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lis 30 2010

Coyote says: America’s Deserts Are Not A Renewable Resource…

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poster courtesy of the Coyote at faultline.org

… and the environmentalists on the renewable energy bandwagon that has begun to raze these deserts for concentrated industrial solar power plants…


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lis 30 2010

Natural Pest Controls

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Today’s New York Times features a report on the efforts by organic farms to control insect pests without using chemicals. “Farmers Find Organic Arsenal to Wage War on pests may be viewed at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/science/30farm.html?_r=1&hpw. The author briefly describes several pest control strategies using natural biological controls. He stresses the benefit of having more varieties of plants growing around agricultural fields. The plants encourage beneficial insects that feed on pest insects. Today’s monoculture agriculture doesn’t provide for the natural enemies that help control many crop-destroying insects. Monoculture planting may have contributed in part to this year’s overwhelming populations of insect pests in the Arkansas Delta. The article describes the use of “trap crops” planted to lure pest insects away from cash crops. To keep bugs away from strawberry plants, alfalfa is planted nearby. The alfalfa is more attractive to a pest bug than the strawberry plant, thus the strawberry crop is saved. Other farmers use a vacuum to suck bugs from the strawberry plants. Ed Anderson is experimenting with a vacuum arrangement that he built to remove small hive beetles from his Tennessee bee hives. Such mechanical controls are good choices for inclusion in integrated pest management programs; there is no chance of a pest developing a resistance to a sucking machine. Bats are effective controllers of certain insect pests. Unfortunately, these flying mammals, that are also useful pollinators, are declining in numbers. For information about bats and White-nose Syndrome, the fungal disease that is seriously reducing their populations, visit http://www.batcon.org/.
The Times article speaks of the benefit of nutrient-rich soil and the use of cover crops including legumes. Some organic farmers are using essential oil sprays to protect crops. They are spraying clove, mint, and thyme to repel and kill pests. This sounds like our non-chemical approaches to beekeeping, using essential oils to kill Varroa mites. It appears that organic crop farmers and beekeepers have much to share. Today’s photo: monocultural plantings leave little habitat for beneficial insects.
–Richard

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lis 30 2010

Operation Migration

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We see evidence of successes in wildlife conservation efforts. In recent decades, the whooping crane almost became extinct. However, with the concerted efforts of public and private groups, these beautiful birds are slowly increasing in numbers. The whooping crane population declined from an estimated high of 1400 cranes in 1860 to an all-time low of 15 birds in 1941. The only naturally-occurring flock of whooping cranes summers in Alberta and Northwest Territories, Canada. The wild flock, which now numbers 180 birds, migrates to the Gulf of Mexico coast of Texas. A consortium of wildlife experts recognized that the population was at risk with all of the birds sharing the same territory and migration route. In an effort to protect the whooping crane from extinction, another flock of cranes was established with a separate migration path through its historic range. This Eastern population now has 96 cranes which migrate from Wisconsin to Northwest Florida. Whooping cranes are guided on their first migration by pilots using ultralight aircraft. My friend, Shirley Murphy, keeps me informed of the whooping crane migration. Today the 11 young cranes making the migration guided by human fliers in ultralight aircraft are resting in Hardin County, Tennessee in the vicinity of Shirley’s Tennessee River home and bee yard. They are at the half-way point of their 1285 mile migration. You can follow the progress of the flight at http://operationmigration.org/Field_Journal.html. The Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership is a group of non-profit organizations, individuals, and governmental agencies that are working together to establish the Eastern population of cranes. Their work can be viewed at http://www.bringbackthecranes.org/.
Here at Peace Farm, we also see the results of successful conservation efforts. We are visited by birds extending their range: black-necked stilt, tundra swan, and bald eagle. This week, I noticed that a number of the nesting holes that Rita drilled into a dead tree trunk had been used by blue orchard bees, like the one I photographed gathering pollen from evening primrose flowers.
–Richard

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lis 29 2010

Human slaves in an insect nation

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Prefer a more orchestral version? Here it is:
Posted via email from a leaf warbler’s gleanings


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lis 29 2010

How a "primitive" tribe de-converted a Christian missionary to atheism!

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via youtube.com

Fascinating story, isn’t it? So who says religion—belief in the supernatural, or an afterlife, and all the baggage that comes with it— is universal among all human cultures? Or…


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lis 29 2010

Live or Let Die?

