Farming Friday- Hungry Bees

Last weekend while at a birthday party the topic of bees came up.

The Viking Homestead has two bee hives on the property. Bees have a normal 3 mile radius that they fly in search of food, pollen and water.

For the most part we don't have problems with many of our neighbors regarding the bees. Many of our neighbors support the bees because they also see the value of the bees. Mother Nature 101- without bees you do not have flowers. Without flowers you do not have seeds. Without seeds you do not have the next generation of plants. Without honey.....

 So, you can imagine the irritations we have when we discover one unsupportive and ignorant neighbor actively killing the bees in their yards by spraying and chopping back their plants. Many of the bug, bee and wasp insecticides don't kill on contact. What they do is make the bee toxic which then flies back to the hive and contaminates the hive. These same insecticide toxins contaminate the wax, honey and future generations of bees. 

These same toxic contamination then contaminate my food source and livelihood!

Then a thought occurred to me while I was listening to this person complain about the bees, in which they are not allergic too. Could this be the reason for the mysterious hive collapses? When a hive dies that creates a shallow gene pool for the bees. Instead of having a robust pool for the Queen Bee to pick from it has become more limited. Thus creating weaker bees that can't defend itself like it used to. 

Before you pick up a can of spray to kill those bees; rethink your options and the consequences. 

The following list of honey have been tested to be NOT honey.

Thank you for my listening to my morning rant.

Viking Mom.