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Beekeeping for Long-term Self Sufficiency, by T.D.
Several years ago I was introduced to a book called Passport to Survival written by Esther Dickey. This book elaborates on how you can provide for all the essential nutritional needs for you and your family with just four basic ingredients– wheat, powdered milk, honey, and salt. As I thought about these four items, I realized that I had it within my power to provide for one of these four items without much change in my lifestyle and without an excess of effort. I live in the city, so growing more than just a few handfuls of wheat in my garden isn’t practical. Powdered milk was out as well. I do know of a few natural sources of salt that I could feasibly collect from; however, based on the cost of salt, I figure it is much easier and more economical, in terms of time and effort, to just purchase plenty of salt and store it properly for my possible emergency needs. This left honey, which meant learning to keep bees.
The idea of beekeeping appealed to me so much that I went out and purchased several books on how to keep bees. After getting comfortable with the idea of beekeeping and getting support from my wife, I decided to go all in. Within a month I had purchased the basic equipment and ordered a starter package of bees. In the first year, with one hive in an area that would not be considered optimal for keeping bees, I was able to harvest 73 pounds of honey. My total time investment the first year was under 30 hours. My total financial investment was $473.
The exciting thing was that I never had to invest another penny into the venture, as long as I was careful about caring for my bees and prudent about caring for my equipment. According to the LDS Food Storage Calculator, a one-year food supply of sugar would include about 60 pounds of sugar. Without going into a long comparison between honey versus granulated sugar, any cook will tell you that when baking and cooking, you need less honey than granulated sugar to provide the same amount of “sweetness” in any particular recipe. Although 60 pounds of sugar is the suggested amount, if the majority of your sugar was in the form of honey, it is possible that you need a bit less than the suggested 60 pounds.
Be this as it may, after my first year of beekeeping, I quickly calculated that to create a steady source of sugar for my family would require more than one hive. The additional investment for each hive, for me, runs about $150. The original investment included the beekeeping clothing and tools as well as the parts for one hive. The second year, I only needed to buy the parts for another hive, since I already had all the other gear. So, I invested in another hive. Then, the second year I harvested 53 pounds from the first hive and 47 pounds from the second hive.
Source: http://survivalblog.com/beekeeping-for-long-term-self-sufficiency-by-t-d/
