A friend who lives in the city asked what she could do to help bees. Until Asheville changes its ordinance regarding honeybee keeping, it's really difficult to have a big enough piece of property within the city limits to keep a hive. But here are the ideas I told her. Maybe someone out there has more that they'd like to add:
Pesticide free is wonderful!
Preserve wild areas because wildflowers and blooming trees (even inconspicuous maples) are great for bees.
Grow plenty of flowers that bees like.
Buy local honey, particularly from people who are trying to raise survivor bees (resistant to diseases). (i.e. they are not medicating their bees.)
Write our city council people and convince them to change the anti-honeybee ordinance. Here is the Asheville city ordinance: Sec. 3-16. Keeping of bees.No beehive shall be kept by any person within the city within 150 feet of any household other than that of the owner of the beehive.
(Also those people running for Asheville city council, particularly Cecil Bothwell and Gordon Smith).
Read Fruitless Fall and other books about our pollinators.
Visit these and other websites: http://www.xerces.org/ andhttp://www.thehoneybeeconservancy.org/The_Hive.html
Visit a beekeeper.
And finally, the most expensive idea: keep a beehive, but put it on someone else's property!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
In the BeeGinning
I have had my beehives for almost a year and would like to start blogging about them in an effort to maybe keep myself organized and to chronicle my experiences as a beekeeper.
Last year (Feb. 2008) my son Nathan and I attended Bee School in Asheville sponsored by WNC Bees. It was amazing and informative. I won a scholarship hive and we also purchased two more hives. I put the hives in Cartoogechaye on my parents' property. Technically, within the city of Asheville I couldn't keep a hive of bees because I don't live on a large enough piece of land. There wouldn't be enough distance between the hive and the nearest neighbor's property. I hope Asheville rethinks this.
I'll try to write in later posts about my spring and summer experiences with the bees. First I want to say that I visited them Wednesday (March 11, 2009) and two out of the three hives are alive. I suspected that hive #2 was dying and they do seem to be dead. I didn't open the hive up and look, but there were no bees flying. The other two hives were bustling with activity. It was a beautiful warm day.
I am really amazed that hive #3 made it through the winter. Twice during the fall, the hive was knocked over by something. Not torn apart. Just basically turned upside down. Each time it stayed that way for several days and each time I painstakingly picked up the pieces and put them back together. Once with help from my Daddy; once with help from Nathan. I wish I had taken pictures.
The first really warm day this February when I visited my bees, they were really busy and I wondered what they could possibly be doing in February. I found out by stumbling upon a blooming pussywillow. They were getting lots of pollen! Wednesday when I was there I couldn't tell where most of them were. There were a few on the black pussywillow which blooms a little later than the white. The maples are starting to bloom, but I didn't really see bees on them...so that question is unanswered still.
Last year (Feb. 2008) my son Nathan and I attended Bee School in Asheville sponsored by WNC Bees. It was amazing and informative. I won a scholarship hive and we also purchased two more hives. I put the hives in Cartoogechaye on my parents' property. Technically, within the city of Asheville I couldn't keep a hive of bees because I don't live on a large enough piece of land. There wouldn't be enough distance between the hive and the nearest neighbor's property. I hope Asheville rethinks this.
I'll try to write in later posts about my spring and summer experiences with the bees. First I want to say that I visited them Wednesday (March 11, 2009) and two out of the three hives are alive. I suspected that hive #2 was dying and they do seem to be dead. I didn't open the hive up and look, but there were no bees flying. The other two hives were bustling with activity. It was a beautiful warm day.
I am really amazed that hive #3 made it through the winter. Twice during the fall, the hive was knocked over by something. Not torn apart. Just basically turned upside down. Each time it stayed that way for several days and each time I painstakingly picked up the pieces and put them back together. Once with help from my Daddy; once with help from Nathan. I wish I had taken pictures.
The first really warm day this February when I visited my bees, they were really busy and I wondered what they could possibly be doing in February. I found out by stumbling upon a blooming pussywillow. They were getting lots of pollen! Wednesday when I was there I couldn't tell where most of them were. There were a few on the black pussywillow which blooms a little later than the white. The maples are starting to bloom, but I didn't really see bees on them...so that question is unanswered still.
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