I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing that I have about 200,000 bees in my backyard that I talk to every day. I love them. I can see them from my kitchen counter where I drink my morning coffee and I can hear them through the windows on the rare moments that it's quiet in my house.

We started bee-keeping for 3 reasons:

1. My daughter has horrible seasonal allergies and we believe - as does our doctor - that year long exposure to the pollens that trigger the allergic reactions will lessen her allergy symptoms. It's just like getting an allergy shot, except it's delicious and there are no needles. It seems to have worked really well.

2. I love honey, and I use it in everything, so I just wanted to make my own.

3. We're serious farmer / garner types and wanted them to help us with our gardens.  And they have, spectacularly.

And yes, honeybees are in serious trouble.  As you said, no one really understands it or knows why. I lost all my bees last year.  This year, they're doing so well that they already swarmed. (Bees generally swarm when they are too crowded.  Meaning they are reproducing enough and saving enough honey and pollen that they have no room. So they grow a new queen and take off for roomier pastures.)

If you want to help the honeybee situation, there are a handful of things you can do.

1. Stop using chemical pesticides in your garden.  There are several working theories that suggest that the chemicals in pesticides are in the pollen and being brought back the to the hives and having a detrimental impact on the bees. And / or just killing them.

2. Start planting bee friendly plants. Your garden could be a safe haven for the bees.  The won't hurt you, and they will amply reward you with more blooms than you've ever had before. 

3. Support local farmers.  This may sound silly, but another working theory is that the cross-country shipping of bees from one crop to another thousands of miles away is messing with their "homing" senses. So supporting local farming probably has a tangential effect of supporting bees. Many local farmers that I know (in fact, all of them that I know) are alos beekeepers because it heightens their yields, and is just part of the natural  / organic cycle we're shooting for.

4. Start beekeeping yourself.  It's fun and easy.  Really.  They do all the work, you just ahve to set it up for them.  It is rewarding and a GREAT science lesson for the kids. FInd your local beekeeping association (in Seattle, where I live, that would be Puget Sound Beekeepers, and they'll have resources for getting started. And then buy books, ask questions and just go for it.) 

And a few other things that you may not know about honey...

1. A bee will fly 2 - 3 miles to get pollen and nectar. Holy Moly! (some say up to 5!) So in order for a type of honey to really be declared a single type, you have to prove that your bees only have access to that one single crop. That's why most honey is just called wild flower honey.

2. Even so, they'll go to what's closest and easiest. So, if you "pull" your honey supers (the narrow frames in which they store honey) after a particular honey flow, you'll know what you've got. And yes, they all taste very different. Blackberry honey is almost clear in color and has a super delicate flavor. Maple honey is almost as dark as molasses and I think it tastes like Vicks Vaop-O Rub. Orange blossom honey really does taste like orange - and it's my favorite. But I have no orange trees near me, so I get it from a friend.

3. If you use honey in baking it helps to retain moisture. No joke. I always switch out up to half of the sugar in any recipe and substitute honey, you will have moist baked-goods like you wouldn't believe. (And if you're brave enough to switch to using lard, they'll melt and crumble in your mouth, using something that's totally  natural and been used for centuries!)

But honey is expensive, so find yourself a local beekeeper and buy it directly from them. It will cost way less, and you will be supporting the local organic community.   

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Alyssa Royse

Just Cause It: A Web Site To Save The World

Start Her Up: A Blog for Women Entrepreneurs

This may be my favorite out of all your BlogHer posts so far! And what a serious topic to pay attention to.

Kalyn Denny
Kalyn's Kitchen

We buy honey at the farmer's market - I have kind of an addiction to the stuff. Anyhoo, our bee guy says that his bees are fine, but he says he doesn't shop them out for pollination work where they contact unknown bees. He also told us a tale about - get this - the California almond lobby getting Congress to relax import rules on additoinal bees so that immigrant labor bees carrying unknown viruses have been spreading their bad mojo to our native bees. I can't confirm or deny that, but he's passionate about his bees all right and I love to buy yummy golden goodness. He also tells us that the strongest chemistry he uses in his hives is Dr. Bronner's soap and lavender oil.

I'm psyched that the folks that make food are doing awareness efforts around CCD. We NEED our bees for, you know, food and stuff. 

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Nerd's Eye View

There's a really great documentary about CCD called "Silence of the Bees".

Here's a link to the film company's website. They periodically re-Broadcast it on PBS.

http://www.partisanpictures.com/bees/trailer.html 

My town sprays malathion for mosquito control... three days in a row this week.... even though the material safety data sheet for this chemical clearly states "highly toxic to bees".  I've told them.  Again and again.  They don't care.  This is chemical farming country.  Who needs bees?  I suspect this sort of activity goes on all over the country and nobody is paying attention.

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