Bee Club Basics 2nd Edition

Second reference book in a three-set series is out. (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

Bee Club Basics 2nd Edition

The second edition of “Bee Club Basics, How to Start a Bee Club” is now out. It’s a helpful guide for those who want to start an educational non-profit. It will also come in handy for those wanting to re-invigorate their current bee clubs. The COVID 19 pandemic has made us all multi-functional so we can meet online or safely in person.

To be successful beekeepers, it’s helpful to have a supportive community. Having a bee club that invites beekeepers to meet, share information and lend a helpful hand is critical to the success of a beekeeping community.

In particular rural areas of the country, where internet service is not reliable, there are still some basic meeting principles that work in bringing people together.

Have you willed the coffee to finish like the rest of us? (Charlotte Ekker Wiggins photo)

I founded a bee club where I live in 2014 at the request of my beginning beekeeping class students. The forms I used to start this club including a club charter, then club by laws and other samples in between, are included in this book for easy reference. They are all collected in the back section for easy access and copying.

i also asked Michele Colopy, LEAD for Pollinators, a non-profit offering beekeeping organizations management advice, to review this edition.

And should you like to see the advice in action, you’re welcome to our club meetings. We put into practice the advice in “Bee Club Basics 2nd Edition” and use the enclosed samples ourselves.

I’ve established a dozen nonprofits since 1979. I know how challenging it can be for a new person to tackle the process. This book makes it more manageable and offers tips from someone who has some experience navigating non-profits. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me with your questions.

This 286-page paperback joins “A Beekeeper’s Diary, Self-Guide to Keep Bees 2nd Edition” as part of a three volume reference series I’m writing. Currently there are no other reference books like mine on the market. Kim Flotum, Bee Culture magazines retired senior editor last year, said I was “revolutionizing the way beekeeping was taught.”

All I am trying to do is to help other fellow beekeepers.

Charlotte

Award-Winning Beginning Beekeeping Book

“A Beekeeper’s Diary Won First Place in the 2022 “How to” Category. (Independent Press Award graphic)

Award-Winning Beginning Beekeeping Book

A potential new beekeeper asked me earlier this week about my award-winning beginning beekeeping book. “Have you used it yourself,” she asked.

After 10 years of teaching beginning beekeeping classes and 8 years of running a bee club, I still do, I told her. “A Beekeeper’s Diary Self-Guide to Keeping Bees” has been used in all of my beginning beekeeping classes, starting with the many check lists I’ve developed over the years to help new beekeepers keep track of all of the decisions they have to make.

Even though I know the book is helpful, there’s some pleasure in hearing others think it’s a good product.

The second edition has a very handy detailed index. (Becky’s Graphic Design)

The Independent Press Awards in 2022 is the latest award. They chose “A Beekeeper’s Diary Self-Guide to Keeping Bees” as the best in 2022 the “How to” nonfiction category. The Independent Press Awards bring increased recognition to the thousands of exemplary independent, university, and self-published titles published each year.
​"A Beekeeper's Diary Self-Guide to Beekeeping" has also been approved by Great Plains Master Beekeeping out of University of Nebraska as covering scientifically-based best management practices. The Great Plains Master Beekeeping program started in Nebraska and now includes Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Kansas.
The diary reinforces information new beekeepers receive in beginning beekeeping classes and guides them through the decisions they have to make to get started. The diary has places for documentation, an important skill for good beekeeping. “It’s easy to skip this step in the first year but by your second year you will be thankful that you have those records.”
If a new beekeeper can’t get to a beginning class, the diary will help fill that gap. I like to be practical!
As much as I appreciate the awards, the best reward is to have a struggling beekeeper say “now I get it” after reading the book!

Charlotte

Multi-Purpose Beginning Beekeeping Guide

Autographing diaries before they get shipped. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Multi-Purpose Beginning Beekeeping Guide

The second edition of the award-winning “A Beekeeper’s Diary Self-Guide to Beekeeping” is now available.

The 310-page large print 8.5x11 inch paperback is available in print with black and white photos and ebook 70% color photos. The book covers the first 3 years of beekeeping and supports beginning beekeeping classes with helpful guides and checklists; stands alone as a helpful guide for those who can't make a beginning beekeeping class but still want to start keeping bees, and includes an extensive helpful index.

This 2nd edition includes 310 pages in large print for easy reading.(Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

A Beekeeper's Diary 2nd Edition is also now a study guide for Great Plains Master Beekeeping's (GPMB) online Apprentice to Journeyman test. The GPMB educational teach-the-teacher beekeeping program is out of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and is now including Missouri in their 7-state program.

Handy check lists guide beginning beekeepers through the options. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The beginning beekeeping book and diary includes basic beekeeping information and guides appropriate to Midwest states.

The diary also includes space for notes. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The diary retails for $34.95 and is available where most books are sold.

Autographed copies are available here.

If you are just starting your beekeeping journey, welcome!

Charlotte

A Beekeeper's Diary 2nd Edition

A Beekeeper’s Diary Self-Guide to Beekeeping @nd Edition cover. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

A Beekeeper’s Diary 2nd Edition

Just in time for winter reading, “A Beekeepers'‘s Diary 2nd Edition” will be available through Amazon and other book retailers as well as Bluebird Gardens for autographed copies.

The book is based on 9 years of teaching beginning beekeeping and is approved by the Great Plains Master Beekeeping program out of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. The book was my original master beekeeping project. I switched to writing a beginning beekeeping class that compliments the book when our state association wanted a basic class that helped to give beginning beekeepers the same consistent information.

The first edition of this book, published March 2021, won third place in the Independent Book Publisher’s Award in home and garden, an honor I am told considering this is an international competition.

The same information is in the second edition as well as a detailed index and more photos as well as detailed check lists to help new beekeepers.

Charlotte