Yum. Honey. I have been reading the book "Bee Keeping for Dummies," and to put it simply, the honey bee is simply amazing. Did you know the drone, male, tries to mate with the queen bee between 200 and 300 feet in the air then if he is one of the chosen ones to mate with her, falls to his death? Ha ha ha, I don't know why I find this particularly amusing...but I do. Something I did not know about bees was that the worker bees are female. Go figure. They are the ones that make the honey, nurse the baby bees and feed the queen. The queen is completely helpless besides reproducing. There is only one queen per colony (or box hive). The only thing she does is lay eggs. And she is replaced about every two years because she starts to lay less than 1500 eggs in a three hour time frame. Talk about a tough crowd to please. 

In a season, a colony (one hive) produces between 60-90 lbs of honey. That's so ridiculously amazing. To give you an idea of how much that is, one gallon weighs 11lbs. A worker bee has to visit five million flowers to produce a single pint of honey and they will travel up to three miles from the hive to find the resources they need. When the season comes to an end in the fall, the queen stops producing eggs and the worker bees kick the drones out because they eat too much and evidently die. If you are ever stung by a honeybee, which is unlikely because they are very docile, you have never been stung by a male or drone because he doesn't have a stinger. Speaking of stinging, my husband is allergic but was de-sensitized as a child. I guess we'll find out if it worked or not :/

I have purchased two colonies/hives. They were put together with the bees inside. If you want more about the pricing visit modernroots.org and click the finance tab. The price of bees isn't necessarily cheap - but that local honey is worth so much more. If you purchase honey within 300 miles you are less likely to have allergies to the pollen around you.

Honey bees produce more than just honey. You can also put their beeswax, propolis and royal jelly to good use. Beeswax alone is used in cosmetics and for medicinal purposes. It has even been allowed for those in European countries to pay their taxes with it. Royal jelly is fed to the queen, it is honey mixed with a chemical found in the nurse bees head. In health food stores it demands top pricing and it is traditionally used as a fertility treatment. Propolis, or bee glue is super sticky. The bees gather this from trees and plants. They use this to fill gaps in the hive and strengthen the honey comb. Propolis has antimicrobial qualities that can guard against fungus and bacteria. The Chinese have used propolis in their medicine for thousands of years. 

Honey bees are a critical part of my self-reliant goals. They pollinate the gardens which result in bigger more bountiful fruits and vegetables as well as pollinate the fruit trees I planted this fall. They are a small little bug that we rely on heavily for our food chain to make a complete circle but rarely take time to reflect how important they really are.
My bees have arrived. They arrived in a starter hive (one box deep) with the bees in them. Given it is May and in Minnesota, things are starting to bloom, I will need to add a second box this week in order to keep those little ladies producing for me. Bees require a lot of water. In order to cool their hive, reproduce, and make honey. I also gave them sugar water so they don’t start eating their supply of honey before they can really get to business with the pollen about to come. In mid-June, I will add a third box deep and possibly in August add a fourth. I should get 80-90lbs of honey per hive. Cannot wait to see how they do this year. Of course, my extra’s will be sold off at the Farmer’s Market for others to benefit from the local goodness.

Visit modernroots.org to follow my self-reliant journey and more about bees! ‘like’ on facebook at facebook.com/modernroots.org

  

The more I learn about beekeeping, the more I love our chickens! 

Just kidding...while I do love the girls and their farm-fresh eggs, they're really
pretty low maintenance. This time of year I'm keeping an eye on the temperature
in the coop, plugging in the heated waterer on frosty nights, surrounding the
coop with straw bales, and adding lots of shavings & straw inside the coop
to keep the girls snug for the winter to come.

The bees, on the other hand, have given me much more reason to read...read...read.
They too were pretty low maintenance in the summer, but now my goal has shifted
from hoping not to get stung, to doing all I can to keep them alive through the
winter. 

The bee inspector says they have plenty of honey stores, and that's a good
thing...it's the food storage they'll use to survive this coming winter. My
mouse guard is in place (evidently hives are considered a cozy winter spot for
the field mice!) and now that the temperatures have dropped to the 20's at
night, I have straw bales surrounding the hive to screen it from the chilly
winds. This weekend I'll wrap the hive in tar paper, replace the bales, then
cross my fingers and wait for spring.

With a break in the weather recently, I've put a ventilation box on the hive. Our neighbor 
has one she used successfully last year, and so we patterned ours to be very similar.

The box is used to give any moisture that builds up a way to escape. Filled with
fiberglass insulation, it also works to prevent condensation from developing on
the underside of the outer cover. If this cold condensation is allowed to form,
it drips down on the bee cluster chilling them to the point that they may not
survive.

To make the box, start with a spare super that fits your hive. A 1-1/2
inch spade drill bit is used to add holes to the sides of the super...2 on each
side.

Each hole is then covered and secured from the inside with #8 hardware cloth. A
length of fiberglass screen is stapled across the bottom opening of the box and
insulation is added as the final step.

Our neighbor's box has several narrow slats across the bottom; however, she
fills her box with sawdust, so the slats work to keep the sawdust in
place.  We opted to use fiberglass insulation in our box, and so didn't
add the slats.

To install the box, remove the outer and inner covers. The ventilation box
will sit directly on the frames of the top hive body. Replace the
outer cover (no inner cover needed) then add two bricks to keep the cover in
place during the winter winds. Periodically during the winter, if a warm days
occurs, I'll quickly peek inside the box to see that it's doing it's job.

