1. Regenerative Top-Bar Beekeeping “A successful apiary [means] a locally-adapted strain of bees that can survive (and thrive!) on their own with minimal attention and no medications” - Kirk Webster (2005)

2. Objectives – I want you to leave here and… Understand pros and cons of top-bar Feel more comfortable around bees and beekeepers See beekeeping through a permaculture lens Trust the process

3. Fundamentals Permaculture design: Ethics underlie everything. Trust the bees – it’s ok to not understand and control everything. Hobbyist / small-scale bioregional beekeeping is vital

4. Ethics Principles & Patterns Strategies & Techniques

5. Apis mellifera 7 species, 44 subspecies Eusocial 3 ‘castes’

9. Communication – chemicals & choreography Pheromones Queen pheromones Nasonov glands Alarm bananas Venom (isopentylacetate) Trophylaxis

10. Inside the hive Brood Nest ‘heart’ of colony 33-36° Contains –Eggs –Larva –Capped cells Food Nest periphery Contains –Pollen ‘bee bread’ –Honey –Nectar –Royal Jelly –Propolis

11. BROOD FOOD

13. Keepin’ bees..

15. The smoker Cave-paintings Why? 1. Alarm pheromones 2. “FIRE!” Bees have no eyelids.. Alternatives Not smoking Apple cider vinegar + H20

16. Lighting the smoker

17. Clothes

20. Where to put hive? Easy access Dappled sunlight Minimal wind PLENTY of diverse nectar + pollen sources! Clean water source Entrance facing North and not toward human traffic Elevated Level

21. Where to get bees? Ferals? Swarms – simulated or ‘wild’ Packages ‘Nucs’

35. BEEHIVE DESIGN

36. Nature Build top to bottom Respiration + ventilation Catenary curves Queen free, & can grow old Swarms: 1) reproduction 2) emergency Colonies 3km apart

37. Domestication 4500 years ago Egypt European ‘straw skep,’- monks Mid 1800’s apiculture took a turn toward the industrial. Wild honey harvesting ongoing

39. Bees will live in most things.