The first bee blog started in October 1995. This page was published in January 1996. It was a pre-blog blog – point form on a simple web page.

Web logs – blogs – have been around for about 20 years this month. That is according to this piece from (where else?) someone’s blog. I have been writing this bee blog – these pages about the politics and science behind beekeeping – for 19 years. I started in October 1995, and from the start, my pages included a ranting and raving page similar to a modern blog. The image above shows you what my January 1996 ‘bee blog’ looked like. When I began this exercise, I was in my 30s, had mostly dark hair, and quite a lot of enthusiasm. As best I can tell, the blog you are reading right now might be the first one ever started. In case you missed that start-up, here is a link to the Beekeeping News Page in my archives.

What good is a bee blog? There is a certain voyeuristic element to reading a beekeeping blog. It is like sneaking a peak under someone else’s hive cover. Except with a bee blog, the beekeeper is tipping the lid for you. Today there are easily 10,000 personal and business beekeeping sites and probably a thousand of those have blogs. Universities and government agencies add another thousand. Many of them are great. Part a beekeeper’s education is to study the tricks, tips, and thoughts of other beekeepers. And then borrow what makes sense. You won’t get a lot of clues from my blog here as this site is more news and opinions than practical bee culture. But if it is the latter you are after, you will find my book, Bad Beekeeping, is stuffed full of beekeeping advice. Not that any of it is good advice – but it is all interesting.