Ahhh, just wanted to be sure there wasn't some health benefit I was missing.
I would love to be a beekeeper. Sounds strange but I became fascinated by bees and beekeeping a few years back. Just don't have anywhere I could use as an apiary.
I'm not convinced though that modern beekeeping practices are truly ideal for the bees. Everyone uses the hive design Langstroth came up with, but nobody follows his methods. He never used smoke for instance, so why do modern beekeepers insist on using it?
Smoke the bees to 'calm' them down, then tell everyone that stress is one of the primary causes of bees being unable to fight off disease and parasites.
I like and use honey too, I get mine from a local bee keeper. they say it healthier to get local honeyI love to be able to keep bees too, bees and garden go great
You may not get any honey from it, but grow the basil and the bees will come, and they will love you. They'll build their own hives and survive. Peoples home gardens may be the only way the bees will survive.
Wasps too, and the wasps are pollenators too, and they eat aphids on your tomatoes. I could give several stories of how they won't hurt you if they're not threatened by you. They work for a little while at midmorning and a little while in the late afternoon, in this region anyway. So that's your time to go inside for a cuppa. One time I was standing under a wasp nest when I smoked in the old brick & mortar days, and had to go outside. One of them flew down and "thunk" collided into my arm, as if to say "our nest is a nonsmoking home if you don't mind". So I found a better spot. Cigarette smoke is deadly to them. One time one of them followed me inside. My co-worker was like "wasp!". I said light a cigarette and blow the smoke on it. He said are you kidding, boss will kill me for smoking inside. I said just do it and then put it out. He did, and the wasp dropped dead. Another time I was smoking on the front porch at my aunt's house. There was a big wasp nest in the roof above. One of the contractors working on the house ambled up, pointed it out and said I'd better smoke somewhere else. Nah, I said, I just don't smoke directly under them and they mind their own business. Bunches more stories like that. I love wasps.
