Last year I asked my sister if I could put a hive of honeybees on her property, as she lives out in the country. She agreed, so I started a small colony in preparation for the installation. I am not sure how it happened, but it wasn't long before the bees became her bees. I painted up the boxes a nice shade of peach, loaded up the Jeep, and made the drive to Three Rivers. Diann was a bit sheepish around the bees, but curious and eager at the same time. For the next several weeks she would give me reports on "her girls".
Diann's bees made it through the winter and are strong and healthy. If you talk to her about her bees, her voice changes. She becomes a young girl again, deeply and passionately in love. It happens to everyone who starts being kept by bees.
Every once in awhile I go to her home and help her check on the girls to see how they are doing. Her hive is the strongest and largest I have ever seen in my 8 years of beekeeping. Our Father designed a nifty water container that sits prominantly on top of the hive. These girls want for nothing.
Last night, my phone rang. It was Diann, sobbing so hard I could not understand a word she was saying. It didn't help we had a bad connection. I asked her to call me right back. Finally, I could make out something about an airplane, spraying, cornfield, bees.
Diann's property sits adjacent to an ag field currently planted in corn. She has spoken with the farmer about her bees and asked him to let her know if and when he was going to spray his fields. He agreed. Apparently something happened because he did not notify her of the aerial spraying that occurred last night.
When I heard her voice, I thought one of our parent's or her dog was killed, it was that frantic. She was devastated. So was I. And angry. Even though the spraying happened in the evening hours, the honeybees were still on the wing, flying back to their home.
There are no laws that prevent herbicide, fungicide, or pesticide drift. Farmers can spray five feet away from your property on a windy day and that poison can drift into your kitchen window and there is nothing you can do about it. They can spray from an airplane and if the drift of the spray happens to land on top of your apiary (bee yard), too bad for you and the bees. There is a serious lack of regulation and you can bet Monsanto and their agribusiness friends will fight to keep it that way. Farmers can voluntarily tell the beekeepers he or she is going to spray so the beekeeper can keep their bees in their hives until it dries. Of course there are still effects on the bees through bringing treated pollen into the hive amoung other things. But what do you do if the farmer won't work with you? The fact is there is absolutely nothing you can do.
My friend Sylvia has bees at her home and an ag field adjacent to her property. One day the farmer was out spraying Roundup. She went out and asked him if he would move his sprayer over just two feet (he was spraying directly on the property line). He got angry and called her a very derogatory name. He continued his spraying and all she could do was watch. This was maybe thirty feet from her hives.
There was a little grassy patch on the corner of that field, which by the way is owned by the Township and leased by the farmer, that Sylvia and her husband had cleared of brush and mowed. The farmer came back later that day and doused it with Roundup.
Many of my ancestors were farmers. My maternal Grandparents were farmers. I love farmers. But the antiquated laws that govern their activities need to be revisited and revised in this day of dramatically escalated chemical use. Since the invention of Roundup ready crops, "weeds" have started to become resistant. This has resulted in an increase of herbicide use, not a decrease. To the tune of 383 million pounds! What kind of world are we leaving to the child yet born?
Diann tried calling the farmer last night only to get a busy signal each time she rang him. She will visit him today and find out what he sprayed and why he did not let her know. Only time will tell now how this will affect her beloved honeybees.
Please support organic farmers by purchasing organic meats, fruits, vegetables and grains. Educate yourself about natural alternatives to the harsh chemicals you have in your home and use in your yards and gardens. Remember that all life is a Circle, and everything we do, whether it is spraying a dandelion with RoundUP or salting our sidewalks, affects many species and is absorbed into the ecosystem. If we don't change our ways, we will lose our honeybees and alot more. And I don't want to hear my sister cry.
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Monday, July 6, 2015
What Happened to the Want Ads?
Once upon a time when I wanted to buy a car I would pick up the weekly newspaper and scour the Want Ads to see what fine vehicles were for sale. If one looked promising, I would pick up the telephone and call, and then if all went well I would go see the car and give her a test drive.
In today's world, no longer do people put their cars in the Want Ads. In fact, newspapers themselves are endanger of going extinct, replaced instead by the invisible and mysterious world of the internet.
Lately I have been shopping around for a used pick up truck for travelling to my beehives on the organic farms where they are placed. Nothing fancy, just something reliable, clean, and under $3000. The closest thing to a Want Ad in today's world is Craigslist so I began my search there. After reviewing what seemed like dozens of ads, I found the perfect truck, a red Ford Ranger, low mileage, mint condition. And the price was low. Incredibly low. I emailed the seller and soon received a reply. The seller was an officer in the Air Force and had been transferred to Alaska from a base in Ohio. She told me she was having the truck shipped to the nearest base then she would pay for a tow truck to deliver it right to my door. I couldn't understand why the truck was so inexpensive and felt like I should offer a bit more as surely she must have been selling it so cheaply due to some hardship she was facing. I was excited over the find and felt the bee goddesses had smiled upon me. I imagined it in the driveway, all shiny and red, full of beekeeping equipment.
