Join us as we welcome Bill Mares and Ross Conrad to the Phoenix Zoom Channel for a talk on their new book, The Land of Milk and Honey: A History of Beekeeping in Vermont. From a small state comes a big book of beekeeping history. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in how bees and beekeeping got to where they are today in Vermont and the US. The Land of Milk and Honey provides a powerful testament of the state’s oversized leadership to protect our nation’s pollinators and challenges other states to write their own beekeeping histories.
ABOUT THE BOOK: The Land of Milk and Honey: A History of Vermont Beekeeping follows the trials and tribulations of beekeepers in Vermont. This dramatic history begins in the early 1800’s following the life and times of inspired beekeepers that are the advance guard of a line of notable beekeepers that is to stretch through the centuries into modern times. Readers will discover a beekeeping lineage born and raised within a single Vermont county and which establishes a continuity of beekeeping knowledge and skill spanning more than a century. The lineage of beekeeping concludes in the present day as apiculturists throughout the world face some of the most challenging times in over 200 years with the possibility of honey bee extinction rearing its ugly head. Is it possible that by reflecting on the history of Vermont’s beekeepers we can find clues about what is needed to help the honey bee thrive today and well into the future? The Land of Milk and Honey also explores the relationship between the people of Vermont and the countryside they inhabit: a land and people that shift and change through the centuries in ways that directly impact the health and well-being of bees and its beekeepers.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Ross Conrad of Middlebury learned his craft from the late Charles Mraz and his son Bill. Conrad is a former president of the Vermont Beekeeper's Association, a regular contributor to Bee Culture Magazine, and author of Natural Beekeeping: Organic Approaches To Modern Apiculture published by Chelsea Green. He has given bee-related presentations and led organic beekeeping workshops and classes throughout North America for many years. His human-scale beekeeping business, Dancing Bee Gardens, supplies friends and neighbors with honey and other bee-related products, 5-frame nucleus bee colonies in the spring, and rental hives for local pollination.
Bill Mares has been a backyard beekeeper for over 45 years. Raised in Texas, educated at Harvard, Mares is a former journalist, state representative, and high school teacher. Mares has authored or co-authored 17 books on a range of topics, including "Bees Besieged." He has been president of the Vermont Beekeepers Association and the Eastern Apicultural Association. He received the Devillbiss Award from EAS in 2012 and was named Vermont Beekeeper of the Year in 2013. He lives in Burlington, Vermont, with his wife of 48 years, Chris Hadsel.
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Registration is free, but book purchases are welcomed and appreciated--thank you for supporting our author!
You must register on this page to attend the event. The event will stream on Zoom. You will receive an email with the Zoom link after registering. If you don't receive a confirmation email after registering today, contact us right away so we can check for problems now.
Click HERE to purchase a signed/personalized copy of The Land of Milk & Honey: A History of Beekeeping in Vermont.