Evening with Hannah Nordhaus

We went to Auburn, Calif for an another event at Placer High Auditorium. It was put on by "One Book, One Community" - an Evening with Author Hannah Nordhaus hosted by Beth Ruyak on Thursday, April 16, 2015

National bestselling author, Hannah Nordhaus, appeared  to discuss her book, “The Beekeeper’s Lament.” She tells the remarkable story of John Miller, one of America’s foremost migratory beekeepers, and the myriad and mysterious epidemics threatening American honeybee populations. The interview went very well and Hannah read many passages from this book and others. It was a very enjoyable evening.

All the while, hiding backstage in the 'wings', was John himself rolling around in a wheelchair - still recovering from a beekeeper accident,

Marlene Zuk, Los Angeles Review of Books:

“The Beekeeper’s Lament is not only about bees, or the people who make a living off of them, fascinating as both of these subjects are. It’s about the dying of rural America, the way we grow and sell our food, the reason people take risks… It is a poignant and keenly observed narrative.” 

 John Miller talks about The Beekeeper's Lament:

Review by Marla Spivak

The Beekeeper's Lament: How One Man and Half a Billion Honey Bees Help Feed America

Throughout this book, I kept exclaiming, "Yes! That is how it is." Hannah Nordhaus has managed to capture the special relationship between bees and beekeepers and the stresses both are experiencing. In the end we come to understand that keeping bees alive and healthy is not easy. Some people are quick to point a finger at commercial beekeepers as the culprits behind bee losses. But all beekeepers care deeply for their bees. Norhaus clearly portrays how beekeepers face a deal with the devil when they move their bees into orchards and other crops for pollination. Everyone that eats almonds, fruits and vegetables needs to understand this vital and ironic situation.
Nordhaus walks us into the world of bees through the eyes and heart of John Miller, a commercial beekeeper who transports his 10,000 colonies of bees between North Dakota and California for honey production and almond pollination. John is wacky, inspired and earth-smart, and he is the perfect person to represent beekeepers in America. The book is hilarious, disturbing, and very accurate; it's the best book about beekeeping I've read in a very long time.