Quick Look
- The first book to offer practical instructions on caring for bees using biodynamic theories and methods
- Helps beekeepers to be more in tune with their bees by indicating, for example, the best days on which to inspect colonies or gather honey
- Offers detailed advice and instruction for beekeepers on how to work more holistically, including how to use biodynamic ashing techniques to combat varroa mites
- Written by biodynamic expert Matthias Thun, who has kept bees for over 50 years
A unique book offering detailed advice on how to care for bees in a more sustainable way by using biodynamic theories and methods. Written by an experienced beekeeper and biodynamic expert.
Description
Modern beekeeping, influenced by new technologies and breeding methods, has increased honey production but left bee colonies weak and vulnerable to disease. With the alarming decline of the bee population raising concerns about an impending ecological crisis, many beekeepers are seeking a more sustainable way of caring for bees.
Biodynamic Beekeeping is the first book to offer practical instruction on caring for bees using biodynamic theories and methods. By considering the influence of the movement of the stars and the planets on the bees' natural habits, biodynamics encourages beekeepers to be more in tune with their bees indicating, for example, the best days on which to inspect colonies or gather honey.
This fascinating book offers beekeepers detailed advice and instruction on how to work more holistically, including:
-- the challenges and advantages of breeding queen bees
-- how to artificially induce swarming to propagate colonies
-- how to use biodynamic ashing techniques to combat varroa mites
-- instructions for making winter-feed according to current biodynamic thinking
Table of Contents
Foreword by David Heaf
1. The Start of the Bee Year
2. Caring for Bees According to Cosmic Rhythms
3. The First Spring Inspection
4. The Building Frame
5. The Urge to Swarm
6. Colony Regeneration and Propogation
7. Breeding Queen Bees
8. Honeycomb Construction
9. Honey
10. Feeding in Winter
11. Bee Diseases
12. Methods of Ash Usage
13. The Cultivation of Plants for Bees
14. The Conservation of Bees for the Future
Bibliography and Recommended Reading
Index
Reviews
'David Heaf has prepared this excellent and clear translation, enabling an English-reading audience to access for the first time this biodynamic approach, and translating into modern beekeeping practice Rudolf Steiner’s indications on the essential nature of the honey bee... Plenty of interesting ideas for the thinking beekeeper!'
-- Bees for Development Journal
'This book is ideal for the conventional beekeeper who wants to convert to biodynamic methods or for the biodynamic beekeeper who wants to learn more.'
--Cygnus
Author
Matthias Thun (1948-2020) was an international expert on biodynamic beekeeping with over 50 years' experience. He had a Masters in Beekeeping and lectured at biodynamic conferences and training seminars internationally. He worked with his mother, biodynamic pioneer Maria Thun, on the annual creation of the seminal Maria Thun Biodynamic Calendar, until her death in 2012 after which he continued it independently. Matthias lived at his family's biodynamic homestead in Dexbach, Germany, until his death.
