Three Seasons of Bees and Other Natural and Unnatural Things

They haul thousands of hives across thousands of miles, for days at a time and make a lot of money doing so. They use sugar water laced with antibiotics and other additives. This hardly seems fair considering that it takes a bee the equivalent of three trips around the world to produce one jar of honey. Another problem with commercial beekeepers who migrate bees all over the country is that disease is being spread among colonies.

The diets of sugar water and chemicals are nutritionally insufficient and the bees are being exposed to a whole range of pesticides that affect them negatively in both the short and long-term. There are videos online of people climbing up into trees, shaking them and tickling them with devices to move the pollen from one tree to another. If you visit the website Beekeeping. Until the refining of sugar cane was developed in the 19th century, honey was the only sweetening agent widely available. It was prized not only as food, but for its uses in folk medicine. Left without honey stores or brood, any surviving bees are doomed.

Honey hunters usually regret having to kill the colony, but they know of no other way to obtain honey or wax. Wild bee colonies are common in many regions of the world, and the gathering of honey from these colonies often occurs when trees containing bee colonies are felled during the clearing of forest and bush for other reasons. Honey hunters or gatherers usually use fire to kill the bees.

People would usually kill the colony with poison before smashing the hive open, but this meant the queen died too, so every year the number of beehives decreased. If you think that this violent behavior is a thing of the past or is something that people in other countries do, consider that it is a fact that bees have a violent defensive reaction when their hives are broken into.

This is why beekeepers wear a protective suit and a veil to protect their faces and necks.

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The suits worn by beekeepers are usually lightly coloured and made of a smooth material, which stops the bees from mistaking them for dark and furry predators like bears. Beekeepers also use smoke to make the bees less likely to sting. First, it masks the pheromones scents released by the guard bees to alert the rest of the hive to a break in. Second, the smoke tricks the bees into thinking that the hive is on fire. In case you are feeling sad about giving up the sweet, delicious taste of honey for the sake of the bees and the planet, you should be aware that there are some amazing alternatives available.

It works in equal proportions to traditional honey in cooking and in baking. It tastes, acts, and feels like traditional honey. It is shelf stable with a long life. Bee Free Honee is also owned and operated by women with an ideological basis for their business. What the Bee Free Honee ladies tell people concerned with the pollinator situation is this: Why not save that precious honey for the bees? When people say they want to support bees by purchasing traditional honey, these ladies politely ask: Bees make more than what they need, not for us, but for their own needs.

They prepare for the future. As the Bee Free Honee ladies say, we need to bring bees back to their natural life cycle. We need to protect them as we do any other species in decline.

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We need to allow bees to regain strength in body and in numbers. About Us Advertise with us! Career Opportunities Contact Us. Vegan Health and Fitness Magazine. For the Love of Bees. Almonds are grown as a monocrop, taking over the landscape. There are no other flowering plants for miles. This is a great post.

How to Really Save the Bees - Humane Gardener

Lawson, I have been following the plight of all bees in general for several years now. I recently read that there have now been several species added to the endangered species list. This saddens me so much. I love this article and that you have written a book soon to released. The release date excited me because it is on my birthday! I would love To have a signed copy. Please let me know how it can get one? Thank you so much for this knowledge and insight into nature of the gems in our world.

Three Seasons Of Bees And Other Natural And Unnatural Things: A Pacific Northwes

Thanks so much for your note and excitement about bees and my book, Shawna! Soil is alive and provides life. Thanks, Susan — your point is well-taken. I appreciate your note, though, and will think about different ways to describe it next time. I thought most of the holes in the ground were ants or earth worms will look much closer this summer. I see fewer bumble bees than when I was young, it worries me.

I am trying to teach my grandkids not to have a freak out attack whenever they see bees or any insect, for that matter. Fear is ou biggest enemy, I think. And I, too, use to think those were all ant hills. I totally agree that unfounded fear is the problem, and fear is also heavily marketed by companies who profit off scaring people into spraying and tearing nature down. I would be interested to know what data can I read to support your claim that honey bees compete with native bees for floral resources, or is that an assumption?

Thanks for your question. Concerns about competition for limited resources are widespread among scientists, particularly in areas with natural habitat — but also in developments that border natural habitat. Here is a sampling:. From German researchers, on red mason bees and introduced honeybees: One thing the bee keepers I interviewed were very specific about was the facts of how we try to keep our landscapes neat and free of what many consider weeds, but in reality, are necessary for the abundance of our world, and in the process, we destroy much bee habitat.

I started thinking about how dandelions and many others we call weeds, are actually quite pretty, even beautiful. Those not involved in food production need to be re-taught in school how important some things are to bees survival and in the process, to ours. I totally agree with the beekeeper you interviewed. If we had more of everything, there would be a lot more to go around for sure. Just having the flowers is not enough for the insects. You must also create a helpful sustainable environment for them to continue their life cycles.

This includes using leaves as your mulch, dead logs and branches to use as nests for insects.

Thanks, Mark — absolutely! Thanks, Julia — good eye! Not nitpicky at all — I really appreciate the correction, and this gave me an opportunity to add a photo that is clearly a squash image from the same series by a scientist in Maine. She took so many wonderful ones, and it would make sense that nasturtium would be mixed in, since people mix nasturtium into squash patches. The flowers looked so similar, but in looking at them again I can see what you mean. I fully agree Nancy.

I gave a TEDx talk on the same idea, using parking lots as a bench mark for habitat dispersal and showing that even parking lots can contribute positively to pollinator populations. Thanks for all your work to get the word out on this idea! Here is a link to the talk! I will catch up offline! Do you know if cinnamon is harmful to bees? Thank you for any information. No it is not. Beekeepers will actually sprinkle cinnamon on the ground around their hives to repel ants.

You should be fine to use. Too many to list here, but here is a really good, free guide to learning more about bee diversity: About ten years ago, we discovered miner bees on a dry hill in our side yard. We enjoy watching them every Spring when they fly over their nest holes in the warm sun.

That sounds like perfect habitat for them. This is some great information that needs to get out there! I like to encourage my clients to help the native bees by planting natives and not cutting down their perennials in the fall! I believe that urban gardens are one of the best tools we have to protect native bee biodiversity.

Hi Shaun, thank you! Your email address will not be published. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. Photo above by Christy Stewart. Featured image, top, by Megan E. Leach In a few short months, the sweet scent of thawing soil will have me searching under trees, along streams and in gardens for new life peeking into the frosty air.

Photo by MaLisa Spring Think these are anthills? They are the nests of native mother bees. Photo by MaLisa Spring Unmulched areas near plants can provide ideal nesting habitat for many ground-nesting bees. Photo by MaLisa Spring Their solitary nature, hidden nests and often diminutive sizes have made most bees historically difficult to observe, even for scientists. Photo by Nancy Lawson Critical to current agricultural systems that manage hives for food crops, the domesticated honeybee dominates headlines as beekeepers struggle to stop mass die-offs blamed on disease, mites, habitat loss and pesticides.

Please tell me you still are! Those resources have been so helpful to me that I was excited to share! An easy read packed with education. Thanks for all those great links! That is wonderful to hear — thank you so much! Hi Marsha, Thanks for your question. Here is a sampling: