ISBN: 9781922539854

Urban Beekeeping

USD $39.99 Tax Included

The city as a hive


Urban Beekeeping is both an in-depth instruction manual for creating hives in urban spaces, and an exploration of why reshaping our cities to make space for nature is vital. Written by the Head Beekeeper for the Australian Parliament, it is informed by extensive experience in beekeeping, instruction and honey production. Readers will learn step by step how to set up a thriving urban hive, and the wider importance of this as sustainable local food production and creating space for native species.

Specifications: Hardback | 242 x 184mm  | 256 Pages

An instruction manual for change, Urban Beekeeping explores how we can adapt urban spaces to create a more sustainable future, both for bees and for ourselves.

Urban beekeeping has become a booming pastime in cities throughout the world. But why just fit bees into our cities, when we could reshape our cities to fit them?

This guide from beekeeping expert Cormac Farrell takes readers through the process of creating a thriving urban hive, covering topics including:

• The various bee species, and how to determine which will thrive in your space.
• Setting up your apiary.
• Planting to feed your bees.
• The different types of hive and how best to utilise them.
• Connecting with your bees and managing the hive.

Keen beekeepers, environmentally conscious gardeners and even urban planners will find a wealth of knowledge on how to create local green spaces where nature can thrive. From community gardens to rooftop apiaries, cities contain vast potential for sustainable food production. Urban Beekeeping explores how – and why – we should tap into this potential and manage bees for beauty, food, and the local environment.

This is more than a manual for beekeepers and gardeners who want to go beyond their backyard; it is a guide to changing the whole concept of our cities, to make them places where we produce quality food locally and create spaces for native species.

Cormac Farrell is an environmental scientist and beekeeper, best known as the Head Beekeeper for the Australian Parliament. He manages several apiaries throughout Canberra, including training apiaries, organic orchards and tall rooftop apiaries, creating unique food experiences that educate and inspire, pushing the boundaries of what cities can produce.

In addition to running his own apiaries, Cormac is the training manager for Canberra Region Beekeeper, where in an average year he trains over one hundred new beekeepers. He also provides beekeeping support to multiple international embassies, and has assisted several governments in developing pollinator planting guides for their urban forests, improving the function of street trees, parks and gardens.

Foreword
1 Bees in the city: Subverting the concrete jungle
2 Meet the bees: Native bees and honeybees
3 Getting started: Moving out beyond the backyard
4 A place to bee at home: Where to keep your apiary
5 Planting for bees: Changing the urban landscape
6 Hive types: Try something a little different
7 Hive management: Connecting with your bees
8 Keeping a healthy hive: First steps to disease prevention
9 What the hell is that? The pests and diseases of honeybees
10 Swarm catching for fun and profit: Different methods to bag your bees
11 It’s not about the honey: Creating visitor experiences and more
Endnotes
References
Index

Good Organic Gardening Magazine
“Urban Beekeeping is not just an instruction book on how to set up your own apiary, entice some bees into it then manage the hive, it is also a work of apian philosophy. Our survival is dependent on the survival of bees, of course, and Farrell finds it endlessly amusing that for all our magnificent technology. Literature and art we are completely dependent on bugs in a box to feed ourselves”


PIP (Permaculture) Magazine
“Written by the head beekeeper for Australia’s Parliament House in Canberra, the book is informed by extensive experience in beekeeping, instruction and honey production. Readers will learn step-by-step how to set up a thriving hive, and the importance of this as sustainable local food production and the creation of space for native species.”


American Bee Journal
“The book is more than an instruction manual — it is a philosophical treatise on the sustainable future of urban areas and beekeeping. To successfully keep bees in urban areas, he believes there needs to be a change in mindset.”


The Senior featured in their Christmas Gifting Guide
“Takes readers through the process of creating a thriving urban hive, covering topics including various bee species, setting up your apiary, planting to feed your bees, the different types of hive, connecting with your bees and managing the hive.”


