beekeeping

I’m thinking about buying a beehive.

I want honey bees, but my brother is leaning more toward bumble bees. Either way, I’m hoping to help out my tomatoes and other vegetables.

Plus taking care of a hive of native bees helps with conservation*.

Because bees have really taken a pounding of late. There’s a real concern that we’ll be looking at the extinction of several species.

“We’ve had several end-of-hive events take place recently. And there’s quite a lot of reason to be concerned” – is the mildest way I can describe it.

Really, we’re looking at a potential environmental catastrophe.

1. Without the bees, there’s going to be a lot more biting insects. (There’s a niche for most everything. And if an opening is created, something is always willing to move in and fill it.)

2. With the depletion of a hive’s numbers, they are left vulnerable to predatory insects. (Hornets, yellow jackets, all kinds of things can get inside a weakened hive, kill the queen, and use the bees as a food for their young.)

3. Without bees to do the work, gardeners will have to seek other means of pollinating their crops. (Remember my zucchini plants that didn’t zucchini?)

4. Without bees there won’t be any honey. (And that would be a real tragedy, because who in their right mind doesn’t love the taste of honey? Sweetness that can be cultivated super easily.)

5. Without bees you won’t see a bumbling buzzing body bobbing and weaving from flower to flower, making the world bloom. (The sight of a fat bumble bee with its small wings busily flapping as it dances over a patch of clover is a nostalgic memory.)

Bees are an essential part of the world.

It would be a real tragedy if we wiped them out. The world would definitely be a lesser place without them.

* I might have to switch to buying a bunch of mason bees. I’m pretty sure they’re what’s local, as I saw them being sold at the Little Valley Nursery back in the spring.