And so my learning continues! 

Here's hoping all is well in the hive, and that they've settled down for a long winter's nap.

BeesFree, Inc. announced announced Nov. 13 that it will be a Silver Sponsor at the 2012 California State Beekeeper Association (CSBA) Annual Convention to be held Nov. 12 through Nov. 15 at Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa at Cabazon, CA.  BeesFree, Inc. is the worldwide distributor of both BeesVita Plus™, an innovative composite nutritional food supplement for honey bees that works to prevent the effects of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), and the Beespenser™, an automated external honey bee feeding system. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is a phenomenon in which worker bees from a beehive abruptly disappear. 

The CSBA Convention is the largest state convention in the nation with over 300 attendees per day. These attendees include commercial beekeepers, queen breeders, hobbyists and industry services. The exhibitor floor has up to 30 different industry suppliers showing their latest technology to further beekeeping. The general session meetings feature leading honey bee researchers from across the nation and the world.  For additional information please visit the convention's website.

"The sponsorship is a great opportunity for us to introduce our products to the professional beekeepers in the United States," stated David Todhunter, President and CEO of BeesFree, Inc.  "We expect to see the same enthusiasm from the US market as we have been experiencing in the European market, especially given the uniqueness of our products and the fact that we are heading into a period when beekeepers traditionally feed their honey bees."

BeesFree, Inc., a company focused on developing innovative solutions for the global beekeeping community, owns a patent pending nutritional food supplement that helps honey bees avoid the effects of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and a patent pending automated honey bee feeding system.  Visit BeesFree's website to learn more about why the bees are disappearing, and how beekeepers can combat the honey bee decline.

Statements about the future expectations of BeesFree, Inc. and all other statements in this press release other than historical facts, are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. BeesFree, Inc. intends that such forward-looking statements shall be subject to the safe harbors created thereby. Since these statements involve certain risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time, Bees Free actual results could differ materially from expected results.

This press release is presented without editing for your information. GRIT does not recommend, approve or endorse the products and/or services offered. You should use your own judgment and evaluate products and services carefully before deciding to purchase. 

The first native plant I planted in my garden was Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium purpureum) and it is the perfect plant to introduce gardeners to native plants.

 

We are at our "urban homestead", here at my parents' home in the Big City.  So here is what my youngest son found on my dad's lawn the other night.  It is a swarm of bees, seemingly nesting on the ground.  There were actually two "nests" going, but overnight they combined into one "nest".

I googled bees and found that there is indeed a species that nests on the ground.  I don't think these were that kind, however, because when I dug up the "nest", they were only on the surface.  The neighbors were being tormented by bees on the streetlight in front of their house, so they called the exterminator.  We believe that these are the bees that came out of that light post.

Of course, my son and I, being bee advocates, want to relocate them.  Dad just wants to get rid of them.  We agreed to see what would happen the next day, when it warmed up.  Dad was convinced they would leave on their own.  They didn't.  So now I guess it's my turn.  My plan is to dig up the whole nest at night when they are "asleep" and put it in a bucket with a lid, take it to a more remote location and turn them loose to find a new home for themselves.

 

The following day...

Although a few of them left the "nest" during the day, they seemed to stay nearby, mostly climbing on and seeming to eat the grass, too active for us to actually try to do anything with them.  Once the sun started setting, however, they went back to their "nesting" behavior and sluggishness.  It was then fairly easy to dig a circle around them, lift dirt, bees and all into a bucket, and transport them. We sprayed a light mist of water over them when they became agitated from the digging, which prevented them from swarming us.   

In this video (http://www.youtube.com/embed/rgMk7xSt5Ko) you can see their strange behaviour.  Most of them stayed just like this the whole time, which I guess would indicated effects of poisoning.  A few did venture out and fly around a bit. 

  

Though I suspect they did not survive the poisoning that drove them into our yard in the first place, I feel we did everything we could to give them a chance at survival, and I hope at least a few did manage to build a new home.

For super soothing soaps and lotions made with all natural honey, beeswax, shea butter and goats milk, visit Mrs. D at www.mrsdshomestead.com. 

For more homesteading, homeschooling and simple living adventures, visit Mrs. D Around the Homestead.

Well it seems like forever since I’ve posted a blog here!  It certainly was not intentional.  We’ve just been so overwhelmed getting everything ready for the house to get to the homestead and then getting us to the homestead!  Why does any construction project have to be so wrought with frustrations and disappointments?  I guess that would have been a huge upside to building for ourselves – we could think through all the little things and do them right.  Like where light switches are located and air system vents and not just building to meet minimum code, but better than that.  But, if we were building ourselves, we would still have had to get some kind of temporary housing so that we could be on the property, and it probably would have taken us five or more years to complete it.  Not to mention every free moment would have been consumed with building a house.  This way, we are there, we have a brand new house, plenty of space for all our stuff and yet we are purposefully living below our means.  Instead, we can focus on all the other things we want to add to our little homestead:  fencing, a carport, a woodwork shop, a chicken coop and run, a duck coop and run, a rescue bunny retirement home, cows, more bees, fruit trees, expanded garden, a greenhouse, a barn and corral…whew!  The list goes on (doesn’t it always!).

