Bee keeping, apitherapy and bee lore

Wherever one finds honeybees on this planet, we have feasted upon their sweetness and made offerings of their bounty. Throughout the ages, whilst supping upon the salubrious honeyed brews that have provoked great insight, prophecy and progress, we have revered bees to be some of the most sacred of beings. Every rose has its thorn, and the cherishing of every sweet mouthful along the way has been amplified by its fair share of stings. These feisty, eusocial creatures have been upheld as denizens of the gods, whose self-sacrificial nature and natural medicines bestow great blessings upon the world, inspire cultures, civilisations and customs alike. Honeybees do appear to have a mellifluous and mysterious history woven through our own.

From the dawn of time, they have been a source of sustenance, health and fertility, as well as rich symbolism, poignant allegory and divine inspiration. Far, far beyond and long, long before our own anthropocentric, naval-gazing concerns, countless other creatures and plants have benefited from their produce, pollination and unswerving sense of purpose. Nearly one millennium ago, Pliny the Elder wrote: Ubi apis, ibi salus, where there are bees, there is health. World over, bees are important. One way to help them is through beekeeping. Today, there are so many ways to keep bees, a multitude of different hives, styles of management and varying considerations. Why one keeps bees can often determine how one keeps bees. After a century of increased manipulation, breeding programmes, artificial farming techniques and the use of chemical treatments and pesticides, beekeeping has reached a hyatus of challenges. How might you best keep bees? What ethical decisions can be made? How can one's relationship with bees become mutually benefical?