M.E.A. McNeil is a Master Beekeeper, journalist and organic farmer. She is a nonfiction and fiction writer.
Her novel, Bee Club, will be published this year.
Bay-area beekeeping is a year-round activity, but spring is the most important, and the most fun. Management for swarm control. Management for honey production. Increases. They’re all on the table.
Michael Joshin Thiele, Founder and President of Apis Arborea, has appeared in national and international magazines, books and films. He has presented his work at Harvard University & New York University, consulted for the USDA, and in 2006 developed the organization Gaia Bees to advance biodynamic practices in apiculture.
Thiele founded Apis Arborea in 2017 to preserve the life and resiliency of honeybees through wilding. He pioneered work in self-willed ecological processes, and the use of a holistic, system- and science-based framework in working with bees. He offers workshops and training in the U.S. and internationally.
Contemporary research documents the resilience and longevity of wild honeybees in remote landscapes that are sheltered from agricultural and apicultural practices. How can we integrate the qualities and conditions that allow honeybees in the wild to thrive into our backyards apiaries? Apis Arborea’s approach incorporates the biomimicry of arboreal nest conditions, and promotion of natural population dynamics.
Of all colony loss causes, queen issues are second only to varroa… and while controlling mites is critical, it's almost as important for beekeepers to maintain sufficient queen resources to sustain our apiaries.
In this this presentation, Greg will cover the why, when, and some of the hows to make and maintain queen resources (aka “Reserve Queens”). He has a passion for making, raising, and spreading queens while working to assist fellow beekeepers along their path towards self sustainability.
