Gunther Hauk

The revolutionary beekeeping method that is providing a radical return to healthy bee hives in the U.S. and around the world today is explained in detail in A Lively Hive. Author, Alex Tuchman, the director of Spikenard Farm Honeybee Sanctuary in Floyd, Virginia, walks the reader through both the philosophy and practical applications that have shown remarkable success rates. In the past five years, the catastrophic loss of 45% of U.S. honeybee colonies has been well documented. By contrast, in that same time period Spikenard Farm Honeybee Sanctuary has shown an astonishing low loss of only 12%. Tuchman shares the significant difference between beekeeping methods that exploit the honeybee for human agribusiness and alternative methods to beekeeping that are in line with the instincts and wisdom of the honeybees themselves. The amazing results, as it turns out, are found at heart in the relationship and communication between the honeybee and the human-that when we listen to what the bees are telling us, only then are we guided to best provide for the bees' needs in the physical world.

The first edition of this book was published in 2002, four years before the term "Colony collapse disorder" was coined to describe the widespread and growing crisis of honeybee population loss. Yet this decrease in the honeybee population has been ongoing from at least the mid-twentieth century; and as we approach the third decade of the twenty-first century, with each passing year the situation becomes more dire. Gunther Hauk does not offer a "magic bullet" solution (there is not and cannot be one), but instead provides the straightforward basis for thinking of the honeybee crisis in a different way, which then provides the ground for taking action appropriately. The sound, holistic approach outlined here is needed now more than ever. Written out of a deep love and concern for the earth and all of creation, Gunther Hauk's Toward Saving the Honeybee is a light that shows the way forward for farmers, gardeners, hobbyist beekeepers, and anyone concerned about the future of our planet. This new edition is richly illustrated with 57 color photographs and was revised and expanded by the author.