Bee-cause

But then, you already know this!

2009-12-10T11:39:00.000-08:00

More Compost, Less GHGs from Landfills

When composted and returned to the soil, organic matter provides multiple benefits. It locks carbon in soil; improves the structure and workability of soils (reducing the need for fossil fuels for plowing and tilling); improves water retention (irrigation is a heavy consumer of energy); displaces energy-intensive synthetic fertilizers; and results in more rapid plant growth (which takes CO2 out of the atmosphere).

But, when organic waste ends up in landfills, the organic content (paper, yard waste and food scraps) putrefies, producing methane (CH4), a greenhouse gas 20-70 times more potent and damaging than carbon dioxide (CO2).

The Solution: Zero Waste

A far better approach is known as Zero Waste, which aims to close the loop on all material used in the economy. Under Zero Waste, each element of a source-separated waste stream is subjected to minimal treatment so that it can be reused. Clean, source-separated organics (including kitchen discards) are composted or subject to anaerobic digestion; usable goods are repaired and re-used; other materials are recycled

Besides saving resources and money, and generating green jobs for local communities, Zero Waste produces far less pollution than so-called waste disposal techniques. It eliminates methane emissions from landfills by diverting organics; it eliminates greenhouse gas emissions from incinerators by closing them; it reduces greenhouse gas emissions from industry by replacing virgin materials with recycled materials; and it reduces greenhouse gas emissions from transport by generally keeping such materials close to the end-user.

Watch the Zero Waste Zero Warming video

Hooray!!

2009-12-10T11:36:00.000-08:00

USDA Certified Organic Household Cleaners are Finally Here!
Greenology Products has made history.

The word "natural" continues to remain undefined and is often confusing to consumers. Many manufacturers push the boundaries of what is truly considered natural. Because of this, Greenology Products spent 18 months developing a line of organic All-Purpose, Bathroom, Glass & Kitchen Cleaners that met NOP (National Organic Program) requirements and are certified by the USDA. We have recently won approval for the world's first and only certified organic Laundry Detergent as well. It wasn't easy, but we were on a mission to change the way cleaning products are produced and used by families and businesses.

Wanting to significantly raise the standards bar in cleaning was easy motivation for us because so much evidence points to chemical related health symptoms and poor indoor air quality at home, school and work.

As for performance, our Glass cleaner was given a "BEST" rating by the New York Times in a May 14th, 2009 review against 19 other national brand Glass cleaners. Not only are we certified organic, but the products work extremely well and are competitively priced against the national brands. It's a win for consumers and families.
http://www.greenologyproducts.com
Or give them a call

1-877-473-3650

ahhhhhhhhhhh

2009-11-22T22:28:00.000-08:00

You'll watch this more than once!

http://vimeo.com/837725

My Dear Mr. Watson!

2009-11-22T22:10:00.001-08:00

Next summer when we gaze down upon our hives and see a plethora of headless bees we have Craig to thank for the why and whom!

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/206326/10_giant_japanese_hornets_vs_10_000_honey_bees/

And so it goes

2009-11-22T22:04:00.000-08:00

I'm posting an article from the B-Notes...read and think

Wing Beats:With Change Comes a Need forTolerance, Greater AwarenessBy Al Summers

As this is the last issue of B-Notes, I originally was not going to write a Wing-Beats column. However, at the last moment, some thoughts came to mind that seemed appropriate to include here as a final message to B-Notes readers.
Some who have known me personally in addition to my role as B-Notes editor-publisher have also known that I have studied and practiced East Asian disciplines for many years (principally Zen as well as Buddhist & Western psychology). A major emphasis of these teachings-practices is to always strive to find (or allow) a middle way in situations. With the passing of B-Notes, this approach seemed quite appropriate to the situation.
Since the advent of so called Colony Collapse Disorder (which I continue to feel is a poorly understood situation by many people) there seems to have been a growing amount of divisiveness and finger-pointing among beekeepers. A major point of contention has been over the alleged need to abandon commercial and particularly factory farming mentalities in agriculture, which includes beekeeping. There has even been talk coming from some alternative beekeeping advocates that CCD has been due to conventional attitudes and practices of beekeepers since the time of LL. Langstroth and the advent of standardized beekeeping equipment and practices. Many large commercial agribusiness operations on the other hand, including beekeepers, have tended to ignore or dismiss these criticisms as either irrelevant or misinformed. Both positions, it seems to me, tend to miss the point in terms of what really needs to be done to bring beekeeping successfully into the future and with a sense of environmental awareness and responsibility.
Perhaps it is due to my association with beekeepers in different countries (notably in Japan) that I have seen that beekeepers in the U.S. particularly, seem much more divisive and confrontational about not only the practices that they engage in, but in the reasons and philosophies behind what they do in beekeeping. And, as I reflect on the comparisons, it has seemed to me that at least one significant difference between U.S. beekeepers and other countries is a willingness or ability to accept change gracefully. In other words, we beekeepers here in the U.S. seem to thrive on controversy and differences, whereas in other counties the emphasis seems to be much more on working with what is in situations.
It seems to me that the hypothetical possibilities for the future of beekeeping are just that: hypothesis. It does little constructive good for the future of beekeeping to always have some point of contention about what we should or shouldn’t be doing. Conversely, it seems to me that we can and should retain those traditions and practices that have proven to be useful, but with an open and inquisitive mind regarding their application in the future, particularly with regard to environmental and ecological balance.
And so, it is with these parting thoughts that I leave you as editor-publisher of B-Notes: the future of beekeeping in Colorado, as well as in general, seems as bright or as dismal as we want to make it; we can either look forward with openness and optimism about the possibilities, or get bogged down in endless controversy and concern about the problems. The choice is ours. Best wishes! AS

