Keeping Bees and Making Honey by Alison Benjamin and Brian McCallum

I first published this review May 21, 2011

For awhile, I seriously considered keeping bees and harvesting honey.  My grandson Riley informed me if I had bee hives he would never come visit me again!  :)  Riley - along with moving to the city from my 8 acres helped me decide NOT to start bee keeping.

However, before I made that decision, I did research on keeping bees. My favorite book on the subject is "Keeping Bees and Making Honey" by Alison Benjamin and Brian McCallum.  Not only does this book have many of the answers for a beginner bee keeper, it has beautiful pictures :) and it covers:

• history of beekeeping
• what you need to consider before becoming a beekeeper
• housing your bees
• needs for keeping bees
• honey
• seasons of beekeeping
• bee products
• and even some recipes

"It is estimated that around 70% of the food we eat is dependent upon pollination by bees and other insects. However, with bee populations worldwide on the decline due to factors such as intensive farming, urban sprawl and disease, their vital ecological role is under threat.  The need for bees has never been more apparent." 

If you are interested in keeping bees, I suggest you begin with this book.