And C? That would be for Corporate Crops. Chemicals. Colony Collapse. Crap!
It’s getting worse. There were multiple reports this week in the United States and Europe that Colony Collapse disorder – the sudden and mysterious disappearance of worker honeybees first reported in 2005 – has accelerated.
Nobody can figure out exactly why it is happening. Scientists first suspected that a parasitic mite with the colorful name of Varroa Destructor was causing the havoc. Then they investigated a nasty virus called IAPV. But neither proved to be the cause. Now, government agencies in Europe and North America suspect that our over-reliance on pesticides, and our abandonment of small plots of crops in favor of massive stretches of monoculture, has so confused and confounded the bees that they have just given up. They simply won’t pollinate any more. And if they don’t pollinate, our entire food supply is at risk.
Someone should do something about this. And, yeah, that someone is you. It’s time to bring back the bees, and here’s how you can help.
A is for Aster. This is one of honeybees’ favorite plants. By planting small plots of Asters, and other plants that bees love, you provide safe havens for native bees to regain their bearings and get busy again. And the more bees you can keep busy, the more pollination your yard gets to enjoy. Bees also love Andromeda, Anise, Anemone, Apples…you get the idea. Heck, go ahead and grow the whole alphabet.
B is for, well, Bees. All kinds of bees, not just honeybees. And you don’t have to just wait for them to come to your yard, you can easily grow some colonies yourself. It’s pretty easy to make a Bumblebee nest. Bumbles are huge, fuzzy and well-mannered, kind of like an insect version of a sheepdog; your kids will enjoy watching them without much fear of getting stung.
Or try Leaf-cutter bees. These guys just need a weather-proof box to make their home, and you can watch them flying back and forth with small pieces of leaves as they make their nest. It’s like an ant farm with wings.
But if you want the best pollinating bees, do yourself a favor and get some Orchard Mason bees. These small bees are about the size of a pencil eraser, so they can get into the smallest flowers. They wake up and get busy very early in the Spring, and so are very useful if you have fruit trees and other early-flowering plants. They can be raised in a small box in the eaves of a house or a barn. They’re fun to watch and they are much too polite to sting anybody. You can buy them at knoxcellars.com.
C is for Community. If the bees are telling us anything, it’s that raising crops on small plots with less chemicals is what nature intended. So pull out your wallet and give the agro-industrial complex a nasty sting. Buy local and tell ConAgra to take their corn and shove it. Buy organic and give Monsanto the finger. Buy for yourself, buy for the bees.
This is pretty simple stuff, really, as easy as ABC: save the bees, save the world.
– Mike Keeler