This well-researched and cleverly assembled infographic, 21 Buzzworthy Facts, is the work of Jake Lane of LawnStarter, Inc. I especially like that it doesn’t say anything about “one-third of all the food we eat” (I’m really tired of that), it does not try to glorify CCD as the next Armageddon, nor does it try to […] Read more
For the past few weeks, I have been gleaning tidbits from both natural beekeepers and the conventional kind. On one day, a speaker explained that Nosema would go away if we just stopped using Fumigilin. The next morning, I took an exam on how to test for Nosema, and how and when to use Fumigilin […] Read more
While traipsing through the farmer’s market last weekend, I met a beekeeper with an interesting question. Having heard that honey bees are poor pollinators of alfalfa, she wanted to know where alfalfa honey comes from. How does that work? Honey bees are, indeed, second-rate pollinators when it comes to alfalfa. When the bee sits on […] Read more
Last Wednesday the USDA released its newly redrawn Plant Hardiness Zone Map. The map is based on the average lowest winter temperature in a given area—not the lowest temperature ever—and is calculated from data collected over the last 30 years. The new map was compiled at Oregon State University using GIS software. Plant Hardiness Zones […] Read more
A new study, conducted in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, suggests a disturbing relationship between climate change and the pollination rate of a specific flower, the glacier lily. The research—performed over a 17-year period by Professor James Thomson from the University of Toronto—is due to be published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: […] Read more
Of the many on-going bee projects across the globe, one in particular has caught my attention. The project, a documentary film entitled More Than Honey, will be “a film about bees and beekeepers, about pollen and honey, about biology and business.” The film is an international endeavor directed by Markus Imhoof from Switzerland and co-produced […] Read more
Today, Saturday August 21, is National Honey Bee Awareness Day. I read somewhere that the goal of this day is to “promote and advance beekeeping, to educate the public about honey bees and beekeeping, and to engage the public in related environmental concerns.” It’s these “related environmental concerns” that are most troubling, and it will […] Read more