Speaking of bees, ours arrived!  They were delayed, but only by a week.  And of course they showed up the weekend we were moving!  But we were (mostly) ready for them.  I’ll admit I was a little anxious.  I’ve never been stung (got that out of the way yesterday).  And staying still while you’re being buzzed by hundreds or thousands of bees flying around, well, that just goes against your every instinct.  We worked through step by step, spraying them with our sugar syrup, opening the packages, removing the can of sugar syrup they traveled with, figuring out where the queen was and how she was attached (it wasn’t exactly the same as all the literature we’d read), shaking them out of the box, uncapping the queen cage, hanging her in the hive, replacing the bars and putting  the lid back on the hive.  We were wishing we had a brush to gently move them out of the way to replace the top bars, but then, a stroke of genius…we pulled some of the two foot tall grass stems that are going to seed and used them as a brush.  Talk about organic – and it worked like a charm! My hubby was wearing a short sleeve shirt and no gloves (we both had hats with veils) and he didn’t get stung even once.  I had a long sleeve shirt on and some white gardening gloves and only got stung once – of all places on the inside of my leg.  I guess one landed on my leg and as my legs came together, she thought she was getting squished.  The stinger didn’t even make it into my leg though because it was through my pants.  This morning you can hardly see the spot anymore.  And while it wasn’t something I’d sign up to do every day, now that it happened, I’ve gotten that first sting out of the way and it’s not that big of a deal.

I can’t explain the feeling we had once we were done.  We have SO MUCH to learn yet.  But it was just AMAZING!!  I see why people that get into bees really get into it.  From some strange reason, it felt very empowering.  If you just learn a little about bees and their world and how they function, they are positively incredible little creatures.  We are using top bar hives that my hubby built and we have them set up under a huge pecan tree that’s over 100 years old.  They’ll have plenty of morning sun, but have some cover from the intense late afternoon sun during the summer.  Our tank (pond) is going dry (it wasn’t dug out correctly) so we put water out for them.  We’ll set up a more permanent waterer of some sort in the near future.  We hope they like their wonderful hand-built hives and our place as much as we do!  

Until next time, worms rock and bees rule.

 

What a week it was! It started with an earthquake and ended with a hurricane. Then we were without power for five days. The bees, however, seemed to take it all in stride.

I never expected a 5.8 magnitude earthquake in rural Virginia, but there it was. I was inside the house when the ground rumbled like a huge truck was driving by. Then the chandelier started to sway, and I could hear the glasses in the cupboard clinking. Outside, the bees took no notice.

I was more worried about the predicted wind and rain associated with Hurricane Irene when it roared up the East coast. The master beekeeper who provides guidance at our monthly beekeeping club meetings sent around an advisory by e-mail several days prior to the storm.

At that time the winds were projected to be in excess of 110 kts at times, which was much more severe than we’d had in a long time.  “Winds at that strength can really cause problems with our hives, and it is in our best interest to prepare the hives as well as possible before the onslaught,” he wrote.

He advised us to secure our hives to their stands by using a ratchet strap, or tightly pulled line.  The theory is that if the hive bodies are tightly bound, they stand a better chance of not separating even if they do blow over.  Then he suggested adding extra weight on top of the hives, like heavy concrete pavers and blocks.The lighter the hive, the higher the probability is of it turning over in high winds.

My one hive just sits on a couple of loose concrete blocks, so I was plenty worried. I rummaged down in the basement and found a tie-down strap of some type and tied it roughly around the hive body. Then I placed two concrete blocks on top. It wasn’t the prettiest of set-ups, but I hoped it would be serviceable. Then I waited.

By the next morning it began to drizzle. By afternoon, it became a downpour, the wind started to pick-up and the electricity went off. It was a long night of howling wind.

But by morning Hurricane Irene was gone, and I was relieved to see just a few limbs down on my property. My bees were also spared. I think they were more ticked by the rain that followed off and on the whole following week. The wet weather prevented the forager bees from making their rounds amid the smattering of fall-blooming flowers. 

The autumn nectar flow is much smaller than the spring’s supply. We have goldenrod, wild aster and a wild flowering clematis, but not a lot else in my part of the state. I continue to feed the bees their sugar water and will do so as late as I can before the weather becomes frigid.

Some of you have wondered about the cost of getting into beekeeping. I’ll give you full details in my next posting. But here’s a small preview: Like most hobbies, it’s going to cost you money, not make you money. You do it because you enjoy it.

More in my next posting. 

Time has passed since I wrote my first post, and I’m happy to tell you that my second queen bee has been laying eggs successfully, increasing the bee population in my hive. And here’s how I know!

From the time a queen bee lays an egg, to the time a fully-formed bee emerges from its capped comb, takes 21 days. I took off a month to head north and get out of the hellacious summer of Virginia. During that time, a gracious (and brave) neighbor fed sugar syrup to my bees every other day.

My colony of bees was small and reigned over by a young queen. The life expectancy of a worker bee is six weeks or less when they are actively foraging for nectar. By the first week of July, the nectar and pollen flow slows down to a snail’s pace. There’s not much blooming in mid-summer. I needed my queen to lay eggs and lay fast. So to make it less stressful for the bees, they got their sugar water from a simple feeder.

The feeder is a quart jar with tiny holes pricked in the cap. When set upside down in its wooden stand, the bees are able to enter through an opening and reach the syrup oozing out the holes. The recipe is one part sugar dissolved in one part hot water, with a tablespoon of wine vinegar mixed in. This “bee brew” is the best formula for stimulating egg laying.

Chow time at the bee feeder. 

Upon my return home, I needed to open up my hive and check out how all was going. It had been a hot spell, and I thought it would be best to do my inspection early in the day, before the heat became too intense. First mistake!

