Our Bees
If we were to choose one creature that teaches us to live lightly it's the honey bee (Apis Mellifera).
Like all creatures, the honey bees' existence is dependent on their environment, weather, seasonal cropping and natural growth. However, while the crops are managed and encouraged to grow to feed ourselves and other animals, this same 'management' is killing our honey bees. 
Crops (the foraging ground of the honey bee) are sprayed with herbicides and insecticides (bees are insects) to increase yield ...and yet the demise of honey bee numbers is attributed to 'mysterious causes'!
Honey bees are in crisis world wide. They're affected by several 'mysterious' diseases and pests, with fancy names and three letter acronyms. Honey bee colonies are dying at an extraordinary rate.
It is time for 'experts' to go beyond 'group think' and critically consider the legacy they are creating for future generations. If honey bees were to become extinct, it is guesstimated that the earth's human population would follow suit within four years. Now that's a sobering thought!
Take a venn diagram with...
- 'Honey Bees'
- 'Environmental Toxins'
- 'Vested Interests'
- 'Profit Margins'
It doesn't take an 'expert' to identify the real cause of the 'mysterious illness / diseases' that are decimating our global honey bee population!
Honey bees' primary function is pollination - honey is only a by-product. Without pollination there would be no fruit, vegetables or cereals. No food for human consumption and no food for animal consumption, so no meat either!
It was common in Ireland to find a swarm of bees in summer but unfortunately nearly all our native wild bees are gone, the sight of a natural wild swarm is now just a memory.
Eddie grew up with bees and he regularly expressed the wish to own a colony. His wish was granted in 2009 when a gentleman called to collect some hens. He told us the hens were for interest as he had been an avid bee-keeper but for family reasons (grand-children) he had to let go of his bees.
We bartered hens and chickens for what he had left of his bee boxes. These sat empty for most of the summer because we were unable to source bees. Another barter was agreed in August. We traded hens, chickens and fertile eggs for bees with Mick, who set us up with two nucs of bees. He continued to mentor us throughout the first year. 
We had become bee-keepers.
Like a miracle, we managed to bring them through the first winter (one of the hardest in many years) although it was touch and go for a while, but thanks to Eddie's intervention they survived and became viable hives later in the year.
We've increased our number of hives in this, our second year and learned such a lot about bees and about creating an environment that would help to increase their chances of survival.
Life and death as we all know is a very delicate balance. Bees and the problems they encounter as a result of modern agriculture methods and globalisation have highlighted for us the need to remain mindful of the effects of our actions on the environment and ultimately on ourselves.
Our activities are now governed by the need to create, support and maintain a biodiverse environment where symbiotic relationships can establish. While it's not always possible to find a solution without resorting to modern methods, for the most part it's back to basics. We hope that reducing our use of environment toxins will allow an increase in both population and variety of flora and fauna, which will support, protect or predate and self regulate.
This is ongoing learning for us, as we solve one problem we often create another which in turn must be resolved. See our blog for our ongoing successes, trials & tribulations.