He didn't really say that...did he?

2009-11-16T13:39:00.001-08:00

An invitational editorial first appearing in the newsletter of the British Bee Keepers Association
Keith S. Delaplane, Professor, Dept. Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602 USA

This sounds presumptuous, doesn’t it? I mean, lumping bees alongside weighty stuff like survival of the human race. But the fact is, associations like this do get bantered about, especially in times like ours when the welfare of pollinators is a hot topic. Politicians, taxpayers, and agriculturalists are asking, so, just how important are bees? For the most part, beekeepers have been quick to take a high view on this question. And no doubt, one of the rewarding things about working with honey bees is the fact that they are important. Important at the human scale – not just important to me or my fellow beekeepers, but important to the quality of life enjoyed by beneficiaries of developed economies the world over. This importance does not hang on honey production, but pollination - nothing less than our food supply. So it is with pardonable pride that beekeepers have been known to endorse quotes like the one attributed to Albert Einstein: “If the bee disappears from the surface of the Earth, man would have no more than four years left to live.”

Now I must quickly say that there is no good evidence that Albert Einstein actually said this. In fact he most assuredly did not. All you have to do is google “Einstein bees,” and you’ll get the whole story: how this quote surfaced for the first time in the early 1990s, long after Einstein’s death, and in contexts far removed from the possibility of verification. Moreover, one must note the fact that, genius though he was, Albert was a physicist, not an entomologist, and everyone knows that it’s entomologists who are the real authorities on this matter.

But the question implied in this pseudo-quote still stands: is it true that human life depends on bee pollination? Or, more precisely, to what extent does the quality of human life depend on bee pollination? These are legitimate questions, and it’s in everyone’s best interest to promulgate answers based on good biology and economics, not hyperbole, anecdote, or - as the Einstein pseudo-quote warns us - fiction.

It should come as no surprise to learn that the burgeoning interest in pollinators has led to renewed attention to these higher-order questions. And, as is so often the case, when one delves into a biologic/economic system the whole is revealed to be more complex, not less, than originally understood. If I were to summarize the latest answers to the questions above, it would be something like this: Does human life depend on bee pollination? No. To what extent does the quality of human life depend on bee pollination? Well, it depends on where you live and what crops we’re talking about.

If there were awards for the most-quoted article in the pollination canon, it would have to go to S.E. McGregor for his 1976 statement that, “it appears that perhaps one-third of our total diet is dependent, directly or indirectly, upon insect-pollinated plants.[i]” This is the proof text behind the popular paraphrase, “honey bees are responsible for every third bite of food we eat.” I suspect that even in 1976 this estimate was generous and applicable only to the most affluent economies where hay-powered beef and dairy products, oilseeds, and fruits make up a significant fraction of the diet. What seems certain is that this estimate is not global. A recent analysis[ii] of yearly crop data maintained by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) from 1961 to 2006 reached some divergent conclusions and shed light on the interacting complexity of the question “How important is animal-vectored pollination?”
The authors of the FAO analysis concluded that the proportion of global food production attributable to animal pollination ranges from 5% in industrialized nations to 8% in the developing world. These numbers are in stark contrast with McGregor and can be explained by the fact that his and other earlier estimates tended to minimize the degree to which crops vary in their dependence on animal pollinators. About 75% of the world’s crops benefit to some degree from animal pollination; only 10% of that 75% depend fully on animal pollination. A second explanation is that pollinator-dependent crops tend to have lower average production levels than non-pollinated crops. One can summarize from this paper that most of the calories that sustain human life derive from non-pollinator-dependent crops. This in no way denigrates the importance of pollination at the local level. One need only imagine the economic fallout of a pollinator crash on the California almond industry or Costa Rican coffee. But is it true, sensu stricto, that human life depends on bee pollination? No.

