Bees: Pollinators, Hard Workers and Disappearing.

At the end of February I took a series of photos at a farm I visit frequently. Plum, Apricot and Almond blossoms each had a photo post dedicated to them. I was surprised to get any comments at all, let alone engaging ones. The comments and the photos sparked conversations about fruit  blossoms culinarily, which cultures have tapped into their subtleties and possible uses for light perfumes such as the ones emitted from Spring's first breath.

But there was more. Someone brought up the fact that early blossoms, especially in California, where our rainy season is primarily in the winter months, stopping just as late spring, early summer arrives, could mean that fruit orchards will lose their fruit even before it has had time to begin.

Every fruit blossom is a fruit, if it can get that far.

Last year Northern California was hit with a winter so wet many of us felt like we were caught in the middle of Love In The Time Of Cholera. (A book by Gabriel Garcia Marquez wherein there are dozens of pages dedicated to describing, in minute detail, a place where it has rained for decades!) Because of that onslaught, farmers producing all kinds of crops had to stand still and either watch their livelihood wash away, or wait for soil firm enough to sow seeds in.

If you tried to find or buy cherries last year, you know what I'm talking about. Even strawberries came super late. California almonds quadrupled in price and the demand for Organic almonds far exceeded what was harvested.

But the fault lay not only in the daily downpour, or the actual water itself, but from the fact that bees, who are the number one pollinators (turning those blossoms into fruit/nuts) for orchards in California, and beyond, were not doing their job of "sexing the blossoms." (Upwards of 80% of The United State's domestic fruit and nuts are grown in California!)

Bees do not like to work in the rain. Even if they did, the pollen collected would wash off their legs in a rainstorm, making their efforts useless. If the blossoms open up, and then the rain comes, the bees cannot do their thing, but also the tree is forced to let go of the blossom-- it's just a little slip of a delicate creature, and it can't bear the weight of the water.

This is not the only worry or problem. Beekeepers all over the world would be blessed with an issue as slight as weather conditions.

Bees all over North America are disappearing.

Where are they disappearing off to? How are bees disappearing?

These questions are on the lips of orchardists, bee keepers, scientists, fruit lovers, and possibly the bees themselves.

There's the question of mites and the pests which attack whole bee colonies. Then there's the pesticides farmers are spraying their crops with. Certain chemicals kill bees at alarming rates, whether by actual physical contact, or the bees who've been contaminated bring it back to the hive only to commit unintentional genocide, (or the fact that pesticides rarely stick only to the plant that they're meant for.)

I have seen article after article on this subject. It's something worth taking note of, if you want to know more about not only who, as in humans, grows your food, but also who, as in creatures, facilitates tree's reproductive cycles, therefore giving you the local and/or ripe seasonal fruit you crave, want and buy.

If you have time to listen to an amazing podcast (audio only) about where North America stands in terms of agriculture's main pollinator, bees, click on this link. Thank you A Faustian Bargain for this link!

I'm sure I preach to the converted when I say that eating seasonally, locally and as sustainably as you can afford is important. It is this way that you first begin to have a relationship to those who make it possible for you to eat at all. Animals, soil and humans alike.

Other resources for information on this subject:

The intriguing Pollination Home Page.
An article about "the vampire mite."
Science News talks about the importance of relying on more than merely one species of bee.
The NY Times reports on the tale of the vanishing bee.

Comments

[faustianbargain]

no problem, shuna. it is an important issue and something for all us to ponder upon...thank you for creating a discussion about it.

[Deidre]

The bees worry me too (and I'm allergic so not a bee fan). I think on a basic level we are messing with the rhythm of the world and have damaged nature's ability to do what it does best. One reason I think cooking is so satisfying to me is because the usual rules still apply and it allows me to honor what nature has provided.

[Aaron]

What scares me the most about the whole thing is that no one is sure about exactly why this is happening. There's something comforting about being able to put the blame somewhere and ask people to clean up their act, or protect the bees from a natural predator. Who do we sting when we don't know who's the enemy?

