New blog!

bee-tales.blogspot.com/

So as not to fill up this blog with everything bee......(thinking bee....thinking bee) I have started a bee blog where I will post everything about keeping bees and starting my hive etc etc so if you want to follow along my new new apiculture hobby you can click on the link above :)

Behind in posting...

This morning Lloyd and I had to go over to the West End to pick out taps and sinks for the new kitchen. We've chosen a lovely chunky white apron sink (which is basically what they call a farmhouse sink). We also chose a white sink for the island. We've chosen taps for both those sinks and also a tap to go above the stove top - I think they call it a pan filler tap - it basically comes out of the wall and is just to fill saucepans :)

We also went to West Ed Mall for a while as I needed new underwear and some new jeans and clothes in SMALLERS SIZES!!!! Woohoo!!!!!!!! The girl in Reitmans said not to feel bad if the jeans don't fit in the smaller size because that rise is often cut smaller....but they DID fit :) and they are sooooo comfortable :) and they will even loosen up when they get worn :) she only had one pair left so I'm going to look in town to see if they have more.....Oh I love these tablets :)

This afternoon I have been reading up on bees again - my latest obsession! Lol! Lloyd printed off a free E-book on beekeeping for me from Penn State Uni. I've also been surfing Youtube and there are some amazing videos about beekping and bees in general....

On one of the videos it said that one beekeeper who keeps bees for a loving gets paid by a pumpkin farmer $27,000 to provide 12,000,000 bees to pollinate his crops for 6 weeks!!!! He requires each flower to be visited approximately 30 times!!!

So you need a lot of bees to make money with bees BUT as a farmer you need a lot of bees to visit your crops!!!

Hhhmmmmm

So thats my day :)

All in all it's been a good week. Date night was at OPM this week :) It was a fun evening - cheap night actually - we were in no hurry as we were just there to chat and be together - but they forgot to put my salmon on the grill and our server was too nervous to come and tell us so he got the manager to come and tell us - lol! He came and apologised and he said my dinner was on him!!! :) so that was nice :)

Really we wanted to go to Joeys Global but there was a 35 minute wait for a table and we couldn't be bothered to wait - whereas at OPM there was no wait. I'm never that impressed with the food there but then to me nothing ever compares to Joeys. We had a lovely evening though.

Wednesday we went swimming - that was fun....

We were out every day this week...can't think what else we were up to but it's been a busy week all round! Fun yet busy!

Thursday I was home for a while during the day - I signed Sam up for a preschool class that he starts next week and I signed both he and Abby up for some workshops in Edmonton at various facilities between now and the summer. I am so loving that Winter is over.

Oh and this week we ordered my hive - and my bees :) I'm 247th on the waiting list for bees but because I only want one package they say they are confident that I will get mine - I should find out for sure on Monday or so......I'm hopeful. I think Lloyd is excited now too - he's even talking about having two hives next year! He wants one at the front next year and one at the back!!!! Too funny!

Last night was online crop night at Scrappers Haven.....I scrapped one page of Abigail and added a little to my atc's - I've also signed up for another atc swap - this time I have to make atc's of my 'hottie'....I had to pick a hottie but I couldn't think of one...and then I had a revelation! I picked MATT GOSS!!!!!! My 'hottie' from when I was 16!!!!

Not sure what we are up to tomorrow - think we may take a drive out to Elk Island Park. Off to dish up dinner - lasagna with Rosemary and Olive Oil wedges :)

The Honey bees.....my thoughts

Charlynn asked me what I thought about the bees disappearing. It's somthing I've been reading a lot about this week. I'm not quite sure what to think. On the one hand a lot of bee keepers seem to say that these things happen every few decades and bees always seem to come through and survive. their numbers dwindle and then they come back fighting and all is well again and they wouldn't have survived sor so many millions of years otherwise.

But I also think that they are up against a lot more these days. I don't think they are up against 'nature' this time. They are up against chemical warfare really instead.

The entomologists all seem to have various ideas of why bees are disappearing - apart from the diseases that is (I'm talking about colony collapse disorder rather than the diseases and parasites). Some say it is caused by the stress bees are under these days from being transported from State to State to pollinate crops. Some say its caused by pesticides like Neonicotinoids (same as nioctine - it breaks down the bees immune system, causes memory loss and damages their sense of navigatin. This has been banned in France after campaigning by French Beekeepers).

Many believe the bees lives follow our lives - that when our lives get stressed the bees lives get stressed :)

Many try to raise their bees in an organic way but when you think about it, you can only keep your hive in an organic manner - your bees don't stay on your own land - they fly off and take nectar from other peoples plants - so you can't say your bees are organic......they are taking their nectar and honey from the environemnt around us....you can't keep them safe from the environment around us......sadly you ahve to hope the farmers and land owners around you don't use too many pesticides....

My bees won't be moved around much......They can feast on my dandelions and clover and my garden as much as they like. I plan to grow a bee garden and vegetables and MANY sunflowers for a late Summer feast. My neighbours all grow hay......so not much there for my bees to feast on but the odd dandelion and clover.....

As for Colony Collapse Disorder.....I don't know.....I hope they find an answer. The amount of bees really is astounding - this is MILLIONs of bees disappearing each year.......the price of ICE CREAM is going up already because of bees disappearing!!!! That really puts things into perspective!!! It's really amazing! And so sad....to watch videos on youtube of beekeepers crying because of loss of livestock :( Very sad.

Oh YES!!!!!!!!!

www.vanishingbees.com/blog/?p=136


SEE!!!!! I am NOT the only person who feels this way about Bee Movie!!!! Oh THANK YOU!!!!!! Yay!!!!!! :)

And not just the UK...

Colony Collapse Disorder is destroying bee colonies across the North America - various reasons are given - from stress because of of beekeepers moving their colonies from State to State to pollinate crops, to various things within our environment. Who knows....