Organic Gardening Magazine
“Reveals Farrell to be all about transforming our cities to produce food, nurture wildlife and create connection. Mostly, the book is an excellent practical guide to starting your own hive, plants to feed your bees, the pros and cons of different hives, and care and management, with sections on pests and diseases and varroa mite. It will help you fall in love with bees.”


Amateur Beekeepers Association
“Urban Beekeeping is an easy read filled with beautiful photographs, entertaining stories and clear how-to information, making this an instruction manual to adapt your urban surrounds to a haven for native bees, honey bees and other pollinators.”


Australian Bee Journal
“This excellent book is a great summation of urban beekeeping. Buy this book for yourself, your bee club or interest group. You won’t be disappointed by Cormac Farrell’s wisdom, experience and his insights into the future”


The Canberra Times
“Lifting the lid on the hives on the hill” about the launch of Urban Beekeeping and the launch at the Museum of Australian Democracy. “Part instruction manual for urban beekeeping, part manual for city planners, governments and citizens in creating a more sustainable way of life”


Cristy Burn (via Instagram)
“If you’ve ever wondered about keeping bees but were unsure about what type of bee, what type of hive, what type of space, what are the rules, this is a fabulous read.
It’s useful for backyard beekeepers who want to have hives on rooftops or balconies. It’s useful if you want to support native stingless bees or make your own urban bee hotels. It’s useful just to know you can make a difference by choosing an organic-certified pesticide and applying it at night, when the bees are asleep, or before your plants flower, so bees don’t accidentally take home poisoned nectar.
I loved this book – a fabulous, good-looking, exciting and informative read.”


Australasian Beekeeper– review by Dr Anna Carrucan.
“If you’re looking for a book that ticks all the boxes for the urban beekeeper, put this book on your list. It’s essential reading for anyone who keeps bees in a small town or an inner-city concrete jungle, in a backyard, on a balcony, or on the rooftop of a city skyscraper. It’s about becoming better acquainted with the needs of your local environment through beekeeping, and bolstering the buffet of flowers for native pollinators and honey bees to live together sustainably.”


Good Reading – Bonus Content EDM
“Urban Beekeeping by Cormac Farrell
Cormac Farrell is an environmental scientist and beekeeper, best known as the Head Beekeeper for the Australian Parliament.
Read the introduction from Urban Beekeeping and find out about Cormac Farrell’s love for beekeeping.”


ABC Canberra – Afternoons with Emma Bickley
“The book is for people who have been keeping bees for a bit or they want to get into native bees in particular, but they are looking to move beyond the backyard. I am looking to connect with community now. It’s for city planners, for people running community gardens so they look at what are the other species, particularly native bees, you can add and how do you add them? What do you do in terms of bee hotels, what plants do you plant, how do you design a space for native bees… how do you set up a rooftop garden and rooftop apiary … it fundamentally changes how you see urban landscapes.”


6PR Weekend Wake Up Radio with Seinor and Jamie Burnett
“It’s a great book with some fantastic photos. A ripper. Get your copy and get involved.”


Tanya Ha, environmental advocate and science journalist
“Beeautiful! Delightful and essential reading for the beginner and advanced bee lover alike. Cormac Farrell’s enthusiasm, intelligence, thoughtfulness and warmth infuse every page. This is not just a book about bees. Woven through the buzz about our honey-making friends is an underlying message about our relationship with nature and our responsibility to shape a future we can share with all living things.”


Stuart Anderson, co-inventor of the Flow Hive
‘This is a thorough, informative and delightful book. Open to any page and you’ll find fascinating stories, intriguing bee-facts and beautiful pictures grounded in Cormac’s broad experience and deep knowledge.’


The Riot ACT
“Urban Beekeeping can be read in one sitting to learn how to bring the natural landscape into our cities – or as a reference book to go back to when you can’t work out why you don’t have as much honey as last year. Through it, Cormac takes his readers on the journey of creating a thriving urban hive – from what species are best, to setting up the apiary, what flowers bees are partial to, what sort of hives suit different environments and managing hives.”

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