Cutting through the Deep Ocean of Views

If you are to ask me how did I get into beekeeping I wouldnt know what to say realy. I even said to my wife the other day "when did i get so interested in bees". I just cant remember that day ... its not as if a friend was a beekeeper and showed me around the hive and I just fell in love with the ladies, no ... this was more subtle, creeping under my skin until it reached my heart.

I do know that i've got interested in bees through researching about my new passion called Self-sufficient Homesteading.

Somehow I ended up reading The Barefoot Beekeeper by Phil Chandler and I could see myself in the near future building a Kenya Top Bar Hive. Call me psychic as it turned out i've build two only a couple of month later and kept in them two bee colonies.

What a magic experience that was! And I got stung 8 times :) how cool is that (if not alergic i guess).

And here I am today. Beeless. I left those hives to the school of Self-sufficient Householding I attended for 8 month in Sweden. I hope for next year generation to get interested in top bar beekeeping.

During this year I've read alot on beekeeping. Both books and online bee forums. The books which had great influence on me are; The Barefoot Beekeeper by P. Chandler, The Buzz About Bees by Jurgen Tautz, Top Bar Beekeeping by Les Crowder, and others.
Forums are Biobees and Bee Source.

So much I've discovered!!! There are so many great hive designs out there like Perone, Warre, Kenya Top Bar Hive, Log hives, Skeps ... and many variations on the mentioned.

I found out that there is conventional beekeeping utilising anti Varroa treatments and there are those called natural beekeepers practicing treatment freebeekeeping. Often the debate between these groups can become harsh.

Some say water spray is better than smoker, others that vertical hives are better than horizontal ones, the third say that one is to leave the bees in peace, others that often management is needed. There are those who use top entrance and those who say that top entrance is bad and advise bottom entrance.
Some love wax foundation and frames others curse them and propagate top bars instead. One takes the honey from the bees and feeds them with sugar syrup and the other claims bees are to winter on their own honey.
Some are creating ventilator hives others do condenser hives.

Im cutting through the Deep Ocean of Beekeeping Views trying to create my own begginer style. I know that my own experience will filter out whats working best for the bees in my locality but one must start somewhere, right?