"James's parochialism seems to have led him to a false optimism.

> Phil Chandler...

And you did not mention David Heaf, who would be another good example.

But neither of them beekeepers advocate practices that overtly doom hives.

They advocate paying lots of attention to the bees, and taking definitive
action when they start to suffer from one thing or another.

David follows a more strict biodynamic path, and while not all these
practices translate well to the climate on the east coast of the US, there
is at least a rational basis for a good part of it.  Biodynamic beekeeping
gives lip service to Steinerism, but it is cagey enough to allow things like
formic and oxalic acid treatments for varroa.  Gotta love a quasi-mystical
set of practices that keeps up with the times and lets your bees live.

He keeps corresponding, so one of these days, David is going to help me to
wrap my head around "Nestduftwarmebindung", or at least help me to
understand it enough to figure out a objective test for the existence or
non-existence thereof.

To summarize the difference between UK and USA "alternative" beekeepers is
that the UK alternative beekeepers are not that far away from the
mainstream.  The USA has beekeepers who burn sage in their smokers because
it is "cleansing to the spirit of the hive".  (I sprayed a solution of
ammonium nitrate onto the smoker sage when the beekeeper's back was turned,
and gosh we had some fun that afternoon!)


	

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