Needless to say, after much investigation I discovered that it was a scam.
A few hours later I found another truck on Craigslist, a nice Toyota Tacoma, again at a low price. Suspicious, I emailed the seller. Lo and behold it was a military officer who had just been transferred...this time I recognized the deception and replied "SCAMMER!"
Not to be deterred, I contacted another seller later in the day about an ad that stated they were from a town just south of here. It was a very sweet elderly man selling a 1990 Ford Ranger. He was so excited about his truck he was gushing over it. I scheduled a visit for later in the day. While waiting for the appointed time to arrive, my father looked at he ad and told me the truck was way over priced. I checked online and of course, like always, he was right. It wasn't long before the gentleman called and I had to tell him I wouldn't pay what he was asking. I could tell he was crushed. After all, this was his baby. To him, it was worth thousands and thousands of dollars. I get that. I deal with those same feelings every time I have a garage sale. Most of the items on my table are way overpriced, at least in the buyers' eyes. Of course not in mine.
In the end I told him to give me a call if he doesn't find a buyer and we can talk about lowering the price to something more reasonable. He thanked me for my honesty, but swore if I only came and took it for a ride I would fall in love, too. I smiled and wished him a good evening. And I was sure he was right.
So here we have three types of humans. First, the Scammer, who disrespects those who serve in our military and attempts to con other trusting humans into sending them money for something that doesn't exist. Second, the Innocent, who trusts everyone and cares about strangers so much she would have given a scammer an extra $500 thinking she was helping out a fellow human in need. Last, the Lover, whose old white truck is the apple of his eye and in his mind is priceless. And I wonder if this process is more about learning a little something about people rather than finding the perfect truck. It is a reminder that the world is a much bigger place than the one I grew u[ in and while there are still many kind people, it is hard to know who to believe anymore.
I miss the Want Ads.
In today's world, no longer do people put their cars in the Want Ads. In fact, newspapers themselves are endanger of going extinct, replaced instead by the invisible and mysterious world of the internet.
Lately I have been shopping around for a used pick up truck for travelling to my beehives on the organic farms where they are placed. Nothing fancy, just something reliable, clean, and under $3000. The closest thing to a Want Ad in today's world is Craigslist so I began my search there. After reviewing what seemed like dozens of ads, I found the perfect truck, a red Ford Ranger, low mileage, mint condition. And the price was low. Incredibly low. I emailed the seller and soon received a reply. The seller was an officer in the Air Force and had been transferred to Alaska from a base in Ohio. She told me she was having the truck shipped to the nearest base then she would pay for a tow truck to deliver it right to my door. I couldn't understand why the truck was so inexpensive and felt like I should offer a bit more as surely she must have been selling it so cheaply due to some hardship she was facing. I was excited over the find and felt the bee goddesses had smiled upon me. I imagined it in the driveway, all shiny and red, full of beekeeping equipment.
Needless to say, after much investigation I discovered that it was a scam.
A few hours later I found another truck on Craigslist, a nice Toyota Tacoma, again at a low price. Suspicious, I emailed the seller. Lo and behold it was a military officer who had just been transferred...this time I recognized the deception and replied "SCAMMER!"
Not to be deterred, I contacted another seller later in the day about an ad that stated they were from a town just south of here. It was a very sweet elderly man selling a 1990 Ford Ranger. He was so excited about his truck he was gushing over it. I scheduled a visit for later in the day. While waiting for the appointed time to arrive, my father looked at he ad and told me the truck was way over priced. I checked online and of course, like always, he was right. It wasn't long before the gentleman called and I had to tell him I wouldn't pay what he was asking. I could tell he was crushed. After all, this was his baby. To him, it was worth thousands and thousands of dollars. I get that. I deal with those same feelings every time I have a garage sale. Most of the items on my table are way overpriced, at least in the buyers' eyes. Of course not in mine.
In the end I told him to give me a call if he doesn't find a buyer and we can talk about lowering the price to something more reasonable. He thanked me for my honesty, but swore if I only came and took it for a ride I would fall in love, too. I smiled and wished him a good evening. And I was sure he was right.
So here we have three types of humans. First, the Scammer, who disrespects those who serve in our military and attempts to con other trusting humans into sending them money for something that doesn't exist. Second, the Innocent, who trusts everyone and cares about strangers so much she would have given a scammer an extra $500 thinking she was helping out a fellow human in need. Last, the Lover, whose old white truck is the apple of his eye and in his mind is priceless. And I wonder if this process is more about learning a little something about people rather than finding the perfect truck. It is a reminder that the world is a much bigger place than the one I grew u[ in and while there are still many kind people, it is hard to know who to believe anymore.
I miss the Want Ads.
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