But there is another mega-trend at work, and that is that global demand for animal-pollinated crops is increasing faster than the demand for non-pollinated staples. The fraction of total production made up of animal-pollinated crops grew from 3.6% in 1961 to 6.1% in 2006, and even these statistics mask a huge jump in the years since 1990[iii]. In other words, more people around Planet Earth want ice cream, blueberry tarts, watermelon, almond chocolate bars, coffee, and yes McDonald’s hamburgers - and the trend shows no sign of slowing. So, to what extent does the quality of human life depend on bee pollination? I would say a lot - if you are fortunate enough to live in an economy where bee-pollinated crops make up a significant fraction of what one considers a “normal” diet. There’s one more twist to this tale that highlights the interacting complexity involved in appraising this issue. Over the last few decades more of the world’s food production has been shifting to developing countries. Because of the comparatively low productivity of pollinated crops, in the face of increasing world demand there will be pressure to make up those yield increases by bringing more land into agricultural production. Insofar as environmental protection is weak in these areas there is justifiable concern over deforestation and habitat loss. One way to resist this tide is to invest in large and sustainable pollinator populations so that pollination is not a yield-limiting factor.

In conclusion, I suggest that what’s at stake here is not something so melodramatic as Einstein’s fictitious and dire warning about the collapse of Homo sapiens. I think bee advocates do their cause a disservice when they stoke the flames of hyperbole and sensationalism. Much better to pose the question as a quality of life issue. To the extent that we value a diverse food supply with minimized trauma to the environments where it is produced, we will place a high value indeed on honey bees and other pollinators.

i. McGregor, S.E. 1976. Insect pollination of cultivated crop plants. USDA Agric. Handbook 496, p. 1
ii. Aizen, M.A. et al. 2009. How much does agriculture depend on pollinators? Lessons from long-term trends in crop production. Annals of Botany doi:10.1093/aob/mcp076
iii. Aizen. M.A. and L.D. Harder. 2009. The global stock of domesticated honey bees is growing slower than agricultural demand for pollination. Current Biology 19: 915-918 doi 10.1016/j.cub.2009.03.071

BRRRRRR

2009-10-30T13:41:00.000-07:00

RIP Summer

2009-10-14T21:22:00.000-07:00

The Last Swarm??

2009-09-08T13:16:00.000-07:00

On the corner of 13th and Champa

By the Light of the Moon

2009-07-01T10:25:00.000-07:00

Forget the new car smell....freshly vacated nuc box is heavenly

2009-06-22T20:55:00.000-07:00

I can't quite remember the last time I could see the mat in the back end of my car. You see the back end has become the vortex for all things bee in the universe. The back seat well, it has a few dead gals but with Johnny Cash belting out Folsom Prison Blues it's all good.

The powder that you see right above the words "last time""on the edge, see it? It's a shade of tan. It's Mega Bee and it seems to be helping them build up after that drippy month.

" I hear the train a comin it's rolling down the track"

"Z" Very Good Day

2009-06-22T09:20:00.000-07:00

Z's vignette brings back fond memories to all of us that installed our first packages alone!
Thanks for sharing
Welcome!

6/17- Bee Day. I wasn't quite ready to have my bees at home but if I didn't take this opportunity I don't think I would have gotten any bees this year.
So on the morning of the 17th I busted my butt to paint my hive and get it into place were it would stay, of course all done with a little help from Dan, my boyfriend.
In the afternoon Dan and I went to Kentre Farms and picked up the package. The anxiety slowly began to rise. You could hear quite the hum coming from the back seat as we drove home. When we got home I suited up and took all the tools necessary to hive the bees. I walked back to the hive with the girls and made Dan take pictures from a little ways away. I sprayed the bees with a little sugar water and then I was off. I tried to get the feeder can out and I couldn't get a hold of it with my gloved hands.I was freaking out a bit so Dan came over and helped me pull it up part way and then walked away. I pulled the can out and the queen and then covered the top of the box again. I was shaking by this time. A lot of bees came out with her on her cage. I brushed them off and they were flying all around me. She was alive and moving around her little cage. I pushed the two bent nails into her little cage with my shaking hands, grabbed the pliers and pulled out the cork to put in the candy plug, and hung her. While I was doing this I think some bees were escaping from the box because I had only put a piece of card board over the hole. A fare amount of bees were flying around me at this point. I finally got her hanging though and grabbed the bee box and started shaking them over their queen and into the space where the frames had been removed. I gently spread them out with my hand and replaced the missing frames. I put the inner cover on, the food chamber, added the feeder and closed it up with the outer cover. My heart was pounding hard.
Finally I left the box with the bees that didn't come out in front of the hive and walked away.
For the hour after I was still really jumpy from having so much anxiety while hiving them but I couldn't stop looking at them and wondering if they liked their new home. I kept walking out to the hive to see if they were going into the hive and to make sure they were still there.
Today I have found myself just as curious with a lot less anxiety. I went and sat by the hive this morning and watched them come and go. I think they like there new home. I am going to be a good bee momma once I can stop shaking when dealing with them, I guess that will come with time.
Z

Happy Birthday x 2

2009-06-13T19:58:00.000-07:00

It's been a year since I received the Cease and Desist notice from the city of Denver. It was June 12Th ,Peter's birthday and the bee-gining of work that would eventually bring to fruition an ordinance allow beekeeping in the mile high city. As I read the notice anger and fear coerced through my veins.