There were a LOT of bees in the hive. The forager bees had not headed out in search of nectar yet.

I was too complacent about my protective garb. Second mistake!

Up to this point, the bees had been so docile because they had little to guard. I neglected to tie the cords around my pant legs. I failed to wear a long sleeve shirt under my gloves, so bare skin was visible through the mesh ventilation cuffs.

And then I skipped lighting my smoker. Third mistake!

The smoker creates a smoky mist by burning either store-bought inflammable fuel or tinder-dry leaves off the ground. When puffed out over the bees, it masks the scent of the hive, temporarily confusing them so they remain calm.

So, thus ill-prepared, I took the top off the hive, pried off the inner cover and started to check out the individual frames of comb in the top box. The bees were not pleased.

Suddenly I was surrounded by mob of angry bees. My face was protected, but not my arms where the mesh was. Then I became aware that bees were climbing up my legs. I was getting stung! After all, bees do what bees do!

I threw the tops back on the hive and ran like the wind, whooping and hollering, and swatting bees left and right! I must have looked pretty funny.

When my escape was complete, I surveyed the carnage. I’d killed a number of bees in my flight, and with 15 stings on my arms and legs, that meant 15 more dead bees. Oh, the humanity! I shall not make that mistake again.

On the other hand, I can certainly say I now have an active hive. Tomorrow I shall try opening up the hive again. You can be sure I’ll be dressed appropriately and properly equipped.

I’ll keep you posted!

New bees, bringing home the goodies. 

In bleakly immense numbers, billions of bees, birds and bats continue to perish. These massive, mysterious pollinator exterminations are steadily stinging our food supply and the whole of the natural world.

One out of every three bites of food that we consume is directly linked to pollinators. Thus, as the bees go, so go we.

While the precise cause of bee colony collapse is still argued, clues continue to emerge. Suspects still include mites, viruses, funguses, chemicals, genetically modified plants and associated pathogens, as well as EMF radiation from wireless technology.

According to a widely noted paper in the journal PLoS One, an active part of the problem is a tag-team consisting of a virus and a fungus. Exactly how these micro-entities kill bees remains uncertain. However, researchers did confirm that both the virus and the fungus have their impact in the bee gut. Somehow, the bees’ guts are being rendered vulnerable; then the virus and fungus have their fatal impact.

As for beekeepers, they are increasingly convinced that an underlying cause of this gut-weakening, global death plague is a family of insecticides called neonicotinoids. They are chemicals which mimic the form and function of nicotine, the naturally occurring alkaloid in tobacco. In synthetic, chemical form the neonicotinoids are sprayed on seeds or crops to keep them clear of marauding insects.

By now the neonicotinoids, in combination with a ‘chemical soup‘ of other substances, are widely believed to be a major player in losses being described collectively as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).

Note well the tobacco aspect of this story. It may prove key to a multitude of mysteries. For thousands of years tobacco has been recognized in native North America as chief of the plant world. It is the first and most important plant.

As chief of the plant realm, tobacco can be employed for great good, or for great harm. This has been understood for generations. In this context, the widespread, commercial use of manufactured, synthetic, chemical tobacco — a substance reduced to a base material form — appears as a matter of resounding agricultural and spiritual significance.

Subtle Mysteries 

Mystery lives in the hive. Bees emerging from the hexagonal form of their homes, guided by the position of the Sun, are drawn into engagement with life via the colors and fragrances of flowers. From the exquisite forms of the flowers they draw the dew-moistened essences of nectar and pollen. This they refine within their bodies into the warming, golden, hive-filling elixir that is honey, a sublime food.

Queen of the Sun, a new film opening May 13 in Lincoln — and on other dates around North America this spring — explores the bee, hive, honey, and pollination mysteries with art and intelligence. The film is being widely praised for its nature cinematography, and for serving up insights both scientific and esoteric.

 

 

Queen of the Sun explores how our natural, rhythmic relationship with bees has been fundamentally altered by mechanized, chemicalized, and edgily efficient industrial practices. The film explores also the possibilities and pathways of human beings responding intelligently and helpfully to the death murmurings of the bees by restoring our lands to full, natural, organic health and vitality, while also reorienting bee-keeping practices.

The bee mysteries explored in the film, in combination with the suspected role of neonicotinoids in the collapse of the bees, put me strongly in mind of traditional Native teachings about tobacco. Having traveled and studied with Native elders for nearly 40 years, I am aware of some of the core cultural and spiritual understandings about tobacco, and I regard them as significant.

Because tobacco is understood to play such a key role in the natural world and in human life, and because the derangement and collapse of the bee colonies is so important to our survival, the subject merits both physical and metaphysical study.

The Four Sacred Medicines 

As held in the millennia-old teachings of Turtle Island (North America), tobacco is appreciated as the first plant that Creator gave to the human beings. Tobacco, part of the nightshade family of plants, has a special role, and is chief among the plants — the most significant medicine. Three other plants, sage, cedar and sweetgrass, follow tobacco. Together, since antiquity, they have been spoken of as the four sacred medicines.

As the ancient teachings maintain, tobacco was given to human beings so people could communicate with the spirit world. Said to be powerful beyond contemporary reckoning, tobacco opens the portal allowing that communication to take place in a safe, conscious, and wholesome manner. Traditional people say “always through tobacco.” Tobacco is always first, used as an offering for most everything and in every ceremony.

