Just Bee Aware.

I went to college, this is what I do best.

Every morning I get my coffee, eat my cereal, check my email, and glance at Yahoo and CNN news. Even a moron knows that we are slowly killing our planet. It's everywhere. It's even on Yahoo...

Fewer bees in US a threat to world's almond supply

By GOSIA WOZNIACKA | Associated Press – 22 hrs ago
http://news.yahoo.com/fewer-bees-us-threat-worlds-almond-supply-190614961--finance.html

This is what I saw this morning on Yahoo. I'm perfectly aware of this "CCD" problem... but are you?- my reader aware of how important our honey bee is? I don't want to bore you with a long, hard to understand serious blog about an insect that you swat at, and fear... I do however want to give you a quick story about something very important and how you can help. I would like you to also appreciate the fact that I have spent two hours of my time researching this info so that I am giving you direct information, and overusing my brain cells just to make this entertaining. After all, I was that kid that fell asleep through lectures and hated sentences that started with "Turn to page..." 

Ok so turn to page 40 of The New American Homestead. Oh wait... that's the end of my lecture. I'm bored already. What? 

No seriously. 

"CCD"=Colony Collapse Disorder. This is important to know because the bees have been disappearing since the Fall of 2006. Like, this farmer walked out to his bee hive and it was empty. Where did they go? No one knows. Imagine all of New Jersey disappearing in one night. Scary. Very Very Scary. Anyway, it's getting worse and there is still no real answer. There are speculations that it could be: " pathogens; parasites; environmental stresses; which include pesticides; and management stresses, including nutrition problems, mainly from nectar or pollen dearth. " (Devito, 139.) 

I believe it is from PESTICIDES. 

Honey Bees are critical for agricultural pollination. Especially high-value crops like berries, nuts, fruits, and vegetables. Oh look... "THREAT to WORLDS ALMOND SUPPLY".  Thats a nut. 

People! We need the honey bee for things to grow. Everyone is raving about the " god loves a farmer commercial "... well I wasn't. Farmers are the ones killing the bees with the pesticides. 

It's not the farmers fault though... it's the government. 

Where did we get our vegetarian food supply from before big tractors? Our small gardens. Do you think we planted a whole field of corn? No, we planted everything together. Some corn, some tomatoes, a cabbage. A nice little garden. 

That changed with machines that allowed us to plant MORE, FASTER, at a CHEAPER price, with the help of our government that ran out small good farmers, and paid the farmer to farm one thing in bulk. Like Corn, Soy, Chickens and Cows. You name it. Its big somewhere, and it's mono-farmed. 

Well this becomes a huge problem. It's not natures way to grow one thing in bulk. Nature doesn't work like that. Have you ever walked into a forest and only found trees? No... you find tons of stuff growing... mushrooms, ferns, moss, grass.... It's an Eco system, it all works together. 

When you plant one thing in bulk, pests come and ruin it. So the "industry's" answer to that is to spray it down with harmful chemicals that were used in WWII to kill people... and spray it on our plants. Plants that we eat. 

mmm... yum. 

Anyway, the pesticides keep the pests away. They also keep the honey bees away.  There was a study that showed a honey bee walking around trying to gather pollen from a sprayed plant. It became drugged... confused... it kept falling off the flower and then flew away... not back to its Queen... just away. It was like a bad acid trip for the poor little guy. 

Soooo this is getting long. How can you help? Oh I'm glad you want to help. First off stay educated and aware. Don't ignore these news articles, you will start seeing more of them... you will start to see your food prices going up, and food quality going down. 

So plant your own garden. Take responsibility. 

If I can do it, so can you... and I'm an idiot. 

If you plant a garden: here are some natural ways to keep pests away:  (By the way, here is an excellent example of my note taking. Your welcome! )

Barriers:

Deer: Build a deer fence or spray your plants with soap. They don't like it. 

Cats: Keep cats from digging by laying narrow sticks or bamboo at various angles 6" inches apart. Arrange them so they roll. 

Insects: put a floating row cover over your plants. 

Snail and Slug "Fence": Copper: reacts chemically with the slime generating an electric shock that deters them from crossing the barrier. 

                  -12" gauge copper electrical wire around the bench legs of your plant stands

                  -Outdoor beds: 2 or 3 parallel rows along the bed frame works.

                   -Cabbage: put a ring around the heads. 

    Basically just surround what you are trying to protect with copper, any kind. 

Natural Pesticide:

Cayenne Pepper or Hot Pepper Spray: Put it in a water bottle and spray it on plants to deter Squirrels. 

Pyrethrium: Quick acting poison that affects insects nervous system

Neem: repels insects and disrupts  their growth cycle

Companion Planting:

Certain crops grow well together. Some crops compete with one another or attract the same pests, some plants are poor companions. Example: fennel and sweet potato always do best planted alone. Asparagus and Tomatoes are friends.  Eggplant like to be planted next to beans and peppers. You can find this all on page 40 of the homestead book, I 'm not going to show them all to you. But this is a great way to naturally keep pests away and insure for a healthy crop and vegetables. 

There are alternative solutions to problems, and the farmers are being forced to go against what they know ... and cheat the system. Most know it's wrong. You know what's right now. 

Start a victory garden. Don't swat at the bees. Watch them pollinate your flowers, they are our friends. Now go hug a tree.

It even says it in my BeeKeeping Book. This book is a little out of date... it's worse now. yay. 

Meanwhile back at the hive: Queen Bee: "Where the hell is Moe he's been gone for 3 hours!?"

Bibliography:

Tullock, John H. The New American Homestead: Sustainable, Self Sufficient Living in the Country or in the City. Hoboken, NJ: Howell Book House, 2012.

Devito, Dominique. Beekeeping: A Primer on Starting & Keeping a Hive. New York, NY: Sterling Publishing Co, Inc, 2010