Additional Resources for your Beekeeping Journey

Thank you for coming to see me and Carla at the Central Texas Bee School! As promised,  below are a few resources, organized by class, intended to help you in your journey.

If you enjoyed our classes, please check our my book, “For the Bees: A Handbook for Happy Beekeeping”!

Buy the Book!

Looking for more hands on help? We were the first to offer an immersive beekeeping course in Texas, and we are currently in our 17th cohort (our 9th year!)  This beek apprenticeship program is only offered twice a year, is capped at 20, and most always sells out. The spring apprenticeship is underway, but  sign up to notified when the next cohort is available at the link below. The 18th cohort will open up in May! All classes take place at the Honey Ranch just east of Austin, and half of your time will be spent in bees.

Learn More!
For the Bees Book Cover Page

Cooking with Honey

  1. Here are all the recipes from the class! 
  2. This blog post provides guidelines on substituting honey for sugar in your recipes.  

Honey Bee Behavior (Pheromones)

  1. Much of the research for this class (and the drawings!) was drawn from this book.  I encourage you read it!

Properties of Honey

  1. Here is an infograph laying out the contributing factors to honey crystallization.
  2. You might enjoy scrolling through our blog posts about honey. Here you will find informative articles on why kids under one year of age shouldn’t eat honey, more info on tree honey/honeydew (aphid ‘poop’ honey!), why “USDA organic” honey is a bit of a farce, and so much more.
  3. Finally, here’s a link to all the studies I cited in class discussing the medicinal benefits of honey.

The Business of Beekeeping

  1. You might be interested in listening to an interview I did a few weeks ago with the Beekeeping Today podcast.
  2. It is my hope to continue to do more education and sharing to help support other beeks working to make money off bees/beekeeping in the state of Texas. If you have ideas or would like to hear more on a more narrow topic in this area, please use our contact form to email us and tell me about it! (In the comments field, please be sure to ask that the message get passed to Tara.) In the meantime,  I’ll continue to encourage bee schools, clubs and podcasts to allow more to share more in this area.

10 Mistakes made by First Year Beeks

  1. I created a short paper a few years ago summarizing some of the mistakes I see first year beeks make again and again.  You can find a link to it here.
  2. If you are struggling to light your smoker (and keep it lit!)I did a 4 part series on youtube a few years ago. Find it here. 
  3. I strongly recommend picking up a copy of my book, if you haven’t already. I promise that by reading a book with a heavy focus on bee biology, you will become a better beekeeper! You can find it on our website, Amazon, and more.  Request your local library carry it, then you can read it for free!!