At first, it was just about keeping bees. With all that had been written concerning their decline it seemed the least I could do. Host a box of bugs.
It quickly turned into something much deeper for me.

Marduke had arrived at our door step like so many other animals. He had been relinquished as a sickly eight week old pup at, our local veterinarian, Planned Pethood.
He was all legs and had enormously sad eyes that enveloped me. He took over my heart and would become a very dear friend.
It was near the end of my beekeeping course that I had Marduke put to sleep.
The decision, his absence, all of it left me feeling as though I had been hit by shrapnel and I couldn't, just couldn't determine the size of the wound.
I lumbered through spring half-heartedly awaiting my packages of bees.

Following an installation hives must be checked frequently. Is the queen in there? Is she doing what a queen does? Are the workers drawing out comb?

Trepidation does not a beekeeper make and I had very little in my initial encounters. In Marduke's absences I was numb and found it difficult to summons any; joy, excitement or even fear concerning the bees.
Each time I was working with the girls, and I was thinking about Marduke which was all the time, they would sting me. I was caught in an eddy of thought and emotion. Had I made the right decision about Marduke? The fact that it was my decision was eviscerating.
With each trip to the hive they painfully nudged me back to present. After numerous stings, which gave way to swollen body parts, I realized that they were offering me a respite from my grief. The peripheries of our worlds afford a place for me to leave my torment, sorrow and sadness.
When I was able to quiet my thoughts they declared a ceasefire and let me work among them.

When we lose a being of precious nature it's first physical and then we scramble to hold them in our thoughts. Our grief is about reconstructing a place for them in our memories.
My fear was letting go of Marduke, however each time I participated consciously with them I came away with another small piece of building material in the form of acceptance.
The bees are and will always be a place for me to take myself. I had to let go of a buddy and they consoled me.
The energy of a hive is exurbanite and nourishing.
The hive is an organism that seems to embrace life and takes death in stride.

Home Sweet Home

2009-06-10T18:56:00.001-07:00

This swarm precariously placed itself right across the street from mi casa.

Our good neighbor Alicia provided the electrical outlet for the handy bee-vac. One flip of the switch and they all quietly disappeared into the box.

Captain Kirk then shuttled the lovey's to Allison's home where they will undoubtedly live happily every after.

Dandelions are Flowers...and edible at that

2009-06-10T14:56:00.000-07:00

Why do we as citizens have no say in whether our parks are sprayed with potentioally dangerous chemicals?

All the parks in the state of Illinois are chemical free as are the parks in the great cities of San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Helena..............why not Denver?

PROJECTSAFEYARD.ORG

Dandelions are important plants for bees. Not only is their flowering used as an indicator that the honey bee season is starting, but they are also an important source of nectar and pollen early in the season.