[Dad & Ellen]

Fine piece on the bees, flowers, rain, and fruit. Your view of food gets wider and wider, at the same time that you are staying in touch with facts and details. Good work, interesting and informative! Thanks!

[Marc]

The bee crisis appears to me as another lesson in the dangers of monoculture. To create almond or apricot orchards, lands were stripped of all but the nut or fruit trees, destroying the habitat of native bees (which can provide a reasonable amount of pollination), and then another monoculture -- the European honeybee -- was brought in to pollinate the crops.

It might be a good idea for California and other states to embark on a massive habitat restoration effort: restore habitats for native bees and other pollinators around streams and rivers, build nesting for native bees, and so forth.

[Chubbypanda]

I've been worried about the bee plight for a while although, as I understood it, the die-off is the result of a bee plague. I'm not sure where I heard that from.

[yumsugar]

thanks for such an interesting article. I agree with aaron, the creepiest part is that no one knows why this is happening.

[cybele]

I was just listening to last week's episode of Good Food because I was hoping they had more on it since the NYTimes article.

I even talked to a beekeeper last weekend about it. He said he hasn't had the same issue with his small number of bees ... some die off but not a devastating loss, but he also said that he doesn't do pollination. (So maybe since his bees aren't traveling or being exposed to something specific they're being spared.)

It's just so sad.

[elarael]

Hello
Here is some interesting info. I posted earlier about my parents killing off the carpenter bees that were pollinating their cherry tree, so this subject has interested me quite a bit over the years and as people are interested here, thank God, perhaps this will be helpful:

Here is the post address:
www.flatrock.org.nz/topics/animals/a_different_perspective.htm

BEE MITES NOT THE PROBLEM!
" ... In nature it is a well demonstrated fact that pests attack weak life forms. So the mite attacking the bee is a symptom of sick and unhealthy bees. Not the cause, which needs to be poisoned out of existence.

Why are the bees sick and unhealthy?

Beekeepers at many commercial apiaries take most of the honey out of the hives each season and then feed the bees with white refined sugar as a syrup. Why? Because white sugar is cheaper than honey. But honey is the bees' natural food and medicine. White sugar diets over winter is a primary cause of unhealthy bees. Pesticides and herbicides also pose a serious health risk to bees as does the over-use of chemical fertilisers like superphosphate. These chemical potions are progressively and slowly poisoning our bee stocks and thereby weakening the bees immunity to mite attack.

D W Phillips
SH2
Pokeno

"...When we lived in North Carolina, we fed (sugar water) dozens of ruby-throated hummingbirds in the spring and summer. Over the years, the numbers of hummers we had seemed to be decreasing plus occasionally the birds would act distinctly different - dizzy, almost. I suspected disease and contacted an expert. The expert told me that the hummers should never be fed sugar water, but should be fed hummingbird food with nutrients in it. He said the hummers ate sugar water to the exclusion of all else, then were laid low by disease since they got few of the basic nutrients they absolutely required.

As to the funny behaviour - the sugar water sometimes fermented in the sun - the birds whose behaviour disturbed me were actually drunk. We switched to hummingbird food and had no further problems..."

[faustianbargain]

apparently, its not all that bad.

from the sac bee:

http://www.sacbee.com/129/v-print/story/135538.html

[Patricia Blumhagen]

Many systems are breaking down. Bees are over worked. Their natural habit has been altered due to unconsciousness.

We need to realize that when we begin to altar the chain we are creating problems that we may not be able to fix.

The bee's brain is an electro process. It is picking up much negative energy from which is creating harmful vibrations.which alters their brain patterns.

They are in state of exhaustion and stress. It is time to wake up to the fact that we are all interconnected. What effect one effects all.

Lets do what ever we can to help create balance. Whether, it is in our personal lives or in the world in which we find ourselves.

Plant herbs and flowers where and when you can. This not only will help the bees but it will give you a sense of pleasure.

Patricia

Patricia