The smallest things can make a big difference

I am happy to announce the newest members of the household. Well, so to speak. We picked up our two hives of honey bees on Saturday and we are pretty smitten with "the girls". Out of about 9,000 bees in a hive, only a few hundred are males (drones) the remainder are girls and they are the true workers. They clean the hive, gather the pollen that makes the honey, and tend to the queen. The females are busy and productive while the males wait around to mate (the female worker bees also take care of them). The male purpose to the hive is to reproduce with the queen. If, after a few weeks, the male doesn't do his "duty" the girls pick him apart and kick him out of the hive. I mean, literally...they take off his legs and his wings and toss him out the bottom of the hive. I think we could all learn a few lessons from the lady bees! Did you know without bees that we would all be eating rice in about 3 years? no more veggies, no more fruits, the pollination would stop and the growth of blooms would stop that results in most of the foods we know. There are some problems with the honey bee these days. Colony Collapse Disorder is wiping out whole honey farms. The bees are disappearing and without them..so will mankind. Support your local honey farmer. Read up on bees, watch "The Vanishing of the Bees" to become more informed, or better yet become a beekeeper. Let's do all we can to protect this "sweet" life that we owe to the mother nature and tiniest honey bee.