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Just the facts, ma’am

Blogging frustrates me because when I think I am communicating, I am not. Just when I think I am being crystal clear, the reader comments prove me wrong. It can get so bad, I wonder why I bother. Yesterday’s post on organic sugar vs. refined sugar elicited a barrage of comments, e-mails, and Tweets that […] Read more

Is organic sugar better for bees?

A number of beekeepers have said they feed their bees organic sugar (usually organic evaporated cane juice) and they firmly believe they are doing the best possible thing for their bees. Other folks are horrified at the idea because these products are not pure white and, therefore, contain impurities that may cause honey bee dysentery. […] Read more

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My Favorite Books & Bee Supplies
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Buzz: The Nature and Necessity of Bees
The Bees in Your Backyard
A Field Guide to the Common Bees of California
California Bees & Blooms
The Bee-Friendly Garden
Pollination Power
Simple, Smart Beekeeping
The Beekeeper’s Handbook
The Valkyrie Long Hive
The Valkyrie Long Hive is perfect for those who don't like to lift heavy bee boxes.
Bee Wise
Go to the bee, thou poet: consider her ways and be wise.

—George Bernard Shaw
Bee-yond Bees
Bees are more than a hobby; they are a life study, in many respects a mirror of our own society.

—William Longgood
Why Honey Bee is Two Words

Regardless of dictionaries, we have in entomology a rule for insect common names that can be followed. It says: If the insect is what the name implies, write the two words separately; otherwise run them together. Thus we have such names as house fly, blow fly, and robber fly contrasted with dragonfly, caddicefly, and butterfly, because the latter are not flies, just as an aphislion is not a lion and a silverfish is not a fish. The honey bee is an insect and is preeminently a bee; “honeybee” is equivalent to “Johnsmith.”

—From Anatomy of the Honey Bee by Robert E. Snodgrass
State Insects
The non-native European Honey Bee is the state insect of:
- Arkansas
- Georgia
- Kansas
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- New Jersey
- North Carolina
- Oklahoma
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Utah
- Vermont
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
Not one native bee is a state insect. The closest relative of a North American native bee to make the list is the Tarantula Hawk Wasp, the state insect of New Mexico.

Update! Minnesota now has a state bee as well as a state insect. Bombus affinis, the Rusty-Patched Bumble Bee, has been so honored. Good work, Minnesota!

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