Tobacco has been used for many generations as offerings of gratitude, for planting, for harvesting, for healings and for acknowledgments. Tobacco pathways streaming prayerful thoughts have characteristic qualities of respect, protection and healing. Tobacco is Big Medicine, Chief Medicine, the main activator of all the plant relatives.

In the past, the naturally occurring alkaloid of nicotine from the tobacco plant was used as an insecticide. In our era a synthetic form of nicotine — the neonicotinoid family of chemical insecticides — has come into wide use. Those commercially sold nicotine analogs bear names such as clothianidin, imidacloprid, nitenpyram, and thiamethoxam.

Using tobacco with wisdom brings protection and communication; using tobacco without wisdom is exceedingly dangerous. Most people are aware of how habitually smoking and inhaling the plant leads to acute health problems, often to cancerous death.

Correspondingly, using a reductionist synthetic form of tobacco as an agricultural or backyard insecticide can lead — and many beekeepers believe is leading — to sickness and death for our essential bee relatives.

Correspondences 

Queen of the Sun notes that the pollinator catastrophe of today was foreseen as early as 1923. That’s when, in a series of lectures entitled “The Bees,” Rudolf Steiner stated that within 80 to 100 years we would see the consequences of our tendency to mechanize the hive forces that had previously operated organically.

Born in Austria (1861–1925), Steiner made his mark as a literary and philosophical scholar credited with dozens of important observations and initiatives. He gave the starting impulse for the biodynamic approach to agriculture. He indicated that as a consequence of meddling with hives, manipulating the queen bees (Queens of the Sun), and a generally mechanistic approach to the otherwise healthy, natural rhythms of the colonies, we would create conditions causing the mass disappearance of the bees. So it has come to pass.

One of Steiner’s related ideas was that an essential spiritual requirement of the modern age is to be aware of the increasingly powerful influence of regressive, materialistic impulses which tend to numb or deaden the living spirit. He cautioned that if mechanical strategies of efficiency were imposed upon the hives, they would wither and fail. With the widespread  use of chemicals, and mechanistic processes such as interrupting brood production, artificial insemination of queens, and clipping queens’ wings, the complex masterpiece of the hive has been tamed into its modern condition.

In metaphysics, the doctrine of analogy and correspondence is the classic approach for exploring the relationship between natural and spiritual realms. The doctrine posits that as the whole of existence is one, all parts are in relationship with all other parts, and different levels (realms or worlds) have correspondences. The parts of the whole are in relationship with one another, and we can learn something about a given realm by examining the corresponding part in another realm.

The ancient Hermetic teachings expressed this doctrine of correspondence in the familiar maxim, “As above, so below; as below, so above.” 

In this context, consider the synthetic forms of nicotine-tobacco, the neonicotinoids. They are created in a manufacturing plant as a chemical that mimics some of the properties of natural, sacred tobacco, and then used to protect plants by killing insects.

Neonicotinoids act as neurotoxins. Bees exposed to them — especially in the context of the modern day ‘chemical soup’ in the environment — exhibit symptoms similar to humans afflicted with neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. They become deranged: normal mind and body functions are disturbed. Derangement leads to progressive paralysis which leads to death.

As derangement and colony collapse surge in the realm of the bees, we can meanwhile observe a corresponding surge – of staggering proportions — in the realm of human beings afflicted with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

As with the bees being negatively impacted by chemicals, a mounting list of studies shows the connection between other chemicals and the soaring rates of both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

These observations stand as no absolute, physical scientific proof of a connection. But as apparent correspondences, they absolutely merit metaphysical consideration.

Stark Realities 

The whole picture of bee colony collapse was cast in the light of stark reality on March 11. That’s when the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) published a report entitled Global Honey Bee Colony Disorders and Other Threats to Insects. According to that report, “The increasing use of chemicals in agriculture, including systemic insecticides and those used to coat seeds, is being found to be damaging or toxic to bees.”

This decline of bee populations, the UNEP report adds, has serious consequences for global food security. Beekeeper Gunther Hauk, who is featured in Queen of the Sun, observes that “colony collapse disorder and the decline of the honeybee is more important even than global warming. Without pollinators doing their tireless work, we wouldn’t have our flowering world, nor 40% of the food we eat and drink.”

Despite numerous red flags, the droning rattle of bee death may grow louder yet this year as farm fields are planted in North America. Despite UN warnings, despite outright bans in Europe, and despite beekeeper protests in the USA, the EPA is again allowing the use of neonicotinoids in 2011.

Late in 2010, thanks to an internal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) memo that came to light via Wikileaks, beekeepers learned that EPA scientists were reporting that a crucial study for the insecticide clothianidin — one of the most widely used neonicotinoids — had been downgraded from “acceptable” to “supplemental.”

The memo stated: “[S]tudies to honey bees show that clothianidin is highly toxic on both a contact and an oral basis….When bees consume guttation (dew drops) collected from plants grown from neonicotinoid-coated seeds they encounter death within a few minutes.”

The leaked EPA memo recommended that a new field study be undertaken along with at least one other study to ensure that the clothianidin, now widely used on crops in the country’s agricultural centers, is not harmful to pollinators.

The memo also made it apparent that the EPA had allowed the neonicotinoid to stay on the market while the crucial study on the subject had been deemed inadequate. Of note, that study had been submitted to the EPA by Bayer, the multinational corporation that is both the maker and the marketer of the insecticide.

