Re: mentoring

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cgybees
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Re: mentoring

Unread post by cgybees »

I stop by the diary now and then and I noticed a post where you were feeling discouraged because of a negative reaction from the Calgary Beekeepers club to one of your posts...

Ignore 'em. 10 bee-keepers, 15 opinions. There's a wealth of common sense and experience and scientific method in most of what you post here - I think more people than you know are still learning from you (I am).
Allen Dick
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Re: mentoring

Unread post by Allen Dick »

Thanks for the words of appreciation. I only received the one blast, but did receive a number of supportive emails, so I'll persevere. Seems quite a few Calgary members feel that some in the club expect conformity of opinion. I suppose that is why there is more than one bee group in Calgary.

I applaud those who set out to train new beekeepers, but am not too comfortable that some want the newbees to be clones of themselves and share their values. I suppose it is only human to seek confirmation of one''s views, but to demand acceptance and conformity and torture logic to justify it is another thing.

To cite the successes of any particular method of starting out is one thing, but what is never revealed is how many people tried it the 'right' way, failed and dropped out. Those people will not be posting to say that was the case. They are gone and won't be back, or joined the other group.

I have taught beekeeping and talked to lots who have taken the lessons, including some who have taken the recent courses, and I am not convinced that they will be any better at beekeeping than someone who gets a good hive of bees and begins learning then. For one thing, until you have a hive in front of you, all the talk and pictures are just that, talk and pictures.

One of my major obstacles to becoming a good beekeeper was the literature and opinions of other humans.

That is not to say the opinions of people were not useful, but my best teachers were the bees and that continues to this day.

I offered a Bee Day this summer and those who attended learned a lot that they could not learn in a classroom. I hope to have more such events in the coming year and I am very concerned about those who indicated interest and did not attend. I know some will be losing hives as a direct result.
Allen Dick, RR#1 Swalwell, Alberta, Canada T0M 1Y0
51° 33'39.64"N 113°18'52.45"W
http://www.honeybeeworld.com/Allen%27s%20Beehives.kmz
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