Here is all the information you need to successfully keep your own honey bees. Learn how to plan a hive, acquire bees, install a colony, keep bees healthy, prevent new diseases, harvest honey crops and more. You’ll also find useful information on colony life, colony-collapse disorder, honey bee anatomy and behavior, and apiary equipment and tools. This comprehensive reference will serve both experienced beekeepers with specific problems and beginners who are just getting started.

Would you be prepared if you needed to survive in the wilderness? Survival expert Creek Stewart shares his cache of practical, easy-to-follow tricks to help you transform everyday items into valuable gear that can save your life. Survival Hacks takes you step-by-step through transforming simple objects like soda tabs and plant leaves into essential survival tools.

Should a national disaster occur, how will you respond? What will occur when critical societal services cease to function? As a prepper, you will likely be ready to hole up and live off of your stored supplies, at least for a while. But what do you do during that time? What are your next steps? And how do you defend yourself against others who have not prepared for such a disaster?

Survival covers all the situations that you may face when the lack of governmental infrastructure leads to social upheaval and chaos. Because most of the population is unprepared for a disaster of any kind, this book gives both the trained and untrained prepper valuable information needed to have any chance of survival in a world where organized government assistance may not be available. Importantly, it details the crucial steps you need to take in addition to doing everything other survival manuals advise. These critical tips go beyond stockpiling food, water, and weapons.

Offering battle-proven advice, author Steve Mattoon explores what it takes to survive alone versus in groups, each approach presenting its own advantages and challenges. Discover how best to defend yourself, what to use, and how to most effectively use the tools you have at your disposal. Whether you find yourself in a rural area or an urban jungle, this book will prove an essential addition to any prepper’s bug-out bag.

Swarming is a powerful instinct, one that most successful beekeepers have encountered by their second year. Swarm Essentials outlines the ramifications of swarming behavior (highlighting the often overlooked benefits), proven management techniques, and how to recover and even prosper from a successful swarm attempt. Author Stephen J. Repasky's inaugural publication marks the latest addition to the Essentials series from Wicwas Press and is an excellent read for any beekeeper who hopes to make it past their first year.

This book reintroduces readers to the lost art of affordable, do-it-yourself well drilling.

You will learn how to utilize common materials for the fabrication of percussion bits, sludging pipes, bailer valves, casings, screens, and much more.

Step-by-step instructions on how to rig and operate these low-tech drilling devices for creating your own personal water well (up to 100 feet deep) are also included.

Award-winning author Temple Grandin is famous for her groundbreaking approach to decoding animal behavior. Now she extends her expert guidance to small-scale farming operations. Grandin’s fascinating explanations of how to analyze herd animals’ behavior and of how to understand how they think — (describing their senses, fears, instincts, and memories) — will help you handle your livestock more safely and effectively. You’ll learn to become a skilled observer of animal movement and behavior, and detailed illustrations will help you set up simple and efficient facilities for managing a small herd of 3 to 25 cattle or pigs, or 5 to 100 goats or sheep.

Texas Bug Book is your complete guide for identifying and organically controlling all of the most common Texas insects. Drawing on years of practical experience and research, organic gardening experts Howard Garrett and Malcolm Beck give detailed instructions on how to identify, understand the life cycle of, and control or protect Texas insects, mites, snails, slugs, nematodes and other critters. They also include striking color photos and black-and-white drawings to help you identify each bug. Garrett and Beck highlight the many useful roles that bugs play in nature and offer proven organic remedies for infestations of pest insects.

The Backyard Beekeeper, now in its 4th edition, makes the time-honored and complex tradition of beekeeping an enjoyable and accessible backyard pastime that will appeal to urban and rural beekeepers of all skill levels. More than a guide to beekeeping, this handbook features expert advice for: - Setting up and caring for your own colonies - The best location to place your new bee colonies for their safety and yours - The most practical and nontoxic ways to care for your bees - Swarm control - Using top bar hives - Harvesting the products of a beehive and collecting and using honey - Bee problems and treatments What's New? - Information for Urban Bees and Beekeepers - Using Your Smoker the Right Way - Better Pest Management - Providing Consistent and Abundant Good Food - Keeping Your Hives Healthy With this complete resource and the expert advice of Bee Culture editor Kim Flottum, your bees will be healthy, happy, and more productive.

With just a quarter acre of land, you can feed a family of four with fresh, organic food year-round. The Backyard Homestead is a comprehensive guide to self-sufficiency that gives you all the information you need to grow and preserve a variety of vegetables, fruits, herbs, nuts, and grains; keep chickens for eggs and meat; raise cows, sheep, and goats for meat or milk; raise pigs and rabbits; and keep honeybees. Simple instructions make it easy to enjoy canned, frozen, dried, and pickled produce all winter; use your own grains to make bread, pasta, and beer; turn fresh milk into delicious homemade yogurt, butter, and cheese; make your own wine, cordials, and herbal teas; and much more. It truly is possible to eat entirely from your backyard. Want a companion planner book, too? The Backyard Homestead Seasonal Planner offers expert advice on what tasks to do around your farm and when to do them — no matter where on the planet you call home. Author Ann Larkin Hansen sets the priorities for each area of the farm, including the barn, garden, orchard, field, pasture, and woodlot. For every critical turn of the year (12 in all), Hansen provides an at-a-glance to-do list along with tips and a more in-depth discussion of key topics for the season. Easy-reference charts, checklists, and record-keeping sections help you keep track of it all.

This hardworking addition to the best-selling Backyard Homestead series offers expert advice on what tasks to do around your farm and when to do them — no matter where on the planet you call home. Author Ann Larkin Hansen sets the priorities for each area of the farm, including the barn, garden, orchard, field, pasture, and woodlot. For every critical turn of the year (12 in all), Hansen provides an at-a-glance to-do list along with tips and a more in-depth discussion of key topics for the season. Easy-reference charts, checklists, and record-keeping sections help you keep track of it all.