The Beekeepers Association of Northern Dutchess (B.A.N.D.) had another momentous meeting in January. The theme was "Get your hives ordered. Get your equipment built." We will recommence with field workshops in May.

SWARM THE STATE!

Well, they are going for it. The state of Hawaii has temporarily lifted jurisdiction on the poison fipronil to eradicate all hives of bees within 5 miles of the city of Hilo. This is to stop the spread of the newly introduced parasitic varroa mite and protect the state's $4 million queen bee and honey industry for perhaps a few more years.

The mites will surely kill many bees on the island, but why wait?

Hawaii could lead the world in establishing the balance of natural beekeeping, but the state chooses death. Meanwhile on the mainland Bayer continues the same only less overtly.

Maybe Obama will fix it.

Wrapped up for winter @ Bard College Community Garden

Thanks for checking in! Despite my technical inadequacies and lack of computer and electricity, this website is coming together! Please take a moment and check it out. The bees in Florida have been working Brazilian pepper, Spanish needle, and melaleuca. The hives in NY or now wrapped up and enjoying the stillness of the landscape - the time of year for us to read, reflect, rejoice, and get equipment ordered and built. I still have a few top bar hives, Langstroth nucs, and northern queens for sale. Total blatant capitalism. Contact me at anarchyapiaries@hotmail.com or 406-396-8357. Swarm the State!

Monday, October 6, 2008
By Bradford L. Miner TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFFbminer@telegram.com
LEICESTER The injection of the pesticide imidacloprid into healthy maples near those infested by the Asian longhorned beetle may be welcome news to shade tree lovers, but Worcester beekeepers are worried and some are planning on moving their hives from “ground zero.” At a meeting Saturday of the Worcester County Beekeepers Association, Jeffrey S. Pettis of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Research Service was fielding questions on Nosema cerenae, one of the more common bee diseases, when one member asked about the impact of the pesticide being used in Worcester. Several cited reports from beekeepers in Europe, particularly in France, suggesting that the pesticide imidacloprid contributed to a significant decline in bee populations.Click here to find out more!

Press Release

Soil Association calls for urgent ban on dangerous pesticides linked to honey bee deaths

29 September 2008

A group of insect-killing sprays known as neonicotinoids [1] that are widely used in UK farming have now been banned in four other European countries because they are thought to be killing bees [2]. Italy has just joined Germany, Slovenia and France in banning the sprays [3]. This week the Italian government issued an immediate suspension of these sprays after they accepted that they are killing bees. The Soil Association has today written to Hilary Benn, the Secretary of State for the Environment, urging him to ban the sprays in the UK with immediate effect [4].

There is worldwide concern at widespread, unexplained and devastating deaths of honey bees over the last two years. Bee keepers have reported potentially catastrophic loss of bees from their hives ranging anywhere from 30-90 percent. Britain’s beekeepers have reported that close to one in three hives have failed to make it through last winter and spring[5]. This "Colony Collapse Disorder" (CCD) is not just a problem for beekeepers and farmers, but for consumers as well, since bee pollination is essential for crop production. The US Department of Agriculture says that one out of every three mouthfuls of food is dependant on bee pollination, and globally up to two-thirds of all major crops rely on pollination, mainly by bees.

The products implicated in bee deaths, clothianidin, imidacloprid, fipronil and thiamethoxam, are approved to kill insects on a wide range of crops in the UK including very widely grown oilseed rape, barley, and sugar beet. They are also cleared for use in ornamental plant and hop production [6]. The use of these chemicals on oilseed rape is of particular concern, as the crop’s yellow flowers are very attractive to honey bees, and the crop has become popular with bee keepers.

Thank you to all who participated in our bee yard tours this season. Well over 150 newbees experienced the wonders of the hive, and everyone is excited for the weekly workshops starting again in May. As always, these workshops will be free and open to the public. The bees are now backfilling their broodnests with goldenrod, aster, and japanese knotweed nectar in preparation for colder weather. Keep posted here for info on ordering hives and queens for the spring.

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You can contact me at anarchyapiaries@hotmail.com or 406-396-8357. Swarm the State!

EPA Buzz Kill: Is the Agency Hiding Colony Collapse Disorder Information?

NRDC Forced to Sue to Get Public Records on Bee Mystery

WASHINGTON, DC (August 18, 2008) – The Natural Resources Defense Council filed a lawsuit today to uncover critical information that the US government is withholding about the risks posed by pesticides to honey bees. NRDC legal experts and a leading bee researcher are convinced that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has evidence of connections between pesticides and the mysterious honey bee die-offs reported across the country. The phenomenon has come to be called “colony collapse disorder,” or CCD, and it is already proving to have disastrous consequences for American agriculture and the $15 billion worth of crops pollinated by bees every year.

EPA has failed to respond to NRDC’s Freedom of Information Act request for agency records concerning the toxicity of pesticides to bees, forcing the legal action.

“Recently approved pesticides have been implicated in massive bee die-offs and are the focus of increasing scientific scrutiny,” said NRDC Senior Attorney Aaron Colangelo. “EPA should be evaluating the risks to bees before approving new pesticides, but now refuses to tell the public what it knows. Pesticide restrictions might be at the heart of the solution to this growing crisis, so why hide the information they should be using to make those decisions?”

This was at the Backyard Beekeepers Association annual potluck in MA.