One of these things is not like the others

2009-06-08T11:52:00.000-07:00

Wasps vs. Bees

Wasps are the insects that most people can relate to seeing at their picnics, especially yellow jackets. While they can be irritating at times, they do serve an important ecological function. They are predators of many insects, especially crop eating insects. Parasitic wasps are beneficial because they can be released into agricultural systems and they serve as natural biocontrol of insect pest populations. They lay their eggs on or inside their host and as the wasp develops it feeds on its’ host. The hosts are usually what we consider to be garden pests like: tomato hornworms, aphids, cabbage worms, armyworms, and strawberry leaf rollers. After the parasitic wasp completes development it emerges as an adult and kills the host.
Wasps also serve as food for many other species, like birds, and thus contribute to the food chain. Also, because some species visit flowers for nectar they can be inadvertent pollinators. There are hundreds of species of wasps in Colorado, and like bees they are part of the heritage of the land. In the San Francisco Bay Area some of the most common wasps are: yellow-jackets, paper wasps, mud daubers, sand wasps, thread-waisted wasps, and potter wasps.
Wasps and bees are often mistaken for each other, but knowing a few key features of both can help one tell them apart. Bees gather pollen and nectar from flowers to use as food for their offspring. Wasps are carnivorous and hunt for other insects or spiders, but some also visit flowers for nectar. Bees usually have very hairy bodies and pollen collecting hairs on their legs or under their abdomen to help them accomplish this task. Wasps tend to have few to no hairs at all because they don’t intentionally collect pollen.
Some bees look like wasps because they don’t have much hair on their bodies. They collect pollen and store it internally in their crop instead of on the outside of their bodies. Some other relatively hairless bees, cuckoo bees, don’t collect pollen because they lay their eggs in the nests of other bees. Wasps usually have more elongate bodies, longer legs, and sometimes have what looks like a pinched waist, whereas bees usually look more compact. There are other physical differences between bees and wasps, but they are hard to make out without the use of a hand lens or microscope. So, if you see a busy creature flying from flower to flower and actively collecting brightly colored pollen, then you can be fairly sure it is a bee.
Bees actually evolved from predatory wasps (apoid wasps), so bees and wasps have a lot of similarities both in appearance and behavior. Bees and wasps both have two sets of wings, unlike flies, which only have one. Also, only the females of bees and wasps can sting because the stinger is actually a modified egg laying apparatus. Behaviorally they are similar in that they both have social and solitary species. Yellow jackets, like bumble bees, have seasonal colonies that form in the spring and die out in the late fall with the queens overwintering to start a new colony the following year. The majority of bees and wasps though are solitary, and the female does all the work of building and provisioning nests for her young.
One wasp that a lot of people confuse with bees is the yellow jacket. Unlike honey bees, yellow jackets and other wasps don’t leave their stinger behind when they sting something, therefore they are able to sting several times in a row. These social wasps form papery nests both above and below ground that can contain anywhere from 50 to 5,000 individuals. The larger the colony gets the more aggressive the wasps become. This usually happens in late summer/early fall when food is in short supply. Yellow jackets then become nuisances at picnics eating whatever they can find. The adults will sting and paralyze insect prey as well as scavenge from carrion to provide as food for their offspring. As adults they mostly feed on nectar, honey dew, and rotting fruit.

A. Wasps are critically important in natural bicontrol as almost every pest insect species has at least one wasp species that preys upon it. Parasitic wasps are increasingly used in agricultural pest control as they have little impact on crops.

There are a Trillion bees on the hedge

2009-05-18T21:53:00.000-07:00

Ostensibly, there are more hyperbole's in beekeeping than Carter has pills!

Swarm=Sojourners=a short stay

2009-05-18T13:10:00.000-07:00

The first swarm is nestled on a plum tree. By far the most fragrant tree I have ever encountered!
The second has wrapped itself around a crab apple tree

BEES ARE US

2009-05-16T15:10:00.001-07:00

First, let me introduce myself. My name is Alan Ray. My wife, Issa, and I are among the newest newbees in Denver, having just installed our first two hives in the past couple of weeks. The garden already seems happier!

All I can say is, it didn’t take long for us to fall completely in love with our new backyard neighbors. Everyone in the family has taken to sitting beside the hives enthralled with the little magicians. We’ve even named them. No, not all 20,000 of them! But we did get tired of calling it “hive one” and “hive two”. So now all the bees in hive one are the Bettys. Hive two is home to the Berthas.

I got my feet wet capturing swarms last week on a quiet street not far from downtown. I got a phone call from Marygael and, before I knew what hit me, was standing atop a ladder reaching twenty-five feet up into a spruce tree. The building tenant was a great sport about the bees hovering over his sidewalk—but wasn’t so sure his clients and neighbors would have a sense of humor about it. So, up I went and talked them (the Berthas) into a bucket. It was excellent fun. I highly recommend it.

Now they are settling in to the backyard just as the strawberries are blossoming, along with the apple, cherry, and pear trees. We can’t wait for a little taste of honey in the fall. But honestly, just knowing they are there is reward enough.

Be well and be free!

Moving day

2009-05-05T18:05:00.001-07:00

Thanks Steve Davis

The Founding Members of DB.... DRUM ROLL

2009-04-20T21:46:00.001-07:00

Laura and Craig Beekeepers Extraordinaire!!

The bees are coming the bees are coming..their here

2009-04-20T00:43:00.000-07:00

Let me introduce Maggie and Ron.....Ron and Robin...Beekeepers

Today we had three successful installation's. The packages had quite the journey through the spring snows of the Rockies but they all arrived with seemingly vibrant queens accompanied by anticipatory workers. It seems all good today.

Our map is getting dotted-up with red and yellow stickers it's fun to see all the hives popping up in the metro area.

