Through My Eyes
Wednesday January 15
" Agriculture is deeply indebted to the honeybee. Yet there's a tragedy brewing in the hives. The gentle honeybee has been bred
for profit to the point that it has become easy prey for viruses and parasitic mites that are destroying the species. Pesticides take their toll as
well. Rudolf Steiner's prediction in 1923 that mankind would lose the honeybee in eighty years time is looking ominously correct. The
Japanese now send schoolchildren and the army out to hand pollinate fruit blossoms in the spring. A holistic approach is needed to save the
honeybee and its invaluable role in the cycle of our lives.
Others of us need to focus on Plan B - the humble bumblebee and its solitary cousins; the wasps and hover flies; and the occasional hummingbird.
An orchardist should allow other nectar and pollen sources to grow and flower throughout the season tho build up a dependable wild population.
Bumblebees will fly out in cold, stormy weather ,as well as early in the morning or late in the evening to gather pollen and nectar. Honeybees are
more inclined to keep banker's hours and then only if the weather is nice. The first bumbles of spring in the orchard are the young queens
seeking a nesting site. Boxes filled with upholstery stuffing might entice a young queen, but so will undisturbed compost piles or rotting hay bales.
The early brood is critical to fruit blossoms, but the health of the bumblebee population through the summer is what will ensure a cyclical return.
Simply put, the more flower sources, the more bumblebees."*
( This is just what I happen to be reading at the moment. I hope you are finding it interesting! I will continue with this later.)
* this book that I am reading at the moment is by Michael Phillips and is called "The Apple Grower"