Save the Bees with Natural Backyard Hives

Description

You don't need to live on a farm to raise happy, healthy honeybees. All it takes is a small backyard and the guidance of Rob and Chelsea McFarland, founders of HoneyLove - a Los Angeles-based nonprofit dedicated to protecting honeybees and educating a new generation of urban, suburban and rural beekeepers. Beekeeping is a relaxing and intriguing hobby that requires little time. It yields fresh, local honey beekeepers can keep or share, and bees help pollinate nearby gardens, trees and crops, which need help. Around the country, bee populations are declining - in part because bees raised to pollinate crops are not as durable as wild bees. Save the Bees has the solution. Save the Bees will walk readers through the inexpensive and easy to use equipment, their method for acquiring a hive for free, caring for the bees as they grow their colony, harvesting honey and prepping their bees for the cooler months. With the Save the Bees approach, readers will learn to attract wild bees. Factory-farmed bees are often advertised as "natural" but require farmers to use chemicals and pesticides to keep them alive. The Save the Bees approach does not use chemicals or pesticides and, instead, opts for natural care and management. With minimal upkeep, the hives will pollinate local crops and flowers and provide a bounty of delicious, all-natural, backyard honey.

Rob and Chelsea McFarland are the husband and wife team behind HoneyLove (honeylove.org). HoneyLove has more than 20,000 Facebook followers and a full calendar of educational and community-based events. HoneyLove has been profiled by the Associated Press, LA Times, ABC News, Time, Politico, LA Weekly, Sunset, Edible Westside and Curbed LA. Both SoulPancake and the Disney Chanel have featured HoneyLove in video segments. Rob and Chelsea live in Los Angeles, California, where HoneyLove is based.

"Rob and Chelsea have a beautiful positive energy that shines out in all their work, including this book. The writing is lyrical, detailed, informative and practical. Save the Bees starts from the perspective of the complete beginner and offers insight and instruction in a very readable, understandable and entertaining way with gorgeous pictures to illustrate it. But best of all, it's about how to keep bees naturally - no treatments, no chemicals. This is a delightful and insightful book from delightful and insightful people." --Michael Bush, author of THE PRACTICAL BEEKEEPER "What a fantastic book! It's important, accessible, accurate, enjoyable and filled with experience. Anybody serious about modern beekeeping should read this." --Noah Wilson-Rich, Ph.D, Founder & Chief Scientific Officer, The Best Bees Company