Beekeeping with ZEST - Summers, Bill

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Résumé :
?Bee Keeping with ZEST? by Bill Summers This is a book like no other on the subject of honey bees. It addresses the author?s belief and that of his colleague (Dave Durrant) that the welfare of honey bees in a traditional hive fails to provide for their needs as biological systems. This realisation led to the design of the ZEST hive which does do so. It deploys a longitudinal external envelope, with top bee entry and trickle ventilation, made from lightweight insulated building blocks and plastic lattice frames within which the bees draw out their wild honeycomb. The former is DIY from builders merchants and the latter available in boxes of 12. The external envelope is not just a lightweight insulated one, but is sufficiently heavy to provide the bees with a thermal lag of an envelope that is easily thermo-regulated to 35deg, the fundamental requirement of their brood. From the honey bee perspective the ZEST hive overcomes all the problems of other hive designs and frame types. An unintended consequence of the ZEST hive design has been to eliminate varroa. The ZEST is functionally free of it. This is witnessed by the hive debris. The cause seems to be the smaller natural cell size and natural warmth of the hive envelope, both of which speed the biological process of honey bee pupation. The time available for the varroa to mature in the pupating cells is reduced. Their numbers fall to zero rather than rises exponentially. This book and its thesis will prove to be seminal in the drive to solve the problems of honey bee health in all its aspects and manifestations. There has been a recent doubling of beekeepers in the country caused by the ecologically minded seeking to assist honey bees in a better environment. This can be applauded. This book is to assist them and their bees. The ZEST hive is democratic. Anyone can have one. It is cheap, appropriate and amenable to a more self-sufficient way of life. It is a living sustainable system, not a product. It can be entirely D.I.Y. No one owns it. It can be free. Take it. Use it. Have fun. The ZEST hive does a great deal more with a great deal less.

Biographie:
Bill Summers is a writer and soccer enthusiast. His books include:

The Max Miles Soccer Series (ages 8-12), comprised of:
o Clash of Cleats (published October 2018)
o Cracked Cleats (coming December 2018)
o Comeback Cleats (coming February 2019)

The Shannon Swift Soccer Series (ages 8-12), made up of:
o Magic Boots (published October 2018)
o Scuffed Boots (coming December 2018)
o Buffed Boots (coming February 2019)

Red Card, a young-adult novel (published October 2018)

More information and sample material are available at billsummersbooks.com.

Summers began playing soccer at age six in a schoolyard in Oxford, England. A native of Ithaca, New York, he went on to play at Cornell University, where he was captain and named an alternate to the NCAA Senior Bowl. Summers continued to lace his boots deep into his adult years, learning something new each time he crossed the chalk. As a parent, he spent a decade coaching boys' and girls' youth teams. His boots are now untied for good, but he remains tethered to the game through heart, mind, and keyboard.

Summers's first soccer book, The Soccer Starter, Your Guide to Coaching Young Players, was published by McFarland & Company in 2006. His second book, Hospitality Goes Global, was published by the Cornell Hotel Society in 2010. For thirty years, Summers has moonlighted as a sports reporter for The Bernardsville News in New Jersey, where he covered high school soccer, football, baseball, basketball, and golf. His soccer writing has earned awards from the Society of Professional Journalists.

Since his graduation from Cornell, Summers has pursued a professional career in the field of corporate communications. After serving in senior corporate roles, he launched his own consultancy, The Summers Group, in 2001. The firm provides communication counsel and services to senior corporate leaders.