Top Bar Beekeeping course in Holma Sweden Sabotaged by Conventional Beekeepers

I cant't explain how sad I feel today :( I was invited by Holma Forest Garden to hold a two days course in Top Bar Beekeeping (previous blog post) First day theory and second day work shop, building top bar hives.

After they have sent out the newsletter to their members about this course, they got many calls from their members which are also conventional beekeepers and  members of their local conventional bee club. They said that top bar beekeeping will only spread Varroa and other kind of disease! This is non-sense! How can they claim such things if they never kept bees in top bar hives???!!!

Holma Forest Garden organizers felt confused with these complaints and decided to cancel this course until they discuss this matter further. They didn't know Top Bar Beekeeping course would cause so much controversy.

It seems conservative/conventional minds have won this battle, battle against new possibilities :(
Very sad day for the bees ...

As Gandhi said; First they ridicule you, then they fight you and then you win!

"Simple Beekeeping more on Bees Terms" 2 days course in Holma, Höör (1.-2. March 2014)

I was invited by the "Holma Forest Garden" in Höör, Sweden to hold a 2 days course in Top Bar Beekeeping.
1st day (March 1st) is theory about basic Honeybee biology and general about Top Bar Hives and how to keep bees in such hives. Also what are the differences between conventional and natural top bar beekeeping which are many.
2nd day (March 2nd) I will run a workshop. We will be building another top bar hive for Holma Forest Garden and all interested can bring materials to build their own top bar hive.
More details here (in Swedish)

Last year we have build Holma's first Top Bar Hive :)

Spring is closing in

The first sign of Spring is here :) Eranthis started blooming :)) The flowers have not opened just yet because the temp is just above 0'C I can also see Snowdrops leaves protruding through the ground :))

It is time to prepare some more top bar hives for this coming season. Im missing at least 2 more hives and I must prepare a few more top bars primed with wax comb guides.
My colonies are still in Sweden, 6 of them. I don't know just yet if they have survived but I count to check on them at the end of February. Fingers crossed :)