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Wednesday, October 8, 2014

THE BEEKEEPERS BIBLE


I first picked up this book at the store because of the cover.  It was gorgeous.  Simple yet detailed, modern yet classic.

I guess you could say that yes, I did judge a book by it's cover!

The Beekeepers Bible
Here is the Amazon link to the book.  I originally saw it in a bookstore but when I went back, it was sold out.  I searched Amazon and of course, found it online.


Anyway, I purchased it and wow, do I love it.  It's on the nightstand beside the bed so that I can read a bit each night.  It's very comprehensive, covering the history of bees and beekeeping and then delves a bit into the 'how to' of beekeeping.  It has recipes using honey and even shows you how to make candles from the wax and soap using honey.  In a way, it's like a history book, an encyclopedia, an almanac and a cookbook were all rolled up into one.

The illustrations and photographs are beautifully detailed and rendered.  It's also written to be very easy to read.  Nothing is complicated or uses hard to understand terminology, it's written for both the layman and the experienced beekeeper.  Would this be the only book you'd ever need to learn beekeeping? No, there are others out there (including Beekeeping for Dummies) that go into far more detail about how to start.  I'm not sure why much of that was left out of book, possibly because of what I mentioned, that there are so many very detailed books already out there.  The real value of this book, in my opinion, are the bits of lore and wisdom scattered throughout that help a beekeeper (or anyone interested in bees for that matter) to have a better understanding of how the history of bees from thousands of years ago has led us to this moment now in our history.  I'm all for learning more about the lovely ladies that we'll soon be sharing the property with.

Side note, our local library has a copy of this (I checked online) so you might check yours if you'd like to get a copy of it that way.  I'd recommend it for anyone that wants to learn a bit more about bees and their history in our world.


Now it's on to my next book to review!

15 comments:

  1. I would love to have this on my nightstand!!!

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    1. It's a pretty book for sure and full of great illustrations and photos.

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  2. I have this book! It's a good one and the illustrations are wonderful. I am a new beekeeper and the book was helpful.

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    1. Glad to hear! I'm hoping to be a new beekeeper next year.

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  3. I want this book, it's on my "santa list" for this Christmas, ha.

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  4. That book cover is indeed gorgeous! And the book has so many interesting subjects - like soap made from honey.

    I love your Seda Bolsa Farm beehive illustration - beautiful!

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    1. Oh, thank you about the illustration. I took a public domain vintage image and aged it and added some lettering. I thought it looked kind of cool, ha.

      Yes, the soap made from honey is fascinating. That will be on the "someday" list as well, ha.

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  5. 1st Man,

    Let me try this again, the computer just took my comment and sent it somewhere when I wasn't finished.

    The Bee Keeper's Bible is a great book.

    I'm still reading several books my FIL let me borrow on keeping bee's. These books are really old and they're about 5 inches thick (each one). So it's going to probably take me about 6 months to finish reading all of them. They have all kinds of information on them.
    Hey, I just registered for my first bee class in November.

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    1. Probably not the computer, probably blogger, ha.

      Like Deb H. below said, what books do you have? I am always on the lookout for learning more stuff.

      And a bee class??? YAY FOR YOU!!! Can't wait to hear all about tit. You will be hooked!! Keep us posted!

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  6. sandy, hi. what are the titles of the books he lent you?
    deb h.
    hymenopterid@gmail.com
    thanks.

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  7. I have this book, it's great!!!

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  8. That's a great find. My favorite cousin is in the bee business; I'm going to see if I can find a copy for her.

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