in a thoughtful, matter-of-fact way.

Features information about bees, beeswax, and the modern rules of beekeeping with do-it-yourself tips for safe and fun beekeeping.

Eliza Naumann, a seemingly unremarkable nine-year-old, expects never to fit into her gifted family: her autodidact father, Saul, absorbed in his study of Jewish mysticism; her brother, Aaron, the vessel of his father's spiritual ambitions; and her brilliant but distant lawyer-mom, Miriam. But when Eliza sweeps her school and district spelling bees in quick succession, Saul takes it as a sign that she is destined for greatness. In this altered reality, Saul inducts her into his hallowed study and lavishes upon her the attention previously reserved for Aaron, who in his displacement embarks upon a lone quest for spiritual fulfillment. When Miriam's secret life triggers a familial explosion, it is Eliza who must order the chaos. Myla Goldberg's keen eye for detail brings Eliza's journey to three-dimensional life. As she rises from classroom obscurity to the blinding lights and outsized expectations of the National Bee, Eliza's small pains and large joys are finely wrought and deeply felt. Not merely a coming-of-age story, Goldberg's first novel delicately examines the unraveling fabric of one family. The outcome of this tale is as startling and unconventional as her prose, which wields its metaphors sharply and rings with maturity. The work of a lyrical and gifted storyteller, Bee Season marks the arrival of an extraordinarily talented new writer.

Seeley, a world authority on honey bees, sheds light on why wild honey bees are still thriving while those living in managed colonies are in crisis. Drawing on the latest science as well as insights from his own pioneering fieldwork, he describes in extraordinary detail how honey bees live in nature and shows how this differs significantly from their lives under the management of beekeepers. Seeley presents an entirely new approach to beekeeping--Darwinian Beekeeping--which enables honey bees to use the toolkit of survival skills their species has acquired over the past thirty million years, and to evolve solutions to the new challenges they face today. He shows beekeepers how to use the principles of natural selection to guide their practices, and he offers a new vision of how beekeeping can better align with the natural habits of honey bees.

Beekeeper's Lab includes 52 activities from around and about the hive including art projects, recipes, experiments, and garden activities.