Monsanto Invests in Pollinator Research, Ignores Effects of Pesticides Washington, DC--(ENEWSPF)--October 28, 2011. St. Louis-based chemical and seed giant Monsanto Co. has purchased a company called Beeologics, which has developed a product intended to counteract viral agents that plague honey bee colonies in an attempt to stem the effects of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). However, advocates wonder whether the antiviral agent will result in any significant decline of CCD when bees around the country and across the world continue to be exposed to highly toxic pesticides that are known to have serious effects on a range of pollinators, including honey bees. Beeologics was founded in 2007 and is headquartered in both Florida and Israel. Efforts to counteract CCD are commendable, as a range of factors, including viruses as well as colony invaders such as the Varroa mite, are thought to contribute to CCD. Some European and U.S. scientists postulate that losses of biodiversity and food resources, due to climate change, have intensified the problem.
How to Plant a Honey Bee Friendly Garden | The Adventures of Thrive Farm In the winter of 2006 the honey bee population began to die out. Since then, as much as 70% of some bee populations have died as a result of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Seventy farm grown crops, about one-third of our natural food supply, rely on honey bees for pollination. Imagine peanut better without jelly. If the honey bees disappear, so will the grapes and the strawberries, along with many of the other foods that have become not only favorites, but staples of the modern diet. You can help restore the honey bee population with a bee friendly garden. Instruction Honey Bee Friendly Plants Attract and nourish honey bees with nectar producing plants. Long Blooming Flowers Plant long blooming plants, or a variety of plants that will bloom at different times throughout the spring and fall. Honey Bees Need Water Provide a pond, a fountain, or some other fresh water source. Native bees will make their homes in sand Provide a space in your garden for native bees to make their home. Like this:
Grow Your Own Bee Garden: 7 Tips for a Bee-Friendly Habitat Planting a bee garden is becoming increasingly important as across our planet, bees are thought to be suffering increased stress as a result of global warming, and the effect that this has on flowering times and nectar availability. It will take many generations of bees to evolve into stronger colonies able to deal with the change in climate. We depend on the work of bees and other insects more than most of us realise; almost 70% of the food we consume relies on pollination from insects, and bees are a critical part of this army of fertilizers. Meanwhile there is plenty we can do to help. Whether we live in an urban area or deep in the countryside, we can actively encourage bees to thrive in the vicinity of our homes by creating a bee garden, however small that might be! 7 eazzzy tips for your bee gardenCreate a bee garden and plant bee -friendly flowers and shrubs. What plants do you plan to include in your bee garden? Suggested reading from the garden section of Natural Mothers Store
How to Extract Delicious Fresh Honey from Bee Hive Honey Frames Having bees has obvious rewards and some not so obvious. A clear golden jar of honey just waiting to be spread on some warm homemade bread is an obvious reward for sure. This is the main reason most people get started beekeeping, and makes it all worthwhile. But caring for a miraculously organized group of insects and taking pride in their work is unexpectedly moving. I will show you how easy the honey extraction is. As someone who loves to harvest and collect and create things from the farm, the honey extraction is an extremely rewarding thing.
Bee propolis contains all the vitamins and… The importance of honeybees Just how important are honeybees to the human diet? Typically, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, these under-appreciated workers pollinate 80 percent of our flowering crops which constitute 1/3 of everything we eat. Losing them could affect not only dietary staples such as apples, broccoli, strawberries, nuts, asparagus, blueberries and cucumbers, but may threaten our beef and dairy industries if alfalfa is not available for feed. Bees are of inestimable value as agents of cross-pollination, and many plants are entirely dependent on particular kinds of bees for their reproduction (such as red clover, which is pollinated by the bumblebee, and many orchids). Pollination is transfer of pollen from the anther (the male part of the flower) to the stigma (the female part of the flower). Flowers pollinated by bees most often bloom in daytime, and can be different colors (though seldom red). Honeybee pollinated flowers have nectar tubes no more than two centimeters long.
Bee Pollen helps avoid allergies, increase… Without honeybees, we may cease to be If you like almonds, then 2013 brought some bad news. Each year, honeybees from across the country make the trek to California, which grows 80 percent of the world’s almonds, to pollinate the almond crop. But bees have been dying in unusually large numbers for several years now, and this year appears worse than most. The problems we face if we don’t have healthy populations of pollinators, particularly honeybees, extend beyond almonds. Three fourths of the top crops grown in the world require animals – mostly insects – for pollination. Odds are that most of your favorite fruits, nuts and melons are pollinated by honeybees. Across the pond, the European Union has made major strides in shedding light on the role of certain pesticides in honeybee deaths. The pesticides in question are called neonicotinoids. New York beekeeper Jim Doan ended last year with about 700 hives. From mid-June onward, Doan watched his bees die. Doan, for his part, is certain he knows what killed his bees. Yup.
