Angels in My Garden   Week #49   December 7, 2010

Hello Fellow Gardeners,

I had another topic in mind for this week but I received an email from one of our Angels in My Garden recipients, Kerry Kearney, that reminded me of the ongoing problem of the dwindling honey bee population. Since I hadn't heard too much about it lately, I thought perhaps the problem was resolving itself.  I WAS WRONG.

This is an issue that could potentially affect, not just our gardens, not just the small farmer, not just the honey industry, but our entire food supply. As the opening sentences of this recent article from Fast Company reveals:

“Beekeepers across the U.S. are reporting record low honey crops as their bees fail to make it through the winter. One-third of American agriculture, which relies on bee pollination, is at stake.”

Albert Einstein had this to say about the importance of our bee population.
"If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live."

A condition known as “Colony Collapse Disorder” has been evident in the US since 2005 and there are strong indications that it's related to the use of certain pesticides. The Fast Company article quoted above goes on to say:

“...the problem may be at least partially attributable to clothianidin, a Bayer-branded pesticide used on corn and other crops.
But as we revealed last week, the EPA knew that clothianidin could be toxic when the product came on the market in 2003. So why is it still on the market?”

Here's the link to the complete article.
http://www.fastcompany.com/1709815/why-has-the-epa-allowed-a-bee-killing-pesticide-to-stay-on-the-market

Small-scale beekeeping is becoming more popular as a lot of people are starting to see beekeeping as another way to help save the planet. A friend of mine who bought a small farm in western PA took up beekeeping as one of her first projects. She wants her farm to be self-sustaining and as bees are needed to pollinate many of the crops, the farm can't be self-sustaining without them.

Kerry is doing beekeeping in her yard and sent some great information on a host of amazing benefits of eating real, natural honey. I'm forwarding her article to all of you.

Beekeeping makes a nice compliment to our backyard gardens. In case you're interested, this article on backyard beekeeping provides some good basic information. http://outdoorplace.org/beekeeping/citybees.htm

Reflection: Bees are a fascinating subject. Mankind could truly take a lesson in cooperation from the bees. And what sweeter gift have we been given than the one provided by the bees? As the quote at the top of the page says, they give us so much, but leave everything in The Master's creation intact. Yet, like almost every other element in nature, their very existence is being threatened by – what? Could it be greed? This quote from the Essene Gospel of Peace reminds us that we have to do more than play “lip-service” to restoring an attitude of respect and appreciation for the gifts that nourish our “Holy Temples.”

"The Holy Temple can be built

Only with the ancient Communions,

Those which are spoken,

Those which are thought,

And those which are lived.

For if they are spoken only with the mouth,

They are as a dead hive

Which the bees have forsaken,

That gives no more honey.”
                                                                                    Essene Gospel of Peace Book One, page 51

 

 Until next week,

                                 Peace be with you,

                                                    Rose Mirabai Lord

go to www.makegardensnotwar.com,
click onto Angels in My Garden in the left side bar and scroll down to the bottom

Back to Angels In My Garden