The Hive Awakening: Never Buy Bees Again
The Hive Awakening: Never Buy Bees Again
A Sustainable Apiary Rooted in Nature’s Rhythm
At The Foraging Bee, we believe beekeeping isn’t just about honey—it’s about connection. It’s about stewardship, curiosity, and choosing a regenerative path that puts the health of bees and ecosystems first.
Imagine an apiary where you never have to buy bees again.
No spring packages.
No imported queens.
No scrambling to replace winter losses.
Just thriving, resilient colonies—built from your own stock, raised in sync with the seasons, and guided by intention.
This is The Hive Awakening.
What Is a Sustainable Apiary?
A sustainable apiary is one that feeds itself.
Where you raise your own queens.
Overwinter your own nucleus colonies.
And requeen, rebuild, and expand from within.
Inspired by the methods of Michael Palmer and adapted for our unique Southern BC climate, this approach brings independence to your beekeeping while nurturing stronger, healthier bees. You’re not just managing hives—you’re building a legacy.
Our Guiding Principles
At The Foraging Bee, our work is grounded in three core values:
Connect – with bees, wild forage, community, and the land.
Explore – the cycles of nature and the wisdom of the hive.
Sustain – through ethical beekeeping, regenerative practices, and self-reliance.
The Secret Weapon: Overwintered Nucleus Colonies
Forget packages. Forget rush orders. Your best investment in sustainability is the overwintered nuc.
These small colonies, overwintered in double-nuc boxes, emerge in spring ready to explode with brood. They become your brood factories, your queen banks, your insurance policy.
You can use them to:
Boost weak colonies
Replace winter losses
Requeen old or aggressive hives
Make new spring splits
Raise fresh queens with local genetics
This method builds a self-renewing cycle. And when done right? You’ll never need to buy bees again.
Raise Queens the Natural Way
Let the bees do what they do best—raise their own royalty.
By selecting your best-performing queens—those that survive BC winters, resist mites, and produce honey—you’re naturally strengthening your apiary each season. With just a few tools and some know-how, you can graft or let your bees raise queen cells the walk-away way.
These queens are:
Locally adapted
Disease-resistant
Free of stress from transport
Already familiar with your forage and climate
It’s not just queen rearing. It’s apiary evolution.
What Will You Do With All Your Bees?
Once you break the cycle of dependence, you’ll find yourself rich in bees. And that opens up new possibilities:
Sell nucs to local beekeepers seeking hardy stock.
Offer queens to your community and strengthen regional genetics.
Donate splits to schools, farms, or new beekeepers.
Expand your own yard responsibly.
Create insurance nucs for next spring’s surprises.
Barter or trade bees for mentorship, equipment, or pollination partnerships.
When you’re no longer buying bees, you’re building a sustainable beekeeping culture.
The Year-Round Rhythm of the Sustainable Apiary
Here’s the seasonal flow:
Winter – Monitor weight, prep gear, plan breeders.
Spring – Split hives, use nucs for support, start queen rearing.
Summer – Harvest honey, requeen, raise nucs for overwintering.
Fall – Feed, combine, wrap, and reflect.
Late Fall – Treat for mites and rest with confidence.
It’s a cycle of resilience. A system that honors the bees’ biology, the climate’s cues, and your commitment to doing things differently.
A Message From Mark Vanderende
Mentor Beekeeper | Public Speaker | Founder of The Foraging Bee
As a beekeeper, I’ve worked through the frustration of spring losses, the rising costs of packages, and the unpredictability of imported queens. That’s why I built my apiaries on the principles of sustainability—so I could grow stronger bees from within and share that knowledge with others.
If you’re ready to awaken your hive, I’d love to help.
I offer public speaking and mentorship for:
Beekeeping groups and clubs
Schools and environmental programs
Pollinator protection and urban agriculture events
Private functions, conferences, and corporate events
Through storytelling, science, and a bit of humor, I aim to inspire others to rethink how we care for bees—and how bees, in turn, care for us.
Let’s Bee Curious. Let’s Bee Sustainable.
Are you ready to never buy bees again?
To build your own queens, overwinter your own stock, and create an apiary that thrives on local strength?
Start your Hive Awakening today.
Connect with Mark Vanderende at www.theforagingbee.ca
Follow us on Instagram: @foragingbee
Book Mark for your next talk or event: info@theforagingbee.ca
Let’s inspire a new generation of beekeepers—one resilient hive at a time.