The Amateur Anthecologist: Links

Here is a list of links I have found to be useful in one form or another. The links are arranged alphabetically within each category.

Plants

These links are more or less associated with plants. Plant identification, plant societies, sources for acquiring plants/seeds, or sites that I have found useful or informative.

Pollinators

These sites are focused on pollinators.

American Bee Journal

This is a famous beekeeping magazine. For me, the most useful bit is the newsletter, the ABJ Extra. The newsletter is most often a recent bee-related study on either plants, bees, bee pests, agriculture, or anything inbetween. Not full of ads. And it's free!

Old Sol Bees

This is where I got my bees. This business is legit, and highly credible. He has bred for resistance to pests, friendliness, good housekeeping, and not too much swarming. My hives have not seen a single mite that I know of, and they have never swarmed.

Pollinator Partnership

From their website: "The Pollinator Partnership is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization and the largest in the world dedicated exclusively to the protection and promotion of pollinators and their ecosystems."

The Great Sunflower Project

This is an ongoing project seeking to create a virtual map of pollinators and their floral preferences in communities and larger regions. Contributors from all over the country can share their sightings of a particular type of pollinator on a plant. All for the benefit of conservation! In particular they are seeking to learn how the declining populations of honey- and native bees are affecting gardens and agriculture.

The Xerxes Society

They are all about the conservation of invertebrates. Bees are one of their main focuses, and they have published a lot of work on the subject including a few books that I highly recommend (See: Suggested Reading).

Others

Sites that I like but have nothing to do with the previous links are found below.

Art Crimes: The Writing on the Wall

Arguably the best resource for photography of "street art" aka graffiti. Thousands of highly skilled artists from around the world are showcased. Their impermanent works are preserved for the duration of the life of the internet.

George Nakashima: Woodworker

Dubbed as "minimal modernism," Nakashima is one of the many evolutions to stem from the Arts & Crafts Movement. His work, though produced in quantity by many skilled workers, retains the spirit by individually selected slabs for each piece, even in a run of fifty. His books are also an inspiration, they grew from a single seed of a dream into a life of dreams.

James Krenov

In my opinion one of the greatest of all furniture makers, and a great writer of a handful of fascinating books. His work and style were another evolution of the Arts & Crafts Movement, but uniquely "Krenovian" and easily distinguished. Reading his books, I gained an appreciation for his work, and a sense of his passion for the craft that was more esoteric than could ever translate to wood.

Sweet Maria's Home Coffee Roasting

My Aunt and Uncle's coffee business, they sell green unroasted coffee beans and other related paraphernalia. Thompson Owen, owner and Uncle, travels to the countries of the coffee's origin and selects the coffee that will be sold. He is world renowned as a taster and is the fairest of them all (fair trade).