Sustainable Beekeeping in an Unsustainable World

Every year about this time I make beekeeping resolutions for the coming season. After listening to Marla Spivak's talks at both Saint Mary's and Winona State, and reading Randy Oliver's series of articles in the American Bee Journal, I have decided to recast my apicultural practices somewhat. I would really like to be totally natural in my approach but I must recognize that my bees forage in an un-natural world. They live in a world of suburban development, city ordinances against 'noxious' weeds, conspicuous consumption and leisure, growing monoculture, the casual use of pesticides and herbicides, and globalization. All these social problems impact the nutrition, and health of honeybees. While a 'social apiculturalist' should also be working to fight these economic/political problems, in the present, I need to be concerned about some of my bees' immediate problems. With this is in mind, I resolve to do the following practices this bee season:

1. Culling three year old comb-  Comb retains many of the noxious chemicals and diseases bees come in contact with while foraging. This season I have already removed comb that is three years or older.
2. Supplement Nutrition- I will be more disciplined in supplementing the bees' nutritional needs with pollen supplements when called for. This grates against my 'natural' tendencies but I am convinced now that my neighbor's on the west side of Winona are not providing my bees with a diverse enough diet.
3. Monitor and Manage Varroa Better- I will be monitoring the varroa count of each hive regularly, removing drone comb, and using essential oil based miticides if the mite count calls for it. 
4. Carrying Capacity-  I may have been pushing the number of beehives in the neighborhood to its limits, especially given the rainy and cold spring/summer we had. I will try to stay within a 4 hive limit (with nucs) in the future.

Winona State Class Visits Beelandia

Last Tuesday, Winona State's Introduction to Apiculture class visited Beelandia to get their first taste of beekeeping hands-on.

Biologist Bruno Borsari and his bright and eager students, dressed in the 'armor' of the trade, spent a good hour and a half examining both beekeeping equipment and the population of bees in Bee Glad....

I spent a good deal of time fielding some very intelligent questions concerning the ins-and-outs of what I do day-to-day with the bees. The class included some very keen observers who actually watched the bees carefully as they came and went from the hive.

Overall, the bees were on their best behavior, as I was the only one stung through the entire class.

WAHBA At Blue Sky Fair

In our first official public appearance, the Winona Area Hobby Beekeepers Association has a table at Winona State's Blue Sky Fair this morning. Dr. Bruno Borsari, a biologist at WSU, and I manned the table from 8 to the 12:30. We had a variety of  informational materials to give the public, as well as posters on honey bees and other pollinators. We even brought some bee equipment and comb from Metpropolis, a top bar hive located in Beelandia. We signed up a number of interested potential beekeepers and had a great time talking about our passion: bees!

EarthNotes

I just discovered a blog named EarthNotes at Winona 360 that might be of interest to some of the readers of Canaries in a Coal Mine, especially those concerned with sustainability. I've copied its description below:

From renewable energy policy to the poetry of food, EarthNotes takes a varied look at the pursuit of a sustainable globe. Co-authored by faculty of Winona State University and community experts, EarthNotes is an interactive exploration of one of the most high-stakes issues of our time

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I know a few of those writing for the blog and look forward to reading it in the coming weeks.

Frozen River Film Festival-- "Canaries in a Coal Mine" Film set

Winona Minnesota's annual Frozen River Film Festival is this week and I will be introducing a "film set" I have labeled Canaries in a Coal Mine films. Each of the three films concerns the plight of a living creature, its role in the ecological system, and the possible consequences its plight has for the ecological and socio-economic environments.

The first movie is Skylight (David Baas). This animated film concerns the ecological of penguins in the Antarctic and what their plight might mean human beings.

The second movie, End of the Line (Rupert Murray), is about the devastating effect that overfishing our oceans and the total disregard our politicians and famous restaurateurs seem to have for this problem. The movie predicts the end of most seafood by 2048.

As a beekeeper, I will be most interested in the last film: Jason Kushner's American Colonies- Collapse of the Bee. The film examines the place of the honeybee in our economy and biophysical environment and the threat Colony Collapse Disorder might pose to both. The film also presents possible solutions to this threat.

The three films will be shown at 3:30 at the Science Laboratory Center Lecture Hall (SLC 120) at Winona State University.

Presentation Given

I gave my presentation last night at Winona State University as part of the CLASP lecture series held at this university each year. When I speak, I often feel like I am rambling and incoherent but according to audience members it went alright. The presentation was video taped and will be available online in the near future.