Raising Resilient Bees:
 Natural Beekeeping Courses 
 
Level 1: Foundations & Level 2: Advanced

 

We're Joy & Eric! 

We’re Joy & Eric! For more than 25 years, we’ve been in close relationship with honey bees—learning the hard lessons, the quiet mysteries, and the real-world strategies that help colonies thrive and build resilience.

These courses come from one simple truth: bees do better when we stop forcing them into systems that fight their nature. Our work is rooted in Natural Nest Beekeeping, a beekeeping approach that mirrors a wild nest: starting small, expanding downward (nadiring), supporting natural queen rearing, and preserving uninterrupted brood comb so the colony can organize itself as it evolved to.

Level 1 (Foundations) makes this approach practical and accessible, helping you build confidence with bee cycles, seasonal flow, observation-based inspections, and natural varroa management. Level 2 (Advanced) is for going deeper: refining hive-reading skills, expanding colonies, working with foundationless comb, making splits, and developing long-term resilience strategies.

We hope to learn with you! 

Course Preview👇

 

What you'll learn:

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This course is a companion on your path as a natural beekeeper, a steady, seasonal guide you can return to again and again as your relationship with the hive deepens.

Level 1 is also the perfect hands-in-the-dirt companion to our book, Raising Resilient Bees: Heritage Techniques to Mitigate Mites, Preserve Locally Adapted Genetics, and Grow Your Apiary — bringing the pages to life with the “how,” the “when,” and the “what it looks like in a real apiary.”
We’re here to support the nest, follow their instincts, and make choices that build resilience — in the hive, and in us.

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      Specific Topics Covered:      

 

🍯 Natural Hive Setup
Create a hive that functions like a real nest — from design and materials to placement and orientation.

🍯 Natural Queen Rearing
Learn how to support queen rearing the way bees prefer: colony-led, biology-based, and rooted in the hive’s innate intelligence.

🍯 Sustainable Swarm Management
Work with the bees’ expansion cycle so swarming becomes a tool for health — not a crisis.

🍯 Feeding Without Sugar
Support bees with nourishment that aligns with their biology and the season, without leaning on industrial shortcuts.

🍯 Seasonal Beekeeping Toolkit
Calendars, checklists, and timing guidance to help you stay in rhythm with the land, the bloom, and the colony cycle.

🍯 Making Splits
Expand your apiary by dividing strong colonies in a way that’s sustainable, gentle, and swarm-smart.

🍯 Managing Swarms
Learn how to guide — not fight — the swarm impulse so your bees can reproduce naturally and stay strong.

🍯 Natural Varroa Management
Chemical-free strategies that use hive design, seasonal timing, and bee biology to reduce mite pressure and support resilience.

🍯 Best Practices for Thriving Hives
Nesting space, comb continuity, nutrition, and decision-making frameworks that keep your beekeeping aligned with the bees’ natural rhythm. 

Take Me To The Course!

🐝Next Cohort Launching May 1st, 2026

Our next cohort for the Level 1 Beekeeping Course launches in May 2026. We'd love for you to join us live!

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Don Tipping

Farmer & Seedsman, Siskiyou Seeds

"Much akin to the wondrous distillation that honey bees perform while alchemizing nectar from flowers into concentrated pearls of sweet, nutritious, and healing honey, Joy and Eric have distilled decades of earnest, caring, and arduous work tending their apiaries into pearls of valuable wisdom. "

Sarah Red-Laird

Founder & Executive Program Director, the Bee Girl Organization (BGO); past president, Western Apicultural Society.

"Beekeepers and the bee-curious alike will revel in this fresh offering from long-time honey bee stewards Eric and Joy McEwen. In a conversational and approachable fashion, this husband-and-wife team gracefully offers up solutions to some of the most difficult contemporary beekeeping problems."

Rob Keller

Napa Valley Bee Co.

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"Eric and Joy McEwen cover all the bee basics and the challenges one should expect when getting started. They offer a very genuine depiction, through real-life experiences, of what it takes to manage bees sustainably...a testament to regenerative beekeeping by way of responsible practices, understanding of place, and most of all, the appreciation of deep bee ecology."

 

A Regenerative Path to Resilient Hives, Healthy Land, and a Wilder World.

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      What you'll get with the course:      

đŸŒ»Lifetime access to a complete beginner curriculum, from hive setup and feeding to swarms, queen rearing, and more

đŸŒ»Â Step-by-step lessons filmed on our working farm, with real-world context you can actually apply

đŸŒ»Downloadable tools including checklists, seasonal calendars, and our beekeeper’s toolkit

đŸŒ»Â Weekly live Q&A with Eric & Joy McEwen to deepen your learning, troubleshoot in real time, and stay connected

đŸŒ»Access to our private Diggin’ Livin’ community for ongoing support, shared wisdom, and encouragement as you grow

Join the Course!

Sustainable Practices

This course emphasizes on natural, sustainable methods that prioritize the well-being of your bees.

Expert Guidance

Learn from experienced beekeepers who have successfully implemented these methods.

Lifetime Access

Once purchased, you'll have lifetime access to the course materials and future updates.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

 

Join the Movement Toward Natural Beekeeping 🐝

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Learn a natural nest approach that supports thriving hives, through better timing, better structure, and bee-led management. You’ll gain the skills to work with the seasons, respond with confidence, and keep bees in a way that feels sustainable.
Enroll now and start Level 1.

Sign me up!