'The keeping of bees is like the
direction of sunbeams.'
Henry David Thoreau
1817-1862
'The keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams.' Henry David Thoreau 1817-1862 |
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ABOUT US | CONTACT US | |||||
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| NATURAL BEEKEEPING AUSTRALIA - NATURAL BEEKEEPING |
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| What is Natural Beekeeping? | ||||||||||||||||
| Natural Beekeeping aims to provide for the needs of the bee colony above that of the beekeeper. It is a holistic approach based on respect and love for the bee colony. Of course, the term Natural Beekeeping itself is somewhat problematic, as the keeping of bees is never truly natural; bees exist and thrive naturally, and have done for millions of years without the aid of a keeper, often living high up in a tree hollow. The primary reason for the long-lived success of Honeybees around the world is their incredibly complex and vast array of behavioural and social abilities. |
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| In recent years the term ‘superorganism’ has been used to describe the bee colony, most memorably in ‘The Buzz about Bees: Biology of a Superorganism’ by Jürgen Tautz. Natural Beekeepers embrace this way of thinking, and tend to regard each bee as part of the greater whole, rather than merely an individual insect. Using this new understanding and knowledge of the bee colony, Natural Beekeeping attempts to mimic the natural nest structure of the wild bee colony and give every opportunity for the superorganism to thrive, communicate effectively, and become resilient to disease and changing environmental conditions, whilst still retaining an element of the ‘keeping’ of bees – that of human involvement. Natural Beekeeping often leads to a complete re-thinking of conventional beekeeping management and hive design. |
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| Two popular hive designs for aspiring Natural Beekeepers are the Warré hive and the Kenyan Top Bar Hive, although hundreds of different types of bee friendly hives are used throughout the world from different cultures and using a wide variety of materials. In these hives, bees are allowed to construct natural comb, thereby determining their own cell size, population mix, colony size, and rear their own queens. A less intrusive style of beekeeping is also practiced in the knowledge that bees are creatures of solitude, and great harm may be done to the colony by frequently inspecting the hive. Various key components of this new, holistic approach to keeping bees are already supported by scientific research into colony life, not to mention the fact that it is a far more gentle, enjoyable way to keep bees. To find out more about this style of beekeeping, please see our Resources below for extensive readings, links, and information. |
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How to Help the Bees | |||||
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   If the bee is, as the French say, ‘the sentinel of the environment’ then the fact that large numbers of bee colonies are perishing around the world is an alarming sign that we must change our beekeeping and farming practices and attempt to reconnect with a Nature that is rapidly disappearing. If you would like to help the plight of our honeybees, native bees and pollinators, however, as a beekeeper you will become acutely aware of the issues surrounding bees, and this will enable you to educate others) ~ Planting bee and pollinator friendly gardens ~ Providing habitat for native bees and pollinators ~ Supporting local organic and biodynamic farmers ~ Becoming a bee activist! Many of the problems facing honeybees and pollinators are due to the high level of toxic chemical use by humans, loss of diversity and quantity of forage, loss of habitat, and beekeeper applied chemicals. Please follow the links on our Resources page under the Pollination Crisis heading to become informed, and act. |
 'Natural beekeeping aims to raise awareness that we need to re-establish our connection with bees on the widest basis – a connection we have lost in the wake of our growing disregard for the integrity of nature.' Natural Beekeeping Trust UK www.naturalbeekeepingtrust.org 0 |
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 0 Malfroy's Gold adheres to Demeter's International Bee Standards (click to download standards) |
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| Natural Beekeeping Courses | ||||||
 0 Kirsten - Milkwood Permaculture |
I teach several courses a year in Natural Beekeeping. The courses are held over 2 days, and are run in partnership with the amazing folks at Milkwood Permaculture. The courses are focused on bee-friendly, natural, organic, biodynamic, small-scale beekeeping, and are the only courses of their kind currently being run in Australia. Please visit here for more information. All bookings to be made through: Milkwood Permaculture - Ph. 02 6373 7763 Website: www.milkwoodpermaculture.com.au/courses/categoryevents/14-beekeeping |
 0 Setting up Warré hive - Milkwood |
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| See what others think about Natural Beekeeping Australia Beekeeping Courses: TESTIMONIALS | ||||||
| NATURAL BEEKEEPING RESOURCES | ||||
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| By no means exhaustive, the list offered below is a collection of books, articles, and links that we have found to be indispensable in our day to day activities as Natural Beekeepers. | ||||
| Reading List | ||||
