History would disagree. For most of human history, there wasn't a separation between beekeeping and apitherapy. The medicinal knowledge of the hive lived alongside the bees themselves. Beekeepers understood honey, propolis, beeswax, pollen, and even bee venom because they lived with the bees. The beekeeper wasn't separate from the medicine. The beekeeper was central to […]

Bee venom therapy is one of the oldest and most powerful forms of apitherapy, the practice of using products from the honey bee hive as medicine. While honey, propolis, pollen, bee bread, beeswax, royal jelly, and hive air each offer their own form of support, bee venom holds a unique place in the healing traditions […]

For as long as human beings have lived alongside honey bees, we have understood that the hive offers far more than sweetness. Honey, pollen, propolis, beeswax, bee bread, royal jelly, venom, and even the air within the hive arise from a living relationship between bees and the surrounding landscape. Each substance carries the influence of […]

Every bee hive begins with a series of choices. The beekeeper chooses the materials, frame style, box depth, entrance size, lid, bottom board, and overall configuration of the equipment. These decisions influence warmth, moisture, airflow, comb building, colony defense, ease of inspection, and the long-term sustainability of the apiary. Our Natural Nest hive system developed […]

Few moments in spring beekeeping create as much uncertainty as opening a hive and finding queen cells. A beekeeper may enter the colony expecting to see the familiar rhythm of brood, bees, pollen, nectar, and fresh wax. Instead, the inspection reveals one or more elongated cells carrying the possibility of a new queen. The bees […]

For the natural beekeeper, queen rearing is one of the most important ways we can support the long-term health, adaptability, and resilience of the honey bee populations in our care. At Diggin’ Livin’, we understand queen rearing as a central part of api-centric stewardship. The queen serves as the reproductive heart of the colony, carries […]

Varroa mites are one of the most important challenges facing honey bees today. These tiny parasitic mites live on honey bees and reproduce inside capped brood cells. They feed on developing bees, weaken adult bees, spread viruses, and can quietly damage a colony long before anything looks wrong from the outside. At Diggin’ Livin’, we […]

An unfiltered talk on why we let colonies raise their own queens, how timing and royal jelly matter, and what local adaptation really looks like on the ground. Conversation Excerpt:Joy: When we talk about natural queen rearing, we mean allowing bees to raise a new queen from egg or larvae of their own choosing — […]

An unfiltered talk on why we let colonies raise their own queens, how timing and royal jelly matter, and what local adaptation really looks like on the ground. Conversation Excerpt:Joy: When we talk about natural queen rearing, we mean allowing bees to raise a new queen from egg or larvae of their own choosing — […]