swarm1

Swarm One
Permaculture notes, #00421

Every grower, especially a fruit and vegetable grower, needs to know about bees. A collection of hives is called an apiary, and those who tend them are apiculturists. Honeybees (Apis millifera) are responsible for pollinating several billion dollars worth produce each year. The United States would be quite literally unable to feed itself if something happened to all the honeybees at once.

When pollination is incomplete, the fruit doesn’t grow to the same proportions without a seed to grow around. If you’ve ever seen a fruit that’s all smooshed in on side, that is very likely what happened. If you cut it open, you’ll likely find a tiny little white speck where a big black seed should be. Studies have shown up to a 2/3 increase in yield when bees are used in conjunction with crops that they’re not deemed necessary for, such as squash.

Varroa mites have had a major impact on North American hives. Apiculturists have kept the tiny pest just at bay for nearly 20 years now, but you can only give the bees so many antibiotics and so many sugar treats until you make the problem worse by encouraging a resistant strain of mite. This problem has caused a lot of people to rethink control strategies and begin manipulating bees’ social behaviour as a super-organism. It takes more knowledge and more observation, but it is a classically sustainable solution.

How unfortunate that climate change is further decreasing the bees’ ability to survive! Many of the native species of bee (and there are dozens in Oregon) have been infected with mites now that weather has become observably chaotic. Even the kept honeybees are emerging from each successive winter with a greater population decrease than the year before and finding it harder to forage as the flowers try to adapt to the increase in UV light. It’s the sort of problem that screams, ‘‘There must be another way.’’

These bees were lucky. They lived amid a zillion acres of clover in South Dakota. When the hive gets too crowded they head off as a swarm with a fresh queen protected in the middle, looking for a new home. Not everyone knows bees are actually very docile when swarming, as there's no current home to protect. Just breathe as lightly and evenly as possible through your nose and wear light coloured clothing. I promise, you won’t be stung.

To sum up: If even one part of the system is suffering, the rest will be affected whether you’d considered that or not. Climate change will pull threads out of life’s tapestry that will require innovative and timely solutions.