Design Probes - Urban beehive The design of the beehive is unconventional, appealing, and respects the natural behavior of the bees. It consists of two parts: entry passage and flower pot outside, and glass vessel containing an array of honeycomb frames, inside. The glass shell filters light to let through the orange wavelength which bees use for sight. The frames are provided with a honeycomb texture for bees to build their wax cells on. This is a sustainable, environmentally friendly product concept that has direct educational effects.
The Early History of Beekeeping History of Wild Bees and Beekeeping The beekeeper is the keeper of bee collection of honey and the other products that bees product in the hive like beeswax, pollen, and royal jelly. Another product of bees is for resale to other beekeeper. The location of where bees are housed is called an apiary or beeyard. The collecting honey dates back 15,000 years ago, Egyptian art shows beekeeping around 4,500 years ago. Wild bees became domesticated in artificial hive like logs, wooden boxes, pottery, and woven baskets. The Greece apiculture found smoking pots, honey extractors in Knossos; Beekeeping was a highly valued industry. In China the art of beekeeping recorded the importance of quality of wooden boxes if improved the quality of the honey. There are more than 20,000 different species of wild bees. With breeding bees some companies will achieve a selectively breeding and hybridize varieties are disease and parasite resistance, which produces good honey, swarming behavior reduction.
37 Million Bees Found Dead In Ontario It was just a few weeks ago that 50,000 bees were found dead in an Oregon parking lot, and now the ongoing problem has hit north of the border in Ontario, Canada where more than 37 million bees have been found dead. In the past, many scientists have struggled to find the exact cause of the massive die-offs, a phenomenon they refer to as "colony collapse disorder" (CCD). In the United States, for seven consecutive years, honeybees are in terminal decline.The problem has brought beekeepers to crisis in an industry responsible for producing apples, broccoli, watermelon, onions, cherries and a hundred other fruits and vegetables. According to the annual survey by the Apiary Inspectors of America and the US government's Agricultural Research Service (ARS), The number of managed honeybee colonies has fallen by over 30%.US scientists have found 121 different pesticides in samples of bees, wax and pollen, lending credence to the notion that pesticides are a key problem. Source: Prevent Disease
Recommended Books For A New Beekeeper There is an old saying: if you ask five beekeepers what they think about something, you'll get six answers! Beekeeping is an art and a science, and there are countless ways to approach it. There seem to be equally many books on the subject. So where's a novice to start? When I first became interested in bees, I took a small group class. No book can give you the feeling that you get when you get your hands in a hive for the first time. But its hard to know what you’re getting into after just one trip to the apiary, so reading is a great way to round out your knowledge. When choosing a beekeeping book, it’s helpful to consider what you hope to achieve with your bees. With those thoughts buzzing in your brain, take a look at our top five book recommendations for novice beekeepers! Beekeeping for Dummies by Howland Blackiston is a great no-nonsense primer and a handy reference for any backyard beekeeper. Natural Beekeeping: Organic Approaches to Modern Apiculture, 2nd Edition by Ross Conrad.
Russia Warns Obama: Global War Over “Bee Apocalypse” Coming Very Soon The shocking minutes relating to President Putin’s meeting this past week with US Secretary of State John Kerry reveal the Russian leaders “extreme outrage” over the Obama regimes continued protection of global seed and plant bio-genetic giants Syngenta and Monsanto in the face of a growing “bee apocalypse” that the Kremlin warns “will most certainly” lead to world war. According to these minutes, released in the Kremlin today by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation (MNRE), Putin was so incensed over the Obama regimes refusal to discuss this grave matter that he refused for three hours to even meet with Kerry, who had traveled to Moscow on a scheduled diplomatic mission, but then relented so as to not cause an even greater rift between these two nations. “It is clear that these chemicals have the potential to affect entire food chains. ABC commissioned world renowned environmental toxicologist Dr. Pierre Mineau to conduct the research. Eddie
Queen Of The Sun: A Must-See Bee Documentary - Honeybees & Beekeeping A new documentary about disappearing bees, Queen of the Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us?, examines the global bee crisis through the eyes of beekeepers, scientists, farmers and philosophers. According to its website, the film unveils 10,000 years of beekeeping and highlights the impact of industrial agriculture on the relationship between humans and bees. From the makers of The Real Dirt on Farmer John, the film features Michael Pollan, Vandana Shiva, and Gunther Hauk as well as beekeepers from around the world who keep bees in natural and holistic ways. Wild and managed honeybee populations have been in decline for the last 30 years, according to the USDA. The alarming and uplifting 82-minute movie will play in select theaters around the country. How can you help? Check out the trailer for Queen of the Sun. Photo from Fotolia