Greetings! I have been meaning to drop you a note for some time, mostly to say thanks for your blog, and partly to give an electronic version of that knowing beekeeper-to-beekeeper nod.
Mind you, I'm a complete amateur. I took a 'beeginner' beekeeping course a few weeks ago, and have prior and since spent time at various hives. An uncle of mine has kept bees in Manitoba for decades, and for two weeks this summer I will be there, sort of apprenticing. Got my bee suit and everything (it's embarrassingly crisp-white). A couple summers ago, I got to help him introduce queens he had reared, into 7 rather testy hives. Fascinating work, through-and-through; hopefully, my future mainstay.
I'm especially pleased in seeing a resurgence in interest about beekeeping, of which I am part, and the push to bring honey bees into the city in a meaningful, permanent way. I'm involved in a community garden network that is linking up with an urban farming group, both partly city-funded, which seems to create opportunity to set up with not only bees but also chickens and other animals adjacent to community gardens... an excellent vision, by my account!
Meantime, I'm sure glad we have this here Internet to connect like-with-like. Not that borders count for too much, but speaking as a Canadian I have been very interested to learn about the shifts happening in the United States, in these times; it's so familiar, and yet seems to come from an even more urgent place. If that's at all accurate, then we are people 'on the ground' learning anew through observation. Sure glad/lucky the bees seem willing to work with us as we (re)learn.
We're a group of organic, treatment-free beekeepers in Los Angeles, with branches now forming in other cities.
We're "Backwards" because we rely on observation and natural practices to keep our bees thriving rather than pesticides, chemicals, or treatments of any kind.
Want to know more? Look in the "key posts" section just below.