Spring is Hope Eternal

2009-03-29T22:06:00.001-07:00

Hi All,
As we stand poised for another bee season we can rest assured that bees will be encouraged and those with stewardship will be supported in Denver.
As we ready ourselves as returning keepers or newly anointed keepers we know that we have a great community to draw from with many seasoned, enthusiastic, and quite simply put great beekeeping people. Not just in the Denver area but in the outline areas as well, all working towards a common goal...bees and their well bee-ing.
Questions and discussions should be many here.Tales from the hives will be greatly appreciated and efforts and solutions will be applauded. The hive in all it's grandeur and complexity has been a wonderful place to take myself too. I look forward to this year.My hope is that we all have a great year and are able to find out new and exciting things about ourselves and the world we live in through a rather amazing creature.
M

:O yippie

2009-03-29T21:50:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,
Today Denverbee's Allison acquired her first hive!!! Yippee ! The wayward girls arrived by way of Paul Woolsey or St Paul by the time it was all over. The bees were ostensibly agitated. They were being involuntarily relocated from a fairly cozy domicile. Why you ask? Wherein lies the problem it was inside someone else's fairly cozy domicile. To add insult to injury it's yet to be determined if their queen accompanied them. Did I mention that the bees were ostensibly agitated? No queen no front door...aggg During the installation I helped out Allison and Paul by providing comic relief through the trifecta of what not to do; wear dark clothing, swatting motions, and flapping arms. Yes, yes, yes I was stung on my head half a dozen times, but Allison had a up close look at beekeeping for dummies. It was the least I could do!
You see none of this was planned. Allison and I were simply checking out Vicki's "To Bee or Not To Bee." A great place to load up on bee stuff located in north Denver. Paul, The Bee Boy We Relocated not Exterminate, had stopped in for maybe the same thing. We were all chatting and then in the stillness of a moment realized; Paul has homeless bees, I have a hive box, and Allison wants bees. With ninja swift movements we drove west 2 miles. and voila! well after the benadryl. It was a beautiful afternoon.
After the commotion we all headed for sustenance and a recap of "what just happened" and of course a plan for re-queening tomorrow. Paul you're truly great! Thanks for being on the River...really it was heartfelt that you trusted to share. Allison, our very own midwife, now has a few thousands charges....embrace your postpartum!
With each chance encounter and a look into their private world my fascination grows.

RIP

2009-03-29T21:49:00.000-07:00

HI All,
Well, I've lost my very first hive. They were the flagship so as to speak. Theirs was a very big and seemingly strong hive. After close examination it has been concluded that the queen died. I don't know how it happened. No disease or mites. So it goes.
I dismantled their hive and gave all the honey to my other hives. There are apricot trees in full bloom across the street so they split their time, their legs were heavy with pollen, between the two sources.
A day in the life M

These are not actual bees!

2009-03-11T21:10:00.000-07:00

Hi All

Denverbee is catching on we tripled our size at Mondays meeting.

David B. executed a lovely bee installation. I thought the styrofoam peanuts had an amazing likeness to honey bees.

David is great beekeeper, he listens he watches he knows his stuff. Thank you David

I love the energy, enthusiasm and all the really really interesting people that have shown up and are or will soon be beekeeping. Nice to rub shoulders with all of you.

I was really hoping that Denverbee would be for bees sake.....that hope has come to fruition by way of Dr. Robert Hancock PhD Entomology Metro State. Dr Hancock when not busy being a raw dinner for bed bugs will conduct an urban beekeeping study with denverbee. Could life be any better....well maybe so but anyway. Thank you Dr. Bob

Hope to see at the next meeting

And then there were 6

2009-01-13T20:28:00.001-08:00

Hola,

denverbee had it's first meeting...thanks to David, Craig, Laura, Molly and Roman.

We talked about bees, the up side of stopping at red lights and gave away a nice red table wine thru a twisted raffle.

Comparaitivly speaking urban beekeepers have different crosses to bear than rural beekeepers.
We pondered; the differences, the affects and the wonderful spring that was just in reach. We then moved on to what we wanted denverbee to do and be...dobe dobe dobee!
See you all next time

365 New Days For You

2009-01-01T18:32:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The bees where doing what bees do today......buzzing around.
I can't imagine being an insect in Colorado.

I love this time of year. You can feel the pulse of the Earth changing, gearing up for a growing season.

The Accidental Tourist

2008-12-25T20:39:00.000-08:00

Biting into a piece of fruit is biting into a chance encounter. For the blossom of a fruit tree to come to fruition there must first be an exchange of pollen.

Pollen is the male reproductive part of a plant. The Stamen carries the male DNA gamete and the Pistil holds the female DNA gamete.

Pollen must be strong to protect the male gamete on their journey. The outer wall of the pollen grain, the exine is composed of a very unusual substance called sporollenin which is very tough. The inner layer is made of cellose and is similar in construction to an ordinary plant cell wall. Pollen grains are microscopic and just a pinch of pollen powder contains thousands and thousands of grains.

When insects such as bees, butterflies, moth, flies, and hummingbirds pollinate plants, it’s accidental. Usually the insects are at the plant to get food, the sticky pollen or sweet nectar made at the base of the petals. This kind of relationship in nature is called symbiosis.

