Time: 11am to 3pm
Beekeeping is an ancient practice. We humans have been robbing bees since the dawn of time. Honeybees are amazing beings that work tirelessly for the benefit of all living things. We truly owe our quality of life to the tribe Apini. Honey (the unpasteurized kind from local bees) has, in recent years, been an elixir of mine, so I have a deep appreciation for the honeybee. My thinking is that it is in our best interest to bee-friend the honeybee, and learn to support these wonderful creatures in their endeavor to support life. These are honorable beings, and deserve our utmost respect. Beekeeping is an integral part of wilderness living. Not only do they provide one of the most nutritious, healing, and tasty foods in existence, they pollinate your garden while they are at it. There are many schools of thought when it comes to beekeeping, but of course Ancient Odyssey, is going to practice the oldest method, which comes in the form of Skeps.
A Skep is basically an upside-down basket, in which the bees are left alone to do their thing. This traditional method of beekeeping produces far less honey, but much more wax, and does not stress the bees by forcing comb structure and introducing chemicals. It is however, much more difficult to harvest the honey. Skeps are not commonly used today, as they have fallen by the wayside in replacement of Moveable Frame Beehives, which are the commercial version (so to speak). They are expensive, but easier to use with greater production. The other option for a sustainable, friendly to the bees, easy and potentially free (if using scraps) to construct is a Top Bar Hive. Maybe we will build one of these next year.
The goal of this meetup is to build at least one functional skep. I plan to bring a bushel of tall grasses, which should be enough materials to build at least one. To be on the safe side, if anyone can bring 2 handfuls of tall grasses, it would ensure we have enough materials, and may even have enough to build a couple more. The weft, I plan to harvest on sight. Hope for a sunny day, because we will use spruce roots for this.
Skep in progress |
Warp=long straw or grasses
Weft=spruce roots
Outer coating=cow dung, clay – this can be applied later.
Tools: 1-2” section of cow thigh bone (marrow gone),
bone awl.