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After two weeks in place in the bee hives, the thymol treatments have evaporated from their gelled state. The thymol vapors have killed a large proportion of the colony’s parasitic mites.   The mites fell from the bees and can be seen on the plastic inserts that covered the screened bottom boards and concentrated the thymol fumes. My 10-year-old grandson, Ethan, removes the inserts and hive spacer shims used to administer the thymol. Thymol is a product of the thyme plant, a common herb used to make pizza sauce. It is considered less dangerous to the honey bees than chemical miticides. The harsh miticides are known to lead to infertility in queens and drones. These agents have also led to resistant strains of parasitic mites.
In the future, it is hoped that we will not have to use any treatments at all to control mites. Great efforts are being made to breed strains of honey bees that are resistant to the deadly Varroa mites. These bees have a genetically heritable behavior trait that allows them to detect reproducing Varroa growing in the cells with developing honey bee pupae. The bees open the cells and remove the pupae along with the parasitic Varroa. This is called hygienic behavior. It is hoped that through genetic selection honey bees will evolve that can live in the presence of parasitic mites.  That seems to have occurred to a considerable degree with tracheal mites, but not yet with Varroa. In practicality, we are a long way away from pure honey bee genetic control of Varroa mites. Mite resistance is greatly diminished with each supersedure of a colony’s queen. A few beekeepers are attempting to use a “live or let die” approach to Varroa control, letting the mites select the resistant colonies. A more practical approach, however, seems to be an integrated pest management plan that employs numerous mite controls including “soft” chemicals, like thymol” as needed to rapidly knock down mite populations exceeding self-defined thresholds.
–Richard

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lis 29 2010

Pure Sunshine . . .

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Wax comb from my TopBar hive – isn`t it the most beautiful creation ? I kept this out of the hive last summer so I can use it in my talks, plus it gives my house a delicious scent.. In the TB hive the comb is made completely by the bees, no head start with foundation sheets that have the size of the cells just a tiny bit bigger, hopefully breeding a bigger bee = more honey ! The bees know what they are doing, they don`t need mans interference or manipulation, which is one of the reasons I am only keeping my bees in a TopBar hive now. I am encouraging others to do the same ! Check out my new blog, kiwitopbarhive.blogspot.com where I will be putting my TB beekeeping news and info on. I am also in the process of starting a NZ based group for people keen on using this type of hive for their bees.


ALL WE ARE SAYING. . .IS GIVE BEES A CHANCE .

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lis 27 2010

Thymol Treatment for Varroa

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Varroa mites were first detected in the United States around 1987. These visible parasitic mites followed by just three years the detection of microscopic mites that live in the trachea, or breathing tubes of the honey bee. The two species of mites decimated honey bee colonies. For a number of years it was common to not see a single honey bee in a stand of clover on a warm spring day when foraging bees should be abundant. Over the next couple of decades, tracheal mites became less of a killer of honey bees, but Varroa mites remained the most deadly pest of bees. Varroa mites puncture the exoskeleton of the honey bees and suck the bees’ blood, called hemolymph. The resulting wound exposes the bees to a number of viruses; several are suspected of being associated with Colony Collapse Disorder. In an attempt the stop the deaths of honey bee colonies, beekeepers relied upon chemical miticides to kill the parasitic mites. This was a most difficult task of attempting to kill a pest on a living insect without harming the insect. Each of the available miticides killed parasitic mites effectively for a while, and then strains of mites resistant to the chemicals replaced the original mites. Other strategies now being preferred include the use of “softer” agents, like organic acids and essential oils.
In the photo, I am inspecting a frame from the center of the brood nest. Here, bees are completing their last brood cycle of the year. In the center of the frame, a few capped cells hold pupae ready to emerge as adults. Around these capped cells are the empty cells of recently emerged bees. Farther out, a band of worker bees tend to uncapped honey. The outside edges of the frame contain honey capped with beeswax, the colony’s stored food for winter. Photographer and beekeeper, Brandon Dill, www.brandondillphotography.com, took this picture of me wearing protective gloves to apply thymol to treat a hive for mites.

–Richard

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lis 27 2010

How do we resist the dominant culture that is killing the planet?

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That is the big question raised by Derrick Jensen, described here by Amy Goodman as the „poet philosopher of the ecological movement” – although I have to admit I hadn’t heard about him until I…


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lis 25 2010

The Video Rap Guide to Evolution – now coproduced by me (and you?)!

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via crowdfunder.co.uk
So how many rap albums have ever been peer-reviewed, and reviewed in academic journals like Trends in Ecology and Evolution, before they had accompanying music videos?! Or…


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scano.biz