And the hits just keep on coming. More on our pollenating friend.
Hard winter for honeybees Local beekeepers attribute unusual loss of hives to strange disorder, many other factors
This sounds very serious to gardeners and farmers. I've already talked with two beekeepers. Will plant some extra flowers to help draw in the bees to my garden this year.
Last year I got completely engrossed in watching a bee work an echinacea bloom and packing the pollen into its' saddle bags. Then there's watching the first couple of zuchs fizzle and then everything getting back on track when the bees show up.
Billy expounded:
You can manage your bees organically, but you really can't claim to provide organic honey. Unless you're in the middle of 8,000 square acres.
phorbin expounded:
What then does organic bee keeping mean, if the product isn't organic? Is 8,000 acres a legal definition or hyperbole?
That was my thought.
My wife (organic gardener and activist) was, if I recall correctly pointed to the site by the Canadian Green Party Agriculture Critic, who is an organic beekeeper.
Do you keep bees?
It starts with not forcing the bees to grow unnaturally large. The rest amounts to philosophy of maintenance and the substances used for maintenance.
It's not hyperbole. Bees will travel substantial distances.
Billy expounded:
No, it's not hyperbole, Billy. That's the radius a honeybee will forage within.
Organic beekeeping means putting nothing in the hive but the honeybee and comb and managing all of the pests/problems organically.
phorbin expounded:
Yes, we do. We have three apiaries and right now have ten hives, but that will grow this season. We're 'backyard beekeepers', we do it for the enjoyment of it, we do sell honey, but it isn't a major portion of our income - heck, it'll take us years to pay back the investment in equipment! But it's lots of fun, and the learning is amazing.
OK. I'll google my questions.
Billy expounded:
Hoping to find something to disprove me? Knock yourself out.
I wonder if your googling will lead you here?
phorbin expounded:
Not nice, just polite. That way he can call you anything he likes, as long as he couches it in 'polite' terms.
I understand that there is a whole "freak" of paranoids out lookin' for you. Good luck with that.
Meantime I came up with:
At the Bee Yard:
Organic honey must come from organic bees. Hives that have existing honey in them are forbidden to become organic. Organic honey must be produced from naturally foraging bee colonies that are located at least
2 miles (straight-line flight) from any source that could cause the honey to contain pesticides or herbicides. Within this 2 mile radius no pesticides or herbicides may be used, and must not have had any chemical application in the previous 3 years. Feeding of bees is prohibited. If feeding is necessary to prevent starvation, the honey produced is not organic.(Note: A circle with an area of 8,000 acres [square or not] has a radius, to two places, of 3.2 km or 10,534.75 feet. Yeah, yeah, I know, the last four digits are noise and the 5 in the third place should have be rounded up. I'm off the clock, OK?)
Hives need to have all of their parts (supers, queen excluders, etc.) numbered to prevent accidental use in non organic hives. All hive parts must be made of wood. Comb foundations must be made from organic beeswax.
The extraction facility must be certified organic.
All organic honey must be certified by an approved organic certifying agency. The USDA's NOP program (National Organic Program) certifies the agencies. Dutch Gold and McLure's are certified by PCO (Pennsylvania Certified Organic) who inspects our facilities on behalf of the USDA. Dutch Gold only accepts honey from areas that are certified organic by an NOP approved certifier; furthermore the certifier must have physically visited the organic producing area.
Terramycin for treating foulbrood disease,
Apistan for Verroa mites,
GardStar for treating small hive beetles, nor
Bee Go to chase bees instead of using a smoker.
We meet all the standards of Organic Certification including: GMO Free, Land Certification, Beehives Certification, Producer Certification, Processor Certification.
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I gave a cursory look at the site you posted Ann (still with us?)
Another case solved Kato, my little friend. To all of our readers, I want to wish you 'appiness;-)
Billy expounded:
Never with you, buddy.
That's one nasty 'tude you got on you girl.
That is the measure of it :-)
I've been around networks for 24 or so years. I've seen it all and said some of it in my testier moments.
I stick to who and what interests me these days and summarily bin the rest. The rule-set of my newsreader allows me very flexible and indepth ways of binning the rest.
Bees and beekeeping interest me.
Billy expounded:
You've earned every drop of it, Billy.
Unfortunately bees travel up to two miles for pollen and since clover is starting to dissappear rapidly as we make McMansions everywhere, the bees are in peril. The only way to insure organic honey is to have an enclosure for the bees which are making the honey. It's so sad what's happening to bees. Soon there will be none and goodbye food.
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