You know, I’ve been thinking. I think I’d better stick with beekeepers who share my newly emerging philosophy of natural beekeeping: chemical-free hives, foundationless frames, small-cell comb, etc.
Then again, if I don’t work with beekeepers who subscribe to other philosophies, how can I hope to spread what I’m learning about natural beekeeping? I don’t want to come off as an elitist know-it-all. And I’m sure I can learn a lot from experienced beekeepers of all philosophies.
But this fellow I mentioned in an earlier post greeted me by immediately telling me all about the chemicals with which to treat the hives at what time of the year. That’s not at all the way I want to go. It doesn’t sound like fun. I want keeping bees to be a fun and innovative and creative and aesthetically pleasing lifestyle.
That has to be tough decision to make. I’m not sure what I would do in that situation. I’m going the natural approach too. It’s something I try to incorporate into my daily lifestyle (gardening, soap making, natural skin care products, etc,) So it makes sense to carry on that same philosophy with my future bees. :)
Nyomomma (I laugh each time I say “Nyomomma”!)…I’m sure you’re reading Michael Bush’s wonderful website. If not, I highly highly recommend it. I also highly highly recommend beginning your beekeeping life exactly as he suggests here: http://www.bushfarms.com/beesnewbees.htm#easythings
Hee Hee… yeah the name made me laugh after I checked it out. It makes me think of the baby from the tv series. The Dinosaurs He would say, “Not the Mama!” “Not the Mama!”
Yes, I’ve been going through Micheal Bush’s website. Interestingly enough he’s a member of the yahoogroup Organic Beekeepers.
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Organicbeekeepers/ I recently joined that website, there’s so much information there.
Thanks to the Organic Beekeeper user group I stumbled across a local beekeeper who’s raising his bees organically. If you haven’t checked out his website you should, he has a beekeeping podcast and has had some amazing guests. http://somdbeekeeper.com/