My oldest son has been begging me for bees for a while now. How could I, a beeswax candle maker, deny such a sweet (literally) request? Well, the thought of bees swarming into my neighbors yards has been a slight deterrent. Today may change all of that. After reading about the Flow ™ beehive, the notion of going out to my backyard with a stack of pancakes and simply turning the tap on my beehive to watch the fresh honey flow onto my plate, is really too good to resist much longer. Yes, that's right, honey on tap, straight from...

Elephants and agriculture don't mix. Thanks to an international ban on ivory trade, elephant numbers are on the rise. But the migratory routes of these elephants often cross new housing developments and farmland. Elephants are herbivores and are much more interested in eating those crops than they are a man. They often crop-raid during the dark hours, leaving the farmer with no choice but to throw stones, shoot bullets and try to scare the elephants away from his valuable produce. The elephants feel threatened and sometimes charged, leading to both human and elephant deaths. Electrical fences as a means to...

As I write this, Bayer is holding its annual shareholder meeting in Cologne. I'm quite sure that the neonicotinoid pesticides produced by Bayer and their contribution to killing bees is not on the agenda. Quite the opposite, Bayer has started a full-blown PR campaign to convince the public of its supposed concern for the health of bees. Michele Simon and the environmental group Friends of the Earth just released a report entitled " Follow the Honey: 7 ways pesticide companies are spinning the bee crisis to protect profits ", detailing the tactics used by Bayer and other pesticide producers to...

Happy first day of Spring everyone! And here in Germany, Spring really has sprung. I'm so excited to get back into my garden. This year I'm going to add even more space for vegetables. But as you know to get those vegetables growing, I need some bees. So in honor of the first day of Spring, I have gathered some favorite plants that the bees absolutely love. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8 . 9.   1. Asters: The Aster family has more than 100 different species. The aster is one of the most common wildflowers ranging in...

A study published in the journal Nature last month reveals that wild bumble bees, and not only domesticated honey bees as so often reported lately, are getting sick. And it's the honey bees that are probably making them sick. Wild bee populations are declining and this study may help explain why. The scientists think that the managed honey bees may be leaving their pathogens on the flowers. They theorize that the unsuspecting wild bee then lands on the flower and thus contracts the pathogen to itself. This could be tragic news for the wild bumble bee as wild bees live...