Blog Update!
For those of you not following me on Facebook, as of the Summer of 2019 I've moved to Central WA, to a tiny mountain town of less than 1,000 people.

I will be covering my exploits here in the Cascades, as I try to further reduce my impact on the environment. With the same attitude, just at a higher altitude!

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Colony collapse disorder - we're all going to die!!!!!!

Buzz, buzz. Great new hive.I've been avoiding blogging about the recent huge bee die-off as I'm prone to catastrophic thinking and if I let it go too far, then I will spiral into worrying about all those disappearing bee bodies and the impact on our crops, etc.

So, I was somewhat relieved to read today that although our little bee friends have been suffering from some mysterious malady that is causing them to wander off at alarming rates, this "Colony Collapse Disorder" hasn't really affected our crops this year. In fact, California's almond farmers, who are the most bee dependent, are forecasting a record harvest this year. Ditto for other growers.

In spite of perseverating over the state of the honeybees and the fallout, I secretly have been hoping that scientists could attribute it to some nasty Monsanto product that would have to be banned as a result. The cause has yet to be determined, though, so I can continue to worry (and secretly hope) unabated.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

http://www.redicecreations.com/article.php?id=974

Crunchy,

Read the above article. I saw this the other day. It seems that organic bees are fine. It's the "genetically modified" bees and what the commercial beekeepers are spraying in their hives to fight some kind of infestation of mites. One article I read likened them to "frankenbees". It's just too darn bad that people think you can distort these poor bees (cows, plants, whatever) as much as you can with chemistry and breeding to make them produce more.

Hopefully someday people will get the idea that organic farming and gardening is really the best way to do it. Meanwhile, all we can do is plant our home gardens, frequent farmers markets, and vote our conscience.

P~ said...

Sandy, great article wasn't it! I was just coming in here to post a link to the same article HERE. I was greatlky heartened when I read this the other day. That and the fact that I saw a good deal of bees on my apple tree this year.
CC~ I have a tendancy to get a little panicky too when I hear about things like this. It worries you to think about our food lines being so tied to an insect doesn't it? Makes me feel bad for all of the bees I squashed as a boy. (Please Karma I'm sorry!!)
P~

Carla said...

I too hope that this is attributed to some evil Monsanto product.

Crunchy Chicken said...

hey guys - thanks for the article. I hadn't seen that. It's hopeful, but I'd like to see something less anecdotal and more statistics based so that conventional beekeepers might take notice that their practices may be harming their bees and, ultimately, their business.

Sally said...

CC--
I don't have the links, but I did read recently that the Colony Collapse issue is a problem more with the megahives that large-scale beekeepers truck around the country to provide pollination to huge farms. I wouldn't be surprised if those poor bees got disoriented at the very least. On the other hand, I saw a remarkable photo in the little local weekly paper yesterday that showed a wonderfully large hive of bees-- in a cedar tree! The tree looked abuzz (sorry) with activity and was quite heartening. If I find a link to the photo, I'll post it.