The exquisite itch (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
doodlemaier) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
bee_folk2011-04-09 09:24 pm
doodlemaier) wrote in bee_folk2011-04-09 09:24 pm
Eve, do I bite your apple?
I was kicking around the idea of becoming certified in beekeeping, today. After a whole lot of searching through the Virginia State Beekeepers Association's website I discovered that the certifying organization was, actually, Eastern Apiculture. On the website there's a tab at the top for "Master Beekeepers/Certification" On the bottom of each page concerning master beekeeping certification was a link that said "prev" and "next" and I was getting increasingly annoyed at how much clicking it was taking me just to get to where someone would actually begin with such a process. Throughout my search for "the point" I learned that they ask that you have "a minimum of 5 years as a serious beekeeper (emphasis mine) in some aspect of apiary management such as a very dedicated hobbyist (check), a commercial beekeeper, working for a commercial beekeeper or as an apiary inspector. . . . (Wait! One can be employed as an inspector and not be a master beekeeper? -2 credibility points). You'll also need a college level course in beekeeping, a letter of recommendation from someone who might, themselves, be a master beekeeper. . or not, apply and be accepted (or not) and then to pass the certification exam (within 80%) consisting of (a $50 fee) a section on theory, one on practice, and some kind of oral presentation.
And then there's the fixed-comb, wooden skep school of keeping bees for which inclusion consists of putting together some wood to form a box, and some bees. . . at which, apparently, any idiot can succeed by simply allowing bees do what they've done instinctively and unfettered for millions of years.
Historically, I've managed to destroy all interest I had in any number of subjects I professed a love for by studying the life out of them; by dispensing with any sense wonder in lieu of cold, dead facts; to trade authentically motivated and productive self-paced, hands-on, made-from-scratch, do-it-yourself learning for measured, scheduled, skull-drudging study. In this process I remembered the differences I had learned at great risk and expense in college between "intrinsic" and "extrinsic" motivation and, in turn, began to suspect that beekeeping, for me, is absolutely no different. I asked myself at that point, do I want to become certified by an hierarchical system with a proven track record of routine decline and near extinction (which at a 100% failure rate I've already a bitter, bitter taste of), or to enjoy a modicum of self-satisfying success with an anonymous group of illiterate peasant farmers who kept bees without issue for thousands of years? Do I follow a path of ancient wisdom or of modern technology? Did I want inclusion or exclusivity? I'm not saying that certification is a shill or master beekeepers don't know what they're talking about. Only that the path we choose for ourselves be genuine. . .
Clearly, I have a couple more years to wrestle with this insurrectionist, black market beekeeper's attitude. Perhaps I'll look back into certification as a master beekeeper at some point. . . or not.
And then there's the fixed-comb, wooden skep school of keeping bees for which inclusion consists of putting together some wood to form a box, and some bees. . . at which, apparently, any idiot can succeed by simply allowing bees do what they've done instinctively and unfettered for millions of years.
Historically, I've managed to destroy all interest I had in any number of subjects I professed a love for by studying the life out of them; by dispensing with any sense wonder in lieu of cold, dead facts; to trade authentically motivated and productive self-paced, hands-on, made-from-scratch, do-it-yourself learning for measured, scheduled, skull-drudging study. In this process I remembered the differences I had learned at great risk and expense in college between "intrinsic" and "extrinsic" motivation and, in turn, began to suspect that beekeeping, for me, is absolutely no different. I asked myself at that point, do I want to become certified by an hierarchical system with a proven track record of routine decline and near extinction (which at a 100% failure rate I've already a bitter, bitter taste of), or to enjoy a modicum of self-satisfying success with an anonymous group of illiterate peasant farmers who kept bees without issue for thousands of years? Do I follow a path of ancient wisdom or of modern technology? Did I want inclusion or exclusivity? I'm not saying that certification is a shill or master beekeepers don't know what they're talking about. Only that the path we choose for ourselves be genuine. . .
Clearly, I have a couple more years to wrestle with this insurrectionist, black market beekeeper's attitude. Perhaps I'll look back into certification as a master beekeeper at some point. . . or not.