The Bees won in Denver!

Nov 27, 2008 by The Tasty Buzz

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 The Tasty Buzz

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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Beekeepers for Obama!!

Nov 4, 2008 by The Tasty Buzz

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 The Tasty Buzz

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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Dream Photoshoot

Nov 2, 2008 by The Tasty Buzz

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 The Tasty Buzz

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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