As a business owner, sometimes you have to take a step back and review what you do. Assess if it’s still serving what you want to achieve. My mission is bee health, science backed, to “save the bees” by providing them what they need. I’m doing this for almost 10 years now.
When I founded BeeSafe in January 2013, I didn’t really know where this journey would take me. Obviously, there have been quite a few developments. There were services that nobody wanted, others that I don’t want to do anymore. And now, shortly before BeeSafe’s 10th anniversary, it’s time for acknowledging what I’ve learned on the way to better serve my mission.
Health, nutrition, and education
I grew up with the strong awareness that health, nutrition, and education are the foundation of a good life. This is the heritage I got from my parents and that I’m trying to disseminate myself. It’s also the foundation of BeeSafe. From the health part, this may be obvious: I talk a lot about bee health, don’t I? This also influences human health, by pollination and avoiding malnutrition. So there’s the nutrition part.
But education? Well, this blog is part of that. I try to make bee science accessible. Then, there are articles I write in several beekeeping magazines. Talks I give and some courses I’ve already done. But this part was definitely… underrepresented in my business.
BeeSafe Academy for a good foundation
One of the best compliments I ever got in my life was “You have a vocation to teach!”. This was at the end of a series of lessons I gave in a bees for development program. Over the years, I always thought that I should extend these activities. Because I deeply enjoy them, too. This year, I had help from different people to develop this thought and finally bring it to life.
So, to celebrate BeeSafe’s 10th anniversary, I created the BeeSafe Academy. There, you will find courses, ebooks, and other materials to learn about bee health and everything related to it. I’m very excited about this. To give you an idea about the things you can expect:
- The Bee Health Compendium – an introduction to everything honey bee health. Which is more than varroa and pesticides. This will give you the foundation to improve and maintain the health of your colonies.
- The Bee Health Course – a four-week program for deepening this knowledge and discuss the applications to your specific situation.
- A series of courses on varroa, bee nutrition, bees and agriculture, pollination…
- … and much more.
Stay tuned for more bee health
I hope you will find something interesting. All the details will come beginning of January. If you want to be sure not to miss it, sign up for the Bee Health Letters. You can do so by scrolling down to “Stay current with BeeSafe” and fill out the form.
You can also comment down below what most urgent questions you have about bee health. I’ll do my best to answer them in the courses or in this blog. I already have a list of subjects to write about here next year. But obviously, urgent questions have priority. And don’t worry: this blog will continue, as well as my social media content.
With this outlook, I’ll leave you for a winter break. The next blog post will be online January 6th. Until then, enjoy the time, take care of yourself and your loved ones. See you again in 2023.
