Honeybee populations are declining and this is a dangerous trend that we must do something about. I have begun using my passion for beekeeping to help educate new beekeepers. I discovered that I am so passionate about beekeeping, that my passion leaks out all over everyone I come into contact with. I also have a particular interest in the science, documentation in writing, still photography and video. My talents have dovetailed very well with my beekeeping. Here is an example of my latest challenge to others involving beekeeping, that will hopefully end up helping honeybees stop their decline. After all, at least one third of our diet is because of a honeybee.
I love beekeeping! In fact, I felt a little strange when I first got the urge to keep bees because not many people besides me seemed interested in beekeeping. I guess you could say it reminded me a little of a county song I had heard before and I will just say I was a beekeeper when beekeeping wasn't cool. I just heard a recent popular song with the lyrics, "Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?" Of course being the obsessed beekeeper that I am, I changed the words to "Don't you wish your hobby was hot like mine?"
It is true, beekeeping is hot at the moment. It seems everything with a bee theme is instantly hot. Don't believe me? Just ask anyone if they have heard or read anything about bees in the last week and I bet you almost all of them have. There is currently a keen awareness and interest in our beloved ladies. This really dawned on me in a big way tonight when I saw a movie advertised from Jerry Seinfeld, one of my favorites, called "Bee Movie". Of course there is nothing funny or light about the plight of our bees, but all the attention and interest is great. We can benefit from a bit of fad, if we will help direct the interested people to the real bees when the fad grabs their interest.
I guess you could say beekeeping is riding a wave at the moment. It is an exciting time to be in beekeeping, partially because the stakes are so high. As Winston Churchill said during the darkest days of World War II, "This will be our finest hour". I believe how we react to the honeybee crisis can become our finest hour. When the stakes are high, the risks we take to experiment, and innovate are magnified in our successes. I am happy so many people are interested in becoming hobbyist beekeepers because the more minds that are studying and experimenting, the more great discoveries we will benefit from.
I recall this past summer, which went way too fast, that one central theme surfaced in every event I worked for the Buncombe County Beekeepers Chapter, from Nectar Collector Day at the Western North Carolina Nature Center, to The recent Heritage Garden Craft Weekend at the North Carolina Arboretum. People were excited about BEES and they were very interested in helping them. I found the superficial conversations were out the door and most people engaged me in interesting intellectual conversations that were both stimulating and thought provoking. I had several very intense conversations that pushed an hour in length with interested individuals. Many of those signed up for the annual free bee school.
The surf is up, and I challenge each of you to wax up your bottom boards and hang ten with me! Let's ride this wave of interest to get funding and inspire great minds to study our bees. Even minds like mine can add to beekeeping, so you have no excuse not to contribute your part also. Don't be afraid of wiping out, because every great discovery has been in the shadow of a certain risk. One thing is sure if you take no risks the great successes will elude you. Take the occasional failure as part of the road to success and keep on keeping on. It has been said that "to whom much is given, much is required" This being true, North Carolina beekeepers need to be playing a lead role in our nation and the in world of beekeeping to help stop the decline of beekeeping because every third bite you eat is because of a honeybee.
Buncombe County Beekeeper Chapter President, Janet Shisler, recently visited England and being the beekeeper she is sought out British beekeepers by attending a London beekeepers meeting. She told me they are a bit dismayed at the loss of bees and feel their government is doing little to help. They are sort of looking to the U.S. for answers. I say lets help find those answers. One of my favorite lines from a movie is from, "The Right Stuff". When the astronauts walked out in front of the crowd, one of them said something close to, "They are looking for Buck Rogers and that's us". I find that inspiring. If others are looking to us for answers we need to be about finding them. When someone needs a hero, why not try the cape on for size. L.L. Langstroth, who invented modern beekeeping, just took an observation and studied it. His discovery has had a profound impact on our beekeeping even today. We all have that potential too. Only if we rise up to meet the challenge can we meet our potential.
A large part of the community joined us and invited a friend to the free Western North Carolina bee school this past February at the Folk Art Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Asheville North Carolina. Look for other opportunities to learn more about this important insect. Join, or renew your membership in your local bee club. Participate in club meetings fund raisers, schools and field days. Give back some of what you were given so that others may enjoy what you have. Help us to pull off another wonderful bee school to further promote our beloved art, craft, occupation and passion.
As you can see, I do have a passion for bees, but that passion is extended by my issuing a written challenge to encourage others to be passionate too. Learning to help the bees shows more about who you are, than who you want to be. Beekeepers need to step out and make the commitment to start keeping bees and then receive specific refinement to become better beekeepers. Uneducated beekeepers tend to fail in crisis moments. All beekeepers need to become passionate, they also need to be insightful and able to communicate. I look forward to sharpening those beekeeping skills with things that I can either learn or change to make me a better beekeeper. We do not have to sit by and watch one third of our food supply disappear if we choose to try and stop the Decline of our honeybees.
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