We will never grow tired of love stories. Love is the most agreeable reality to our nature. Love sustains us. Love binds us together. Love gives us hope. Love gives us comfort. But has anyone considered that love gives us honey?
Of all the love stories, one of the most enduring is the relationship between bees and flowers.
Granted, most people will consider this a working relationship. Plants provide food for the bees and bees cross-pollinate the plants. But considering the honey and fruit that results from this relationship, the first word that comes to my mind is love.
This love story has lasted for a hundred million years and provides an excellent model for sustainable, interactive systems. The real buzz, though, is the product. Honeybees and flowers have consistently produced the most beautiful creations and sweetest concoctions this world has ever known.
Bees also provide an example of a fascinating social organization. Plus, bees have developed an ingenious dance that communicates the exact information regarding the distance and direction of sources of nectar discovered by scouts.
In the field of bees, New York is lucky to have two experts, Chris Harp and Grai St. Clair Rice. Chris and Grai have devoted their lives for the greater understanding of bee keeping. Chris has kept bees for 24 years and among his numerous credentials, is known by many as the “bee doctor.” He teaches classes ranging from the basics of starting and maintaining a colony to advanced instructions on how veteran beekeepers can transition to natural and organic methods. Grai St. Clair Rice left an illustrious career as an Editor/Producer with CNN to maintain hives in New York City and teach classes on gardening for bees. Together, they formed HoneyBeeLives.org and conduct classes at numerous locations including the HoneyBeeLives Apiary and Sustainable Living Resource Center and at The Common in Brooklyn.
For more information regarding their work and their classes, visit their site at www.HoneyBeeLives.org.
Photo by Erik Hooymans from Wikimedia commons.
Garrett Buhl Robinson is a poet and novelist. www.garrettrobinson.us
