Last Saturday we hosted our first woodworking course at the Sylva Wood Centre. The course was organised on behalf of the Oxfordshire Natural Beekeeping Group.
Course tutor Matt Mercy uses locally-grown western red cedar and larch for his hives, so the course chimed perfectly with Sylva’s principles of using more sustainably-grown wood products. Matt helped 14 students to make Warré hives. These types of hives are favoured in ‘natural beekeeping’ for their high level of insulation and a ‘chimney effect’, which keeps the bees warmer than some other hive types. Also the hive boxes have shuttered window inserts which allow for non-intrusive observations of bee colony activity and health.
Oxford Natural Beekeeping Group workshop at the Sylva Wood Centre, April 2016
‘Natural beekeeping’ covers a spectrum of approaches to keeping bees which encompass bee-centric, low intervention, chemical-free methodologies. This is a holistic approach that facilitates natural bee behaviours and promotes bee health through providing healthy hive environments and allowing for natural selection of robust ‘hygienic’ gene pools.
Matt Mercy, course Tutor, said:
“I was very impressed with the facilities provided and would highly recommend the Sylva Wood Centre to other tutors”.
Paul Honigmann on behalf of the Oxfordshire Natural Beekeeping Group said:
“many, many thanks for organising our course at the Sylva Wood Centre. Everyone left happy and smiling and with something physical they’d made – and for several, the event was their first face to face meeting with other natural beekeepers – a great day for all”.
Read more on the website of the Oxfordshire Natural Beekeeping Group.
Are you a woodwork tutor? Please contact Paul Orsi if you are interested in running a woodworking course at the Sylva Wood Centre.
