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Golden Rule Honey, LLC Presents: |
Northeast
Treatment Free Beekeeping Conference
Friday, July 31 through Sunday, August 2, 2009
Doyle Conservation Center
"Birthplace of Johnny Appleseed”
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Erik Osterlund
Beekeeping is an occupation which easily will possess you. It deals with inner parts of the mystery of life. The pollinators are the engine of life and the honeybee a gift of nature to mankind. Bees and beekeeping do give you a lot of satisfaction. To try to understand bees and their part in the ecology of life is basic for learning how to help them in their task and working accordingly will give you basics of your own outcome of life. Bees have been a great part of my life since 1975. Since 1984 I’ve been editor of the Swedish beekeeping magazine Bitidningen, with an circulation of 9000 copies 9 issues a year. I also run about 200 bee colonies, making a part time living of these. Almost immediately from the start a s a beekeeper I got involved in breeding better bees. 1983 I visited Brother Adam at Buckfast Abbey for the first time, with more visits to follow. 1989 I went together with three others to western Kenya to obtain breeding material from the African mountain type of bee called Apis mellifera monticola, or the Monticola bee. This is a separate race of bee compared to the Scutellata bee, which became the source which formed the so called Africanized bee in South America. Monticola is one of the few African races that does not abscond easily (the whole bee colony fly away due to scarcity of food). The idea was that African races might have something in common which makes them more adaptable to deal with the Varroa parasite, which was and is such a plague to beekeeping almost all over the world. And the idea also was that it was possible to combine Monticola with our European bee and get a good stock of bees. My efforts in this respect can be read at http://elgon.se The idea of course is that as bees has been able to survive and thrive much longer than man has interfered with her doings. This is still possible. We understand more and more how important it is to avoid alien chemicals in our environment, which is the bees’ environment too. In 1990 I visited Dee and Ed Lusby for the first time, with more visits to follow. From them I learned the importance of the management of the bee colony, and especially the size of the cells in the waxcomb in which the bees had their broodnest.
I’ve been devotedly involved in understanding the parameters necessary for creating a supportive environment for the bees ability to survive on their own, that is without any help of treatment chemicals. That is especially due concerning the Varroa parasite, but also concerning other pests. I’ve been cooperating with many beekeepers during these years in these efforts and finally I’ve been ‘blessed’ with the Varroa myself and the ability to make firsthand breeding selection. Erik Osterlund http://perso.fundp.ac.be/~jvandyck/homage/artcl/EO99princBAen.html |