Neo-Beekeeping &
NPA Foundational Philosophies

  • Relational-Cultural Beekeeping acknowledges the value in a mutualistic approach to working with other beekeepers and with the bees themselves. It welcomes all perspectives and encourages self-awareness of implicit bias towards gender and cultural values and their related approaches to beekeeping.

    Read about: Relational-Cultural Theory (RCT)

  • Noble Path Apiary promotes Mindful Beekeeping in which a keeper uses their own self-awareness and observational skills to guide their interactions, ultimately prioritizing the needs of the animals over the needs of the keeper.

    Read more about: Mindful Beekeeping

  • Love, the Untamed

    By appreciating the wild, “the untamed” sentient beings living their authentic lives within their given ecosystem, we have an opportunity to learn who we are and how we fit into the natural world ourselves. For that gift, and in the moments that we merge with nature again, we offer our devotion and love to the untamed.

  • Our thoughts beget our words which beget our reality. Words are important and powerful. How we talk about our bees and our activities as tenders of bees paints a picture of the relationship and value of each role. For example:

    Queen Bee: Denotes authority, royalty and a god-appointed role. In reality the queen has an egg-bearing role that could be defined as narrow, limited, and repetitive.

    Worker Bee: Denotes subservience, single-mindedness, and basic. In reality, the worker bees are the daughters of the queen and have an impact on the hive that rivals the egg-bearing role of the queen. They develop physiological changes throughout their lives that allow them to move through no less than five different skill sets that contribute to the survival of the hive. They also determine when a queen needs to be replaced.

    Drone Bee

    Colony vs. Society

    Pinch the Queen

    Cage the Queen

    Swarm

    Extract

    Robbing

    Excluder

As with all fields of study throughout human history, change becomes necessary as environmental pressures mount and goals shift.

The field of beekeeping (apiculture) has evolved over thousands of years alongside shifts in agriculture and technology, research and industry. And now, in this era of social and cultural awareness, self-reflection and a mounting need for environmental awareness provides beekeepers with an opportunity to evaluate their relationship with the insect at the center of their craft.

Whether a backyard hobbyist, a commercial service or product provider, or a researcher, HOW we relate to the bees we tend must be explored and evaluated. It is through our relationship with bees that we, as beekeepers, may deepen our understanding of self while balancing the our needs with those of the local ecology, and of course, bees. Through our relationship with bees, we have a unique opportunity to question the practices from the past, and explore methods that reduce interference with bee societies and shift towards mindfulness.

The following are topics related to this Neo-Beekeeping Philosophy. They are expansions on established theories in psychology, in Eastern philosophy, and observational biology.