Natural Beekeeping: Organic Approaches to Modern Apiculture

Natural Beekeeping by Ross Conrad is a valuable guide for both beginners who are interested in selling quality honey and seasoned professional beekeepers who want to develop an integrated pest management approach. The author proposes a program of selective breeding and natural hive management to fight Varroa destructor, a mite, and other major bee pests. Topics covered are non-toxic methods of controlling pests, eliminating American foulbrood disease without antibiotics, breeding strategies, and a host of other tips and techniques for keeping hives healthy.

Natural Beekeeping begins with a Forward written by Gary Paul Nabhan, the director of the Center for Sustainable Environments. From his experience with the Forgotten Pollinators Campaign, he concisely outlines the current problems in the honeybee population of North America and prepares the reader for Ross Conrad's environmentally friendly approach to solving these problems.

Natural Beekeeping is written in a clear, thoughtful manner. The author has provided numerous pictures or sketches to illustrate the text. For instance, under Hive Management there are illustrations of how to tie down hive covers for the winter to protect them from moisture and a chart giving the probable cause of bee deaths when examining dead bees and hives. The format includes large side margins for taking notes and small side summaries of main points. An index, glossary and list of sources for more information are included at the end of the book.

The author, Ross Conrad, learned apiculture from Charles Mraz, founder of Champlain Valley Apiaries in Vermont. Conrad has been the president of the Vermont Beekeepers Association and written many articles on organic farming. He owns Dancing Bee Gardens, a market-garden business, which supplies local Vermont stores with fruits, vegetables, and honey.

Soft cover; 275 pages.

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