Smokers of the World, Unite!

Nov 30, 2008 by

Smokers of the World, Unite!

No--I'm not talking about cigarette smokers; I'm talking about bee smokers. You can see me with a smoker in my profile picture--it looks like a tea kettle with a mini-accordion on the back, and is used to blow smoke into the bee hive to calm bees. But what I really wanted to talk about is a protest in Britain a few weeks ago. Apparently 300 beekeepers joined together with their smokers in full effect, dressed in their Sunday best (starch-white bee suits) to protest the dramatic loss of bee hives in the U.K. We're talking 2 million bees in ONE year. Wow. The beekeepers are angry that the government hasn't put enough money towards bee research. It's understandable why they haven't: Beekeepers don't have the same kind of sway that energy and science lobbyists...

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Keeping it Light

Nov 29, 2008 by

Keeping it Light

I love this comic by Lela Dowling about CCD that I found on The Daily Green's bee blog. It's wonderful! Click on this link here to see it in all its...

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Jumping the Gun on CCD

Nov 29, 2008 by

Jumping the Gun on CCD

I just emailed Kim Flottum, editor of Bee Culture magazine and a wonderful blog on beekeeping in The Daily Green. I asked him about a book that came out this spring about Colony Collapse Disorder, titled A Spring Without Bees, by Michael Schacker. I found this book quite illuminating, especially because it pointed to a specific cause of CCD: An insecticide called Imadacloprid (IMD) produced by Bayer Industries. In the book, Schacker makes the argument that IMD is responsible for CCD, and argues that we need to remove the pesticide from our agricultural production. Now, I'm an organic fan all the way, but I also wondered how Schacker was able to be so confident about his conclusion when I hadn't really come across anyone else as confident in my research. So, this led to...

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The Bees won in Denver!

Nov 27, 2008 by

The Bees won in Denver!

Want to know what I'm thankful for? I'm grateful for the Denver City Council passing legislation that allows Denver residents to keep bees in their backyards. This was the result of a recent snafu with a local resident who had a couple hives in her yard and was slapped with a $950 fine if she didn't remove her hives. (See previous post about it here.) Although the proposal passed 10 to 2 in the council, there were still two councilwomen who opposed it, Marcia Johnson and Jeanne Faatz. The women expressed concern that beekeepers don't have to notify or get permission from their neighbors, and were concerned about people with fatal bee allergies. This is an understandable concern, but my hope is that most beekeepers will give a heads-up to neighbors, and encourage them...

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How is aspirin related to honeybee decline?...

Nov 9, 2008 by

How is aspirin related to honeybee decline?

There's a lot of speculation out there about what's causing the bee decline, specifically CCD. Until there's a definite answer, unfortunately, it's especially difficult to rally a movement to stop CCD as well. What do we do? People ask. Buy organic? Support local beekeepers? Keep bees in our yards? How can we help? To answer the above: yes, yes, and yes. But...that's still not enough, as the bees being affected by CCD the most are typically commercially raised bees. So--something has to be wrong with the agricultural ecology that supports the bees. And once you bring large scale farming industries into play (commercial beekeepers typically partner with large commercial farming industries like almonds to get paid for pollination services), things get a whole lot more tricky. If you are seriously interested in CCD and...

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Are bees still on the decline? YES....

Nov 6, 2008 by

Are bees still on the decline? YES.

My uncle asked me this question a few days ago, and I found it disappointing. Not on his part, of course--I was glad he knew about the situation and cared to see where it was at. Instead, my frustration was aimed at the media and the general public and their lack of knowledge on this topic. Why isn't there more news on this? According to an article on CBS news, 36.1 percent of the nation's commercially managed hives lost their populations last year, compared to 32 percent last year. Apparently, the die-off is not quite enough to show a trend, and also isn't quite enough to deserve any real alarm--or so it seems. But I'll be frank here, I think our recent economic meltdown has shown that most people are quite happy to turn...

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Beekeepers for Obama!!

Nov 4, 2008 by

Okay, it's 4pm...just a few hours before the landslide. Yeah, I'm predicting a landslide win, and I have to tell you it makes me weep every time I think about it. I LOVE Obama. I really respect him too, and I think the environment AND the economy are going to be in much more competent hands than the past eight years.Thank you, Americans, for coming together, learning, listening, and putting your time into making this campaign happen. You are the reason for this awesome change, and I can't tell you how proud I am of...

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If you like photographing bees…...

Nov 4, 2008 by

If you like photographing bees…

Then you'll love this blog that David Tejada, my fabulous photographer, did of our photo shoot. It has some footage and some lovely pictures. I think David is a great and talented photographer, and would recommend him for any of your photography needs. You can see his blog...

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Councilwoman Peggy Lehman to the rescue!...

Nov 4, 2008 by

Councilwoman Peggy Lehman to the rescue!

In one of my previous blogs, I wrote about a local beekeeper who was fined by Denver for illegally beekeeping in the city. Well...some interesting things have happened as a result of Marygael Meister's decision to not simply back down and let Denver win the fight. You can read the whole article here, but here's the synopsis. Angry about the fine, especially given the current honeybee decline, Meister resisted the fine and bee hive removal. Trying not to provoke a big fight, the city encouraged Meister to get a special permit for her hives from the board of adjustment. (Sounds like the principle's office, if you ask me. Do they whack you with a paddle for bad behavior?) Anyway, Meister didn't want to do this because she felt it would leave other Denver beekeepers...

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Dream Photoshoot

Nov 2, 2008 by

Dream Photoshoot

So yesterday I did a photo shoot for a magazine article I wrote about bees. (This was my second professional photo shoot of the year, both about bees. Crazy!) The photographer wanted to take pictures of me with bees, but my colony didn't survive this year, so I wanted to find a better setting. After a bit of research and some calls, we located a place in Boulder where Backyard Bees, owned by Laura Tyler and her husband, have a small apiary. Laura made an incredible documentary titled Sister Bee, and I saw her speak at a showing of the film earlier this year. It was wonderful to meet her in person and talk about bees and getting their story out into the media. Anyway, the setting was just gorgeous. The late-afternoon light was...

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Denver Officials Threaten to Jail Backyard Beekeeper...

Nov 1, 2008 by

Denver Officials Threaten to Jail Backyard Beekeeper

Here I am, innocently--yet illegally--working in my urban beehive in Denver. Apparently, I'm not alone among the ignorant. Another Denver woman, Marygael Meister, took a beekeeping class at the local botanic gardens and decided to try her hand at beekeeping as well. She invested about $1,500 in hives and bees and established three bee colonies in her backyard rose garden. Sounds great, right? Especially since bees are facing a mysterious, historic decline all over the world, one that may be mitigated by small-scale local beekeeping efforts. Good for Marygael! And yet, not so good. I read in a recent article that a local neighbor complained to the city about the bees, and the city promptly slapped her a fine of $999 and a possible YEAR IN JAIL if she didn't remove her boxes by...

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