Joel Salatin

Joel Salatin of PolyFace Farms is a world-leading example of how a small family farm can become an extremely diverse and profitable Local Food producer, and how the benefits of Local Food Systems can create resilence, stability and abundance for both local farmers and the wider community. Featured in Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and in the films FRESH and FOOD, Inc., Joel and his family at Polyface Farms exemplify successful small-scale farming and the growing relocalization movement.

 
Joel delivered masterclasses in poly-culture holistic grazing of cattle, chickens & pigs as well as marketing and farm succession for Milkwood in 2010, 2011, 2013 & 2015 in Mudgee, Sydney, Kiama & Melbourne.

8 Comments

  1. Hi

    Great post.

    I was wondering why swarm traps need to be 100 metres from hives? I was thinking of putting a swarm trap in the front tree, mostly just out of interest. I would of course re-home them safely but probably wouldn’t keep them long term as I already have two hives in the back yard.

    Do I need to keep swarm traps 100 metres from my hives?

    Cheers

    • If they have swarm baits in them, the thinking is that the baits might attract a already housed colony. We do know folks that just put empty hives near their full hives (without swarm baits) and hope that if the bees swarm they’ll go next door, so to speak…

  2. Saw a scientific paper that said best bait hives are up 5 meters – facing east (rising sun) protected from midday sun and highly visible entry at least 5 cm across. (it recommended strapping on a tree trunk on a lightly leaved tree).

      • yes I know thats the hard part 😀 they put same hives up at different hights and the 5 meter one always won… guess if you have too many competitor bait hives in the area then its worth a try 😀 we had a swarm actually settling in a hollow tree 7 meters up this year ignoring my bait hive 2 meters up around the corner…

  3. oh and putting something soft in front of your own hive when you expect swarming because the bees will settle in front of their own hive to sort themself out before they fly off. The best design I saw had three eaten dried corn cobs (you know whats left over when you have eaten the cob) tied by their cover leaves to a horizontal pole dangling in a little bit overhead in front of the beehives entrance.

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