Dear Bee Folks:
 
    I keep hearing overtones that I find really offensive, embarassing, and
frustrating.
 
    I am staying out of the loosestrife controversy, because I see two sides,
and because it probably won't make much difference anyway. (I doubt that
pristine conditions can ever be restored, and suspect that we will have to
try to find workable solutions within the framework of what we have now.)
 
   But I support those who defend this forage source, and I find myself
resenting those who immediately portray the defenders as greedy and selfish
(-special interests), and glibly toss them off (-there are other nectar
sources).  There are not very many nectar sources that are as concentrated.
 There are not many places where you can take damaged bees for healing from
pesticide damage, without concern for further damage.
 
   Are we greedy and selfish?  Or are we fighting to survive?  I am past the
prime of my working life.  I have no nest egg, no real estate (except a 6x3
foot plot), no pension, only my bees and the tools to work them.  Most of my
colleagues are of similar age and situation.  Survival is season to season;
each time it looks like I might get prosperous, I get a whole lot of
pesticide damage, and there goes the profit.
 
   I guess I knew beekeeping was not an area to get rich, so I am not really
complaining, except when someone implies that I am greedy and selfish.  I
keep bees because I love the work, the bees, and the sense of doing something
really worthwhile in life. We may be the only profession that is of service
to the community, simply by being present in the community.  I tell gardeners
that, if they have a neighborhood beekeeper, they ought to give him a kiss
and a big watermelon, because he makes it possible.
 
   I have exerted my best efforts to interest others in keeping bees, mostly
to no avail, probably because they see how hard the work is, with so little
financial reward.
 
   Wild pollinators have been virtually eradicated in this area by pesticide
misuse.  Perhaps they could be restocked, but I don't know how.  Right now it
looks like honeybees are the only significant pollinators left for our food
supply. And that is KEPT bees, not wild.
 
   If we cannot even convince ourselves -within our community, how can we
convince the public that beekeepers HAVE to survive, if we are going to have
a food supply going into the next generation.
 
   And how can we convince them that we are seeing trends that are of vital
interest to all, without seeming to be self-serving.  I don't know the
answer.  Do you?
 
[log in to unmask]                                 Dave Green
PO Box 1215, Hemingway,    SC   29554