In December, right after the leak of the EPA memo, a coalition of beekeeping groups sent a letter urging the agency to issue a stop use order immediately. “Our nation cannot afford, and the environment cannot tolerate, another growing season of clothianidin use,” the letter read.

The letter to the EPA was signed by a host of heavy hitters from the realm of the bees: the National Honey Bee Advisory Board, American Honey Producers Association, American Beekeeping Federation, Pesticide Action Network of North America, Center for Biological Diversity, and Beyond Pesticides.

The groups received the EPA response to their letter on February 18, 2011. Basically, the EPA asserted that “insufficient data exists” to make a conclusive case. “Based on the EPA’s thorough review of the scientific information,” the letter reads, “EPA does not intend at this time to initiate suspension or cancellation actions against the registered used of clothianidin.”

The letter went on to say that “given the concern about the neonicotinoid class of pesticides and protection of bees, the Agency has also accelerated scheduling the comprehensive re-valuation of these pesticides…”

The die is cast for 2011 in North America. Throughout the growing season across the land, the synthetic tobacco that has aroused so much concern – even among EPA scientists — will be in full and widespread use.

Our Cumulative Power 

“Who knows what losses the earth has suffered? One who, with sounds that nonetheless praise, can sing the heart born into the whole. “ – Rainer Maria Rilke

As suggested poetically by Rilke and as taught by Steiner, a first step in addressing the realm of nature is to deepen our understanding of the whole, and the web of corresponding relationships that constitute the whole. We have much to gain from penetrating the mysteries via science and intuition, and much to contribute in response if we authentically engage the call of the bees as one key chorus in the overall call of the land.

In this matter as in so many others that characterize our era, it appears that individuals of good conscience must make their own determinations, set their will, and take their own positive actions.

Toward that end, here are some suggestions for steps one might take on the path toward penetrating the mysteries and establishing conditions which allow the bees and other pollinators to prosper in good health, that we human beings may in turn prosper in good health.

• Provide habitat by planting bee-friendly flowers in your yard such as Black-Eyed Susan, Buttercups, Clematis, and Dhalias. Gardens with 10 or more bee-friendly plants support the most apian visitors.

• Respect plants typically identified as ‘weeds.’ Plants such as dandelions and clover are popular with bees. Consider letting some of these weeds come to flower, then pull them up after they’ve gone to seed.

• Reduce or eliminate lawn chemicals. Many lawn and garden chemicals are lethal to bees, while others may weaken their immune systems. Consider switching to integrated pest management for lawns, or using natural, organic fertilizers and biological controls.

• Join the community of beekeepers in urging the EPA to fulfill it’s core responsibilities to protect us against toxins, derangement, and death and thereby to safeguard the nation.  Sign the petition for a National Honey Bee Day. You can print out copies of the petition if you want to seek further signatures at local garden clubs, coops, farmers markets, CSAs, and so forth.

• Support local organic farms. They are oases of environmental health and thus sanctuaries for bees. Support local beekeepers by buying their honey.

• Consider becoming a beekeeper yourself.  As a simple search will reveal, the Net is loaded with resources for learning.

• Grow a tobacco plant (Nicotiana rustica)  in your yard or in a pot.  Contemplate the plant’s form and qualities

• Offer a pinch of dried tobacco leaf to the land if it meshes with your spiritual practice. Offer, then relax and listen. Tobacco is said to help to open a path of communication, but it is not a one-way path for broadcasting thoughts and desires. We have with this practice a chance to listen to the call of the land and the creatures such as the bees, and thereby to be informed on a necessary level of relationship.

• Check out the resources on the links page for The Call of the Land. Some of the models listed there may help you find a way to add some positive energy in response to the diminishing buzz of the bees and other pollinators.

These may all appear to be small, insignificant steps. They are not. Consider how small is the packet of pollen and nectar that an individual bee carries to the hive. In combination with the efforts of all the other bees, quarts of golden honey flow forth. Likewise, the individual and shared efforts of people to heal our relationship with the land and the hives brings a cumulative, healing power more fully into the world.

© 2011 – by Steven McFadden

Well, I am now dug up. Not that I personally have been buried -- except under mountains of paperwork and random stuff undone. But that patch of lawn in my backyard that I've been glaring at for a year -- OK, nearly two years -- wishing without action that it would become a flower garden, has now been tilled. As you can see, something was needed: 
 

My plan isn't for a lot of edibles this year, except for herbs. I don't have time or energy for much maintenance, so I am going to broadcast  flower seeds madly and hope for much color -- though I'll broadcast in a somewhat orderly fashion, now that I've learned the pollinators are better served by groupings of color. This weekend the weather took a turn to the warm, Barney the Lawn Guy had a few hours to dedicate to my list, and off we went.

Because I live in a fairly new residential area where the soil has been scraped and rearranged to suit the builders rather than the green, growing things, I needed to add some amendments. So I went out and bought bags of top soil -- I know, I know: People GIVE that stuff away. This was easy, and remember, this is to be the lazy person's garden -- and I wanted to get it started. A few bags of Miracle Gro for Vegetables went in the mix, along with three bags of Moonure. I'm certain you can guess the active ingredient on that one.

 

After Barney had tilled the 4-foot strip around the fence and worked in the topsoil and compost, it didn't take my little pup long at all to notice that something had changed in the backyard.  

And from that realization, it didn't take but another three seconds for him to drop down and start rolling in it. Although he looks like a Teddy bear, in significant ways, CP is all-dog, all the time. One of these ways is his deep affection for getting up close and personal with the stinky and the icky.