Pollen granules stick to the bees' legs and other body parts as they help themselves to nectar (the precursor of honey) inside the flowers. When the stamen falls into the dewy chamber, by whatever means, of the flower and brushes onto the pistil it is referred to as cross pollination. At this point the production of seeds begins.

It would seem that in all of nature the brightest and prettiest get all the attention. The planet Earth is a plant based Biosphere so all plant life is vital no matter the painful societal comparisons.

Plants that are pollinated by insects are often brightly colored and have a strong smell to attract the pollinators. Bees cannot see the color red. But they do see a color we can’t: ultraviolet (UV). UV is what gives us sunburn. But to a bee, it’s a whole different color. Since bees can’t see red, red flowers are pollinated in other ways, by bats, butterflies, birds, or the wind. Flowers that want to attract bees have colors that bees can see. Often, white flowers, which look plain to us, actually reflect UV light, so they look very pretty to the bees.

Plants that are pollinated by wind often have long stamens and pistils. Since they do not need to attract animal pollinators, they can be dully colored, unscented, and with small or no petals since no insect needs to land on them. The exception to this would be the tenacious Dandelion. The bright yellow flower full of sweet nectar is not only a declaration of spring but a guiding light to very hungry bees.

There is no distinction between Bee pollen and pollen found on any other insect. Pollen has been called the perfect, some say for bees only, food. It contains proteins, essential amino acids, and B vitamins. It is easy to collect for eating and is often referred to as the bee keepers’ lunch.

If the bees don’t move the pollen fruit won’t be on the branches, shelves, or tables.

Beekeeper

2008-12-25T20:12:00.000-08:00

One hundred nine. That's the number of Colorado vanity license plates. The plates are for fun, declaration, and are badges of honor.
Colorado vanity plates announce higher education, the lucky and not so lucky soldier, a particular dog breed, avian dominance, heritage, a couple of kindergarten rules, yea to the breasts but woe be the prostate and - 2hot4u - are the very personalized personal plates.

Drivers in all fifty states have plate options. Some titles seem to be someone's illusions of their state's attributes. Colorado easily basks in 362 days of sunshine a year however Florida, having no pride, took that one. Kentucky, the birth place of our 16th president, lost to Illinois as being the Land of Lincoln. New Hampshire's controversial plate, Live Free or Die, comes from a toast written by A.R.W. General Stark. The toast was made at a reunion of soldiers who had fought together in the Battle of Bennington. The battle took place in Vermont.

Texans gets crazy. They have plates for their Red Grapefruit, Smiling, and Reading. And they ask that God Bless Texas separately from the rest of the union.

Mississippi has plates for the diabetic and their family members as well as one for the Hearing Impaired. Marines are okay everywhere. Oregon thinks ducks are unlimited and Alaska, not space, is the Last Frontier.

Plates proclaming mental illness, praise for Satan or Allah are out.

Colorado's Share the Road is sported by vehicles but it's all about the bicycle. Respect Life comes not from the Sand Creek but the Columbine massacre. A hamburger gobbling driver whose mini van was festooned with pro-life stickers had that particular plate. "Respect Some Life" seems more appropriate.

There is no mention of the Ute Indians that once called present day Colorado their home however the Pioneer plate pays tribute to those who "settled" Colorado. It's a daily reminder to the Native Americans of just who killed their ancestors. Arizona respectfully acknowledges several Native Americans tribes.

Colorado doesn't have a plate proclaiming what makes the state great. For a time it was summed up with the adjective, Colorful. Colorado's wonder and definition is not in seasonal bursts of color or in the banality of our current plate of silhouetted mountains. We could - but for some reason, don't - have plates announcing our 52 fourteener's, The Great Sand Dunes, Rocky Ford Cantaloupe, The Colorado River or even the big hot dog on Highway 285.

On the 1958 plate, Colorful was accompanied by a skier. In 1959 the skier disappeared. A search and rescue party was never dispatched. Seems the skier landed on Utah's plate. Taking into consideration how the men of Utah deal with women it stands to reason that the skier is being held against her will.

Be it vanity or insecurity there is only a small percentage of the 6 billion people on the planet who need the plates. Fastened to both bumpers is the ostensible struggle between individuality and tribal affiliation.

Colorado needs to add beekeeprs to the list.

Winter Ruminations #1

2008-12-23T15:51:00.000-08:00

A coupled of nights ago as the temperature dropped and the wind howled I found myself pacing along the back window. The action fueled by my high octane thoughts of; are they cold? Are they hungry? Was the wind permeating the thin walls of the Langstroth hive? Are they dead? Did I properly medicate and or winterize the girls? Does REI sell outwear for Apis mellifera? Where is their catalog they surly must have a blanket for just this conundrum? Aggg!

