[log in to unmask] (Jackie O'Keefe):
>1) I only started reading this list a couple of weeks ago. It's very
interesting, informative and lively. I wish I had started looking at it
sooner.
 
>2) I'm not a beekeeper, and never have been one... yet. I would like to
start one of these days.
 
 
Dear Jackie:
 
   Welcome aboard!
 
   I hope that you will soon get your own hives (better to start with two,
than with one) and join the club.  If there is anything I can do to help and
encourage you, let me know.  We need more beekeepers.
 
   I am a commercial beekeeper, who specializes in pollination of farm crops.
(If your melon is sweet, the grower got bees from me!)  I see the tremendous
environmental loss of wild pollinators and the fading of the beekeepers, who
might be able to substitute for the loss.   So come on in, the water's fine!
 -Well, at least, we need you.
 
> If this is a moderated list, it seems like time for someone to suggest
moderation
 
>(Please excuse the editorialism, but Andy's arguments for his bees seem
uni-faceted and petulant in the face of a complex problem.
 
   Re:  Andy's opinionated tomes:  Andy has paid his dues.  I, for one, would
hate to see him edited, as I always gain some new perspectives from his
outbursts.  He is a very smart man, self educated, and comes up with a lot of
stuff the run-of-the-mill guys, like me would miss.  He was one of the
originators of computor networking for beekeepers; he has invested enormous
time and financial resources to help get this type of communication off the
ground.
 
   I don't always agree with Andy, of course; but please don't try to
sanitize the group to your standards, at least until you've been around
awhile -and paid your dues.  Sometimes it can be a bit of a free-for-all;
I've got my own bruises to show for it, but, hey, that's the route to
learning!
 
   I have got to say that I am fence sitting on loosestrife.  I was the
original source of the post, because I knew it would be of interest to the
group, but I have refrained from comment.
 
   I know the plant is invasive and has caused problems.  I also doubt that
the process can be reversed, and wonder how much of this program will wind up
to be just spitting into the wind.
 
   I find myself quite resentful of the "experts" who glibly say *there are
other nectar sources,* with no real experience or understanding of the
struggles the beekeepers are having to survive. Loosestrife, should this
program succeed, is not only a valuable nectar source when there is little
else available, it is also one that is rarely contaminated with insecticides.
 
Dave Green                                                [log in to unmask]
PO Box 1215,   Hemingway,  SC   29554