Honeybees: Step 1 - Knowledge

I suppose "Knowledge" is really step 2. Step 1 is really "Desire." That said, I desire a lot of things. If I counted desire as step 1, I would be on step 1 for many things in my life. That's such a depressing outlook on life that I choose to discount it. If anyone disagrees with me, we can just call "Desire" step 0 and move on.

OK, so I know nothing about keeping bees. I don't know anyone who currently keeps or previously kept bees. I need knowledge and there are only 2 possible options. Option 1 is going to the source of beekeeping knowledge in my area. Specifically, I am referring to the RI Beekeepers Association. Like most beekeeping groups, they offer a bee school for beginning beekeepers. It's a viable option for most, but with a wife and kids, I don't feel like devoting hours of time to the classes.

Option 2 is my forte... Book learning. Somewhere in my boxes of books is a copy of The Backyard Beekeeper. Unfortunately, I have a severe lack of book shelves. As such, I have 12 file boxes of books stacked in a corner. Instead of trying to find it, I went to the bookstore and picked up a copy of Beekeeping for Dummies. It is straight forward and direct. It expresses one perspective of typical beekeeping with some alternate theories and ideas presented as well. Some of the information is dated even though it was revised in 2009.

The next source of information is the Internet. While the Internet has many facts, figures, parts, and pieces of information, there isn't a huge single point repository of information about individual subjects. I could search for a specific topic and find millions of entries, but most would be useless. That said, once I know a single good site, it is a short step to find other useful cross-linked sites. I started on the beesource.com forums. I found a few useful blog sites through the signature lines of posts. I found a totally different approach to beekeeping on Michael Bush's Bush Farms beekeeping site. He advocates for a natural course of actions.

I'm probably more of a nature, hands-off kind of person, but not to the extreme. I like my actions to be fact/cause driven. Most traditional approaches require a standard, unchanging routine. That's all well and good if you are a commercial beekeeper who can't afford to take many hive losses. As a backyard keeper, I have to luxury of screwing up. I really like the idea of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). In all my gardening, I follow an IPM approach, so beekeeping should be no different. If I run into a problem like a mite infestation, I will treat, but until then, I will just wait and see. Next time, I'll lay out my plan of action and the parts and pieces I have bought and the reasons.