Give Some Honey Back

In lieu of the collpase of these honey colonizer....

The Natural Resources Defense Council suggests steps like these:
• Plant species native to your region in your yard and garden. These will provide abundant food for local bee populations.
• Grow a wide variety of plants with different colors, shapes, and flowering times. A diverse range of plants will attract an equally diverse range of bee species and give them plenty of food choices throughout the growing season.
• Stay away from hybrid and genetically modified plants, which often don’t produce any of the pollen that bees need to survive.
• Never use pesticides or herbicides of any kind. Though these poisons may be meant for plants and non-bee pests, they can often have a “spill-over” effect that harms innocent bystander species, bees among them. (Pesticides are also extremely unhealthy for us land-bound creatures, too!)
• Consider starting a hive and being a beekeeper. The NRDC suggests creating a nest for wood bees (which don’t sting!) by simply taking a non-treated block of wood, drilling holes 3/32 of an inch to 5/16 of an inch in diameter and about 5 inches deep, and leaving it out for bees to find. Traditional beekeeping also has many rewards, from a supply of homemade honey to assured garden pollination.

This weekend, I will make a bee cake, and give it away.

To Isabel.