Reviews for Natural Beekeeping: Organic Approaches to Modern Apiculture

The average rating for Natural Beekeeping: Organic Approaches to Modern Apiculture based on 2 reviews is 2 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-03-27 00:00:00 Klaus Meyer From the land of Vermont (home to Bill McKibben, Bernie Sanders, Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys, as well as the annual "Slow Living" event Strolling of the Heifers), comes Ross Conrad, beekeeper, columnist (for Bee Culture), and advocate for natural and organic beekeeping. His book is both a how-to book, and a rallying cry for pesticide-free, natural beekeeping. I've heard some beekeepers dismiss the book as a "waste of time;" indeed, one of Conrad's methods for pest control is to "let the hives die." (This will allow the bees to self-select for survivor stock, resistant to mites and diseases.) If you're building a sideline operation with a couple hundred hives, or if you simply don't want to be on the vanguard of natural selection, this approach may not be for you. If you want to know how to make a home-made mite trap, or how to make a nucleus colony (naturally), along with a short history of the Irish Potato Famine, it'll be right up your alley. Conrad depends on the notion that the bee knows best. There's a lot of "I don't know," and "maybe" in this book: will powdered sugar and brood comb methods work as a deterrent for varroa mite? Maybe. Will never re-queening be better in the long run? Could be. On the other hand, if Conrad's methods had been used over the past 100 years, would we even _have_ the scale of troubles with, say tracheal mites and super-bacteria that we have today? Probably not. Would we be feeding bees High Fructose Corn Syrup instead of honey, or limiting biodiversity with mass-market breeding programs for queens? Likely, no. It just depends on which side of the "possible" you want to be. Backyard beekeepers and naturalists are leading the changes in beekeeping: creating less environmentally destructive practices, introducing local queens and hardier bee stock, and supporting a more local agriculture. Can it succeed? Well, no, we don't know… but we DO know that the industrial agricultural methods are not sustainable. Maybe letting hives die out, risking the very existence of the bee, is the path to population growth. Conrad waxes philosophical (not to mention idealistic): "If we no longer want to live in a world based on fear, lies, greed, and violence, and instead want to create a world where love, truth, peace and compassion prevail, we must start with ourselves." In other words, if we want a healthy human hive, we need to change our behavior. If we want a healthy agricultural industry, we need to change our approach to each hive. Experienced beekeepers probably won't find a lot of new information here. New beekeepers might find it too detailed, or detailed in the wrong places. Most of the beekeeping information is available on the web in more detail and more recent publication. Conrad's philosophy is elaborated better by naturalists going back to Rudolf Steiner, and more emphatically by folks like PJ Chandler (the "Barefoot Beekeeper") and other top-bar hive enthusiasts. This is, nevertheless, a central book in the literature, and along with his ongoing writing, Conrad makes a valid case. One of the nation's well-known beekeepers, he runs a successful apiary and honey production business (Dancing Bee Gardens). He's clearly doing something right. For new and intermediate beekeepers interested in this holistic approach to beekeeping, Natural Beekeeping is an encouraging and informative contribution to the topic. * WHY I READ THIS BOOK: I've used this book as a reference for my first couple years of beekeeping, after reading Conrad's columns in Bee Culture. Having probably read most of the book two or three times in various sequences, I thought it might be a good idea to read it start to finish. I should also add a note about the rating of this book, especially since I just finished my review of Kim Flottum's "Backyard Beekeeper" and rated that one higher. Did I personally like "Natural Beekeeping"? Yes. Did I find it helpful and inspiring? Yes. Did I like it MORE than the "Backyard Beekeeper?" Yes. On the other hand, Conrad didn't fulfill his mission as well as Flottum. Thus the ding on the rating.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-07-10 00:00:00 Bethany Walker Everything that makes hippie granola type nonsense unappealing to me is present in this most disappointing beekeeping book. Mr. Conrad drones on unmercifully about the connection with a hive that can be gained by not wearing a gloves or a veil. Fine. But the useful information is sparse and poorly organized. Imagine a concise beekeeping book put in a blender with a copy of Robinson Crusoe and a Sierra Club calendar. Now lower your expectations.