Beekeeping Magazine Gifts

Two of the current beekeeping magazines available, both excellent sources of updated information. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Beekeeping Magazine Gifts

The beekeeping community is lucky to have two long-standing magazines that keep beekeepers up to date on new developments.

Bee Culture Magazine, out of Ohio, will be under new editorial leadership in 2020. Editor Jerry Hayes is following in Kim Flotum’s footsteps, offering beekeepers a round robin of upcoming event information across the country as well as a variety of feature stories. The A.I. Root company publication also has BEEKeeping, Your First Three Years focused on beginning beekeepers. I haven’t seen BEEKeeping but based on their other publication it would be safe to say it will be a very helpful resource for beginning beekeepers.

The other beekeeping magazine is American Bee Journal, published by Dadant in Illinois. Editor Eugene Makovac focuses on both native and honey bees as well as some pollinator planting information. I wrote several bee plant articles for the publication earlier this year, something I was glad to do to increasing beekeeper’s awareness of how to feed their bees naturally. I suspect Eugene had his eye more on the recipe for making Chicory roots into coffee, something we had discussed previously.

If I had to choose one, which one would it be?

When I was starting to keep bees, I found Bee Culture to have articles that I could more easily follow and understand. When I passed the 5th year, I graduated to better understanding articles in American Bee Journal. I get both publications and tend to catch up on reading over winter so pardon me if I don’t quite correctly identify the source of a particular bit of information. Knowing the new information is what is important.

If you are a member of Missouri State Beekeeping Association $10 a year, you can get a discounted American Bee Journal subscription. Nice way to bundle both into a gift!

The bottom line is as beekeepers we have to stay on top the current research and recommendations. The day of doing what grandpa did are long gone.

Here are links to their subscription pages:

Bee Culture $25/yr

American Bee Journal $28/yr

American Bee Journal discounted subscription with MSBA membership: $23.80 plus $10 membership.

And starting next year, beekeepers will have an excellent third resource, Two Million Blossoms from Dr. Kirsten Traynor. You can get a sneak preview of the kinds of beekeeping-related articles she plans to have with this one in the inaugural edition from University of Minnesota’s Dr. Marla Spivak on the role of propolis in the hive.

This grand new quarterly magazine will launch January 2020. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Two Million Blossoms offers a hard copy subscription for $35/yr and a digital subscription for $20. I am among the contributing writers to this edition with an article on how to use cardboard instead of chemicals to start a new flower garden.

The nice thing about giving magazines is that it’s a gift that keeps on giving.

Charlotte