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Hi Frank,

I know you are aware of agricultural problems related to bee keeping, bit since this happened in Arkansas, I thought it might be of passing interest to you. See:

thanks! last week a swiss lab found traces of neonicotinoids in 75% of test samples.
big dealers dilute contaminated honey with clean honey to pass inspection.
ALL insects are n trouble, not only pollinators,
we are really fucking up the environment like never before

FLB! I had no idea that you were interested in bee keeping. Since you have left moderating behind, I was in checking out the notes to you, so I thought I'd tell you about my BK experience. I'm not a beek [edited to change beek back; spellcheck doesn't get it] myself, but one of my women friends, who farms nearby, got bees when she was looking to stay occupied. She lost her husband some five years ago.

She's a bit of a workaholic, and I tried to help her for a while. Mind you, I have plenty of work of my own teaching and around the farm, but just trying to be a good friend. You know what I mean.

She decided she wanted to keep bees. She got two boxes of bees, easy to acquire as we're in Oregon and so far haven't killed them all off. She got beek friends to help her get set up, and studied beekeeping. I ended up going over every time she wanted to check the queen, move the six or seven trays around, or give the bees some of the fruit peel stuff she got. I used a smoker bellows thing to quiet them, and usually went over in the middle of the day so they'd be either out and about working the flowers and plants, or mellow.

She wouldn't handle the trays! I remember her putting me in her suit---the white canvas jacket, some sort of thick cotton--with the hood and the netted helmet. The long gloves. I put my jeans into my socks so the little bastards wouldn't sting me (that was my dad's pet name for bees, btw, little basatards).

As I'd lift the trays, with the bees remaining inside buzzing, pinging my hood, and generally being flying insects with stingers, she'd be several feet away telling me what to do. After a few minutes, I'd tell her to shut up and just do what I needed to get the job done. She always ended up getting stung a few times, but I never did, oddly.

I may try to get some bees of my own. It's all pretty interesting, and there is a lot to learn.

We got the bees through the winter, but I got tired of working nonstop with her and had some issues of my own to attend to, so I never got to the honey point with her. She eventually lost her bees. They swarmed and moved on, as I remember.

they will die if not treated for mites.
there are some organic treatments
that is the major cause of colony collapse
Oregon is a great place for bees