| BEE BIOLOGY | NATURAL & SUSTAINABLE BEEKEEPING |
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| Jürgen Tautz | The Buzz About Bees: Biology of a
Super-organism |
Abbé Warré | Beekeeping for All | |
| Thomas Seeley | Honeybee Democracy |
David Heaf | The Bee-friendly Beekeeper | |
| Thomas Seeley | The Wisdom of the Hive |
Phil Chandler | The Barefoot Beekeeper | |
| Karl Von Frisch | The Dancing Bees |
H.Storch | At the Hive Entrance | |
| Lesley Goodman | Form and Function in the Honeybee |
(also see free PDF articles below) | ||
| Mark Winston | The Biology of the Honey Bee |
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| POLLINATION CRISIS |
HISTORY | |||
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| Rowan Jacobsen | Fruitless Fall: the Collapse of the Honeybee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis |
Eva Crane | The World History of Beekeeping and Honey Hunting | |
| Henk Tennekes |
The Systemic Insecticides : A Disaster in the Making | Hilda Ransome | The Sacred Bee in Ancient Times and Folklore | |
| Taggart Siegel & Jon Betz |
Queen of the Sun : What Are the Bees Telling Us? Anthology |
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| NATIVE BEES |
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| John Klump | Australian Stingless Bees: A Guide to Sugarbag Beekeeping |
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| Anne Dollin et al. | Native Bees of the Sydney Region : A Field Guide |
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| Free PDF Books & Articles | ||||
| Abbé Warré |
Beekeeping for All | Roger Delon | The Stable Climate Hive | |
| Johann Thür |
Beekeeping - Natural, simple and successful | Nicola Bradbear | Bees and their role in forest livelihoods (FAO) |
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| David Heaf |
Towards Sustainable Beekeeping | RIRDC | Pollination Aware | |
| David Heaf |
Sustainable and Bee-friendly Beekeeping | |||
| United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) |
Global Honey Bee Colony Disorder and other threats to Insect Pollinators |
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| Online Resources | ||||
| WARRÉ & NATURAL BEEKEEPING | ||||
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| This is the primary online site for Warré beekeepers in Anglophone regions. Established by David Heaf (Wales), the site is an incredible resource with a great deal of excellent information covering all aspects of Warré beekeeping |
www.warre.biobees.com | |||
| Warré beekeeping at Milkwood Farm (Central Tablelands, NSW Australia) and Sydney with Tim Malfroy (Natural Beekeeping Australia). Informative blog posts with pictures and video detailing the Milkwood Natural Beekeeping courses and the apiary through the seasons |
www.milkwood.net/tag/warre | |||
| Established by Phil Chandler (UK) the ‘barefoot’ beekeeper, Biobees is an excellent site with a great deal of information, articles and a huge forum space for Natural Beekeepers around the world |
www.biobees.com | |||
| David Heaf’s webpage |
www.bee-friendly.co.uk | |||
| Michael Thiele (US), biodynamic beekeeper |
www.gaiabees.com www.themelissagarden.com |
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| Dennis Murrell (US), fantastic archived experiments with Top Bar Hives and NB | beenaturalguy.com/natural-beekeeping/ |
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| FRENCH LANGUAGE WARRÉ & NATURAL BEEKEEPERS | ||||
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| Jerome Alphonse | www.mielleriealphonse.com |
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| Claude Bralet |
www.la-ruche-sauvage.com | |||
| Marc Gatineau |
www.apiculturegatineau.fr | |||
| Jean-François Dardenne - Warré portal |
ruche-warre.levillage.org | |||
| Gilles Denis | www.ruche-warre.com |
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| Olivier Duprez |
www.ruchebio.com | |||
| AUSTRALIAN NATIVE BEES | ||||
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| Australian Native Bee Research Centre, Blue Mountains NSW |
www.aussiebee.com.au | |||
| Megan Halcroft, Blue Mountains NSW | www.beesbusiness.com.au |
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| Tim Heard, Brisbane QLD |
www.sugarbag.net | |||
| Russell and Janine Zabel, Hatton Vale QLD |
www.zabel.com.au | |||
| ORGANISATIONS | ||||
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| Milkwood Permaculture | www.milkwoodpermaculture.com.au |
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| Bees for Development |
www.beesfordevelopment.org |
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| IBRA - The International Bee Research Association |
www.ibra.org.uk |
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| Natural Beekeeping Trust |
www.naturalbeekeepingtrust.org | |||
| Mellifera e.V. - Centre for Organic Beekeeping |
www.mellifera.de | |||
| Biodynamic Agriculture Australia |
www.biodynamics.net.au | |||
| Food Ethics Council |
www.foodethicscouncil.org | |||
| Demeter International |
www.demeter.net | |||
| Slow Food International |
www.slowfood.com | |||
| OTHER LINKS | ||||
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| Eric Tourneret - the bee photographer | www.thehoneygatherers.com thebeephotographer.photoshelter.com |
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| Inspired Beeing - a blog about social enterprise and beekeeping in Turkey | inspiredbeeing.com |
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| Balyolu - Honey walking trails in North East Turkey | www.balyolu.com |
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| ABN 79 921 638 711© MALFROY'S GOLD | ||||