 So now, there's a new game at my house, called Let CP Out Long Enough to Do His Business But Not Long Enough to Start Rolling. So far CP is winning large.

 Here's me with serious hat-hair, having perspired and dog-wrangled for a couple of hours. My plan is to fill that gnarly space behind me with lots of sunflowers, coneflowers, rudebekia and varoius balms -- plus, of course, a couple of tomato plants, basil and other culinary herbs just because one must. I hope the bees and butterflies like it because this season, it's all about the pollinators. And I hope I don't end up strangling my Cutie Patootie puppy before the summer is over.

Stay tuned ...

Two years ago we added bees to the Chiot's Run Family. We picked up 10,000 ladies from Dave, a local guy who sells them. He knows what he's talking about, these were the hives in his front yard.

 

On our way home Mr Chiot's looked at me and said, "This has the makings of a horrible nightmare. The story would go something like this, 'I picked up my package of bees and all was going well. I heard something in the back of the car and then a swarm of bees attacked my face. I ran off the road into a ditch ....'" We had a good laugh about that on our way home. Such a common misconception that bees are dangerous!

 

When we arrived home we proceeded to follow Dave's instructions for, "the easy way to install a new package of bees". It's much different than the way the books tell you to do it. We decided his way sounded great, and since he's a veteran beekeeper we figured he knew what he was talking about.

 

First we pried to lid off of the box of bees, then we removed the can of sugar syrup and the queen cage (the queens come in their own little cage inside the bigger cage of bees). Then you put the small wooden lid back on to keep the bees inside until you want to release them.

 

Then the box of bees is placed in an empty super on top of the bottom board of the hive (lid on it's removed after we get the queen cage suspended above). This process takes the place of banging the box of bees and then dumping them into the hive, this seemed like a much "nicer" option both for us and the bees.

 

We taped a piece of wood over the opening of the hive to keep the bees inside until we move them outside (this afternoon when it's warm).

 

We then proceeded to hang the queen cage in a super with frames (the part the bees build comb on) above the empty box that has the bee cage in it. We wired her in so that the bees could still reach her. She will be released into the hive in 3 days (thanks for the question Christy).

 

Her cage gets placed over to the side so that the jar of sugar syrup that you put on top to feed them doesn't drip on her and get her wet.

 

After placing the super with the queen on top of the box that has the bee cage in it, remove the lid from the box of bees below, then place a the inner hive cover with a jar of sugar syrup on top so that the bees have something to eat.

 

Then you put an empty box or two (we used 2 because they were small ones) and then the hive cover to keep them warm and to keep them inside. It was a much easier process than we were expecting, thanks to Dave's great installation instructions and the cold weather which makes the bees pretty lethargic. We'll definitely be using this method whenever we instal bees from now on!

 

We kept our bees in the garage for a few days as Dave recommended because it was really cold outside (dipping down into the teens). When the weather warmed up after 2-3 days we moved the hive outside into it's finally destination. Then we released the queen a few days later. Our bees did well that summer and last summer, but they failed to survive this past long cold winter. That means we'll be doing this again, only we're hoping to build Warre hives to put them in (an old fashioned top bar hive).

Do you have bees in your garden or would you ever consider getting them? 

I can also be found at Chiot's Run where I blog daily about gardening, cooking, local eating, maple sugaring, and other interesting things. You can also find me at Ethel Gloves, Simple, Green, Frugal, Co-op, Not Dabbling in Normal, and you can follow me on Twitter.  

EUGENE, OREGON – GloryBee Foods announced today that their annual Bee Weekend will take place April 15th and 16th, 2011. Bee Weekend is a two-day event packed with beekeeping education, distribution of pre-ordered packages of live bees, fun and education for veteran and beginning beekeepers alike. Dick Turanski, founder and beekeeper, will give demonstrations of how to install package bees into hives.

The event centers around distribution of preordered, prepaid packaged bees to area beekeepers. However, the event is not just for beekeepers; GloryBee also welcomes everyone to come and participate in free activities such as bee education, honey tasting, and more! The bee installation demonstrations are a must-see; for non-beekeepers, they offer a rare chance to see a colony of bees “up close and personal.”

Beekeepers start preparing for the beekeeping year early by preordering packaged bees (GloryBee’s ordering deadline is April 8, 2011). Due to the increasing popularity of beekeeping as a hobby, it is recommended to order bees early in case of shortages. Beginning beekeepers can prepare by purchasing beekeeping how-to books and attending beekeeping workshops like those offered through local beekeeping associations. Beekeeping supplies like boxes, frames, foundation and other equipment should be purchased well in advance to allow plenty of time to paint the hives and prepare the frames and foundation. For an easy way to get started, GloryBee offers a beginning beekeeping kit that will get beginning beekeepers off on the right foot.

For people interested in natural beekeeping (beekeeping without the use of chemical treatments or pesticides) and urban/backyard beekeeping, GloryBee has many resources and options available. Naturally managed beehives have been shown to be much more resistant to CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder). CCD (a phenomenon in which worker bees from a colony abruptly disappear), has been a major concern since late 2006. GloryBee carries many supplies used by beekeepers experimenting with natural methods, including a powdered sugar bellows duster, menthol crystals, coconut oil, essential oils and garlic.  

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This press release is presented without editing for your information. GRIT does not recommend, approve or endorse the products and/or services offered. You should use your own judgment and evaluate products and services carefully before deciding to purchase.  

