I started becoming interested in bees and apiaries a few years back when I saw one perched on the roof in Brooklyn (an apiary, not a bee). I began investigating the notion of urban beekeeping, and subsequently discovered documentaries focusing on "colony collapse disorder". Honeybees are disappearing en mass. Poof. Gone. No mas. This is happening in tandem with flowers losing their scent. Scientists are baffled by this. Something is wrong, and it's not ok. Keep an eye out for this documentary. A little dramatic, but necessarily so. Honeybees are a link in a massive spiderweb of symbiotic relationships, with very tangible end results. One link fails, they all fail. Farming and agriculture as we know it fails. And really, who wants to live in a world where flowers have no scent!?Did you know that over one million bees are rented (RENTED!) annually in the United States to pollinate crops? It helps keep food cost low in the United States, the first documented instance was an apple farm in New Jersey in 1909. And honey is the only food that never goes bad. AND yeah, if you eat something like five pounds of local honey your allergies will probably lessen, but...that's somewhat excessive, don't you think?
There are people who are fighting the food fight, though. Like these guys over at The Woodlands Community Garden. There's hope! There always is. But this is one of those big, indicative of much bigger, problems that isn't going to go away with any manner of quick fix. I'll let these guys finish my tangent for me, as I climb off my late in the day Friday soap box. Cheers. And do the honey bee!!
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