Foo (my dog) and I ventured into the windy night air looking for a modicum of hope that all was well within the boxes. As I stood shivering in the wind, the hives now illuminated by the holiday lights, I felt helpless as I stood in the stillness of the hives.

I couldn't put a sweater on them tonight or ever and so with trepidation I acquiesced into the world of beekeeping. There has been no, nor will there ever be, domestication of the honey bee in my back yard; no sit, stay, or come. No trips to the veterinarian for removal of pesky genitals, no bee park socialization, never to be besieged by wet noses in inopportune moments and or places.

The inhabitants of the hives are not my children, they're bugs. The latter more inclined to clean up after themselves but both equally as patience and accommodating to my daily caprices.

Falling asleep seemed to take forever but when I woke the Colorado sun not only greeted but reminded me that it's nice place to live.

Colorado Beekeepers Meeting

2008-12-23T15:48:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend I attended my first meeting of the Colorado Beekeepers Association. The CSBA, which was established in 1888, convened in Longmont. It was a weekend of meet and greet, what and what ifs, why and why nots.

The first evening was an informal round table discussion with Dr. Gordon Wardell. As I settled deeply in the arm chair of novice I witnessed a scene unfold that resonated of a time gone by. The beekeepers seemed a rendition of fur trappers from long ago that descended from mountains to convene at a summer solstice. The forever need to connect with likeminded people was never more evident.

These gentlemen, and a slight smattering of double x chromosomes, didn't arrive heavy with furs or teaming with tales of wildlife encounters'. Rather they showed up, from as far off as the San Luis Valley and the great plains of Eastern Colorado, with jars of honey, tales of mites conquered, notions of viruses and old wives tales coming to fruition. The escapades shared brought about burst of hearty, robust laughter and moments of deep and heavy sighs. At the core they pondered the mystery of bees, a matriarchal society that's come under the gun and is in dire straights.

I garnered from the time spent that you must try and try, try again. The only guarantee; your observational skills, your scientific method and your patience will be tested.

The Denver Bee Hearing

2008-12-23T15:45:00.000-08:00

It's not been quite a month since Denver City Council saw its way clear to pass an ordinance allowing for beekeeping. The proceedings creeped slowly through the November evening; finally after fours hours of ruminating the powers that be capitulated voting 10-2 in favor of the proposed beekeeping ordinance.

The council was addressed by sixteen adults and one spryly child all of whom spoke with clarity and affirmation concerning their beliefs as to why Denver should: allow, support, and encourage the keeping of honey bees.

The council volleyed back with, a garden variety of, concerns. What kind of person takes up such a hobby? How can we insure citizen safety? What happens if hives are left unattended?
Shouldn't we consider the Right of Use? I have a friend that's allergic, what about her?

The latter two questions, both of which were posed by the same councilperson, were interesting insomuch as the aforementioned councilperson conceded that yearly she plants vegetation specifically for attracting bees. One can easily ascertain that they're eating in her yard and housekeeping in mine. I wondered, as I sat fidgeting through the arduous process, is her allergic friend concerned for her own safety in this our elected officials' yard? Perhaps it is she that needs to post a warning sign of; hyssops twenty feet ahead, lavender at 9:00 o'clock, oh merciful Lord flowering trumpeter vine directly overhead, mint at your feet, poppies in your sights! All of which are colluding to nourish, perpetuate and attract the honey bee. Run for your life it's an urban garden!

You see, the bees are already here, albeit waning they are here.It may not seem possible but their symbiotic relationship with plants ensures our very existence.

They have a leading role, purely accidental, in the forever repeating life cycle of a plant and life on Earth as we know it: pollination, reproduction, the release of the oxygen we breathe, food we eat, shelter, most assuredly the blossoms at our festivals. Earth, this Biome we call home, will always be enslaved to the plant.

Oh Say Can You Bee

2008-09-19T22:52:00.000-07:00

The balcony of a high-rise building, a cliff, a mountain top, even a microscope. The aforementioned are vantage points, god's eye views. Looking down or onto and beholding amazing,painful, benign, and genuine interactions of the world.

Nothing quite showcases the industrial bounty of nature like a hive of honey bees. Stealing a glance or being able to gaze onto the matriarchal system is awe inspiring. Their isolation underscores their vulnerability.

Bees provide among other things; door jams, raspberry jam, clothing, wrapping paper, the morning paper, beautiful beautiful flowers and food. Whatever the perishable, traipse back to it's nascent and you'll find a bee, many bees. Tirelessly they work.

Though the connection to all our accouterments and plates may not be obvious what we have and what we eat is brought to us by a small flying insect.

No one thinks that the bees will go away, but then again nobody thought that the Titanic would sink either.We, hobby beekeepers are the life boats that the Titanic was denied. We keep a hive we keep a species going. In the cities bees have an abundant variety of foliage and countless backyards to quietly nestle hive boxes in.