With the hubbub surrounding the honey bee’s plight, folks are turning to promoting native, wild bees for crop pollination. I say it’s about time. I have nothing against honey bees, and I even like honey on steaming hot cornbread fresh from the cast-iron skillet, but with monoculture of any kind, disaster is always just around the corner. Colony Collapse Disorder, mites, you name it and the non-native honey bee is in a world of hurt. Since so many fruit and vegetable crops depend upon bees for success native bees are finally getting noticed, even though there’s no honey or wax byproduct involved.

One of the principal ways to promote a healthy population of native bees around your place is to offer them places to nest. Nesting spots can be as simple as a bundle of paper drinking straws placed in a strategic location. But it is important to protect those straws from the elements. The corrugated plastic totes used in mail handling are perfect for just that.

Agricultural Research Service scientist James H. Cane says that female wild bees will readily use a properly placed, nicely furnished tote as a shelter for their nests. Turned on their long side, the totes can be held firmly in place on a wooden or metal post by means of a lightweight steel chain and a metal support frame.

Folks who want wild bees to live near and work in their fields, gardens and orchards, can use the totes to house nesting materials. Wild female bees like the blue orchard bee, Osmia lignaria (see photo), can use the straws as homes for a new generation of pollinators. A single tote can accommodate as many as 3000 young, which would be sufficient to pollinate an orchard up to about an acre in size.

Read more about this discovery here.

Photo courtesy ARS: Jack Dykinga

Spring, and thus swarm season for the honeybee, are here, “already”. It seems no matter how much planning we do before it gets here, we aren’t ready for it. Everything needs to be done at the same time. With the blooming of the trees and the buzzing of the bees, our laid back winter lifestyle just changed into sunup to sundown activity. Here at Windy Ridge Apiary the bees have had to take a back seat to the other springtime chores. Not that I want them to. I wish my bees were here working those first flowers and the early blooming trees. In the mean time we will get the garden planted, the clover seed spread and the pasture rolled. Since the area I want in clover is covered with grass and weed stems, I am going to try rolling the clover seed in with a water-filled roller. Hopefully this will get it in close enough contact with the dirt to germinate. If it does, pictures will be posted. 

It’s swarm season for the honeybee. Swarms have already issued from southern hives and they are getting ready around here. A swarm is the way a colony of honeybees reproduces itself. It is their instinct to build up in late winter and when pollen is available and the temp is right, a swarm will leave when the newly hatched queen is ready to go. Swarms are good and bad. They can leave a colony weak and not able to make a honey crop. The good is if you can retrieve the swarm you can increase your apiary. Usually the bees don’t land where you can retrieve them without the risk of breaking your neck trying to get the swarm from a tree just a bit higher than your ladder. Our southern friends now have to worry about the swarm being an African swarm. We have heard about the "killer bees" for years. They have spread across the South, and the beekeepers are learning how to deal with them. If you live in the South, be careful about approaching a swarm of bees. If they seem the least bit aggressive, avoid them completely. Swarms are usually gentle. The bees have engorged themselves with honey before leaving the hive, so they have food when they arrive at the new location. The swarms you see are probably from a managed hive since the mites have just about destroyed all the feral colonies. I am putting out a nuc box with a swarm attractant to try to attract any swarms that might be in the area. 

If you have bees, swarms seem to be attracted to your area by the smell of your bees. The hive has a distinct order, which I look forward to smelling again. This is why to me it makes no sense putting chemicals in the hive. So much communication among the bees is done with pheromes the bees release. If you introduce chemical odors the bees lose their ability to communicate effectively, which may be part of the cause of CCD.  If I attract a swarm, I will go through the procedure of hiving the new bees. 

Swarming is natural for the bees, but beekeepers don’t want our bees to swarm since our goal is to have strong, well populated colonies for the honey flow. This is where management on the part of the beekeeper can lessen the chances of a colony swarming. Although once a colony has decided to swarm, it is almost impossible to stop them. Some ways of preempting this is to check the hives as early in the year as the weather permits. A warm day (50 to 60 degrees) with no wind will allow a quick internal inspection. Just be careful not to chill the brood, as this is the time of brood rearing for the spring flow. If a colony has abundant bees at this time, mark them for nucleus division or taking a frame or two of brood and young bees to give to a weak colony. Always check food stores in the early spring also. This is the time the bees will starve. They are raising brood which takes honey and also building their population before the nectar is available. If they are short on stores you can either take honey from a colony with ample stores or feed sugar syrup. Don’t have the mind set that if you have to feed, something is wrong. We supplement feed all of our other farm animals. I went to part of a beekeepers meeting last month. The man talking about checking your bees in the spring made it sound like if the bees need anything now, you’re just wasting your time. I couldn’t follow his logic. That being said, I would suggest a lot of reading from many different sources if you are going to have bees, so you can discern what makes the most sense in managing honeybee colonies. I’ll promote Bee Culture magazine again, it’s the best source of bee-related information I have found. 

I have been assembling the rest of the bee equipment. The frames with the wax foundation is about the last thing to do. The wax foundation is more fragile than I remember. I am going to have to evaluate the value of assembling wooden frames and wax foundation against plastic frames with wax coating. I have bought three such frames and I guess we’ll let the bees decided if they like them. I have read that some bees don’t draw out the plastic foundation very well. Along those lines I will share with you my plans and thoughts about the equipment I am going to use in my next blog. I’ll try to catch some bees at work, too.