Today I discovered my bees have varroa.  I have about 50 miles of bush between
my operation and the next managed hives, so I'd hoped to stay free a little
longer.  I've always been highly skeptical of people claiming they got their
best honey crop ever the year before they discovered mites.  But guess what?
 Last year was my best crop in 15 years.  I thought it had more to do with
the 7 inches of rain in June, but the fact remains - last year, biggest crop;
this year, mites discovered.  So what's the theory on why this is so?  Are
the mites controlling the weather?  Is the weather influencing the spread of
mites?  Or does the scent of mites in the air cause the hives to panic and
bring in the mother of all honey crops?  If I'd thought of this earlier I could
have been using varroa mite pheromone to get bumper crops for the last 10 years.
 Or is there a law of physics, similar to Murphy's Law, but called Varroa's
Law?  Any scientific explanation for this phenomenon would be appreciated.


Today driving home,I thought maybe there's a completely different explanation.
 Maybe only 10% of the beekeepers have this happen and they loudly tell everyone,
as I am doing, 'Last year was my best year ever.  How was I to know?', while
90% of the beekeepers had three progressively worse years before discovering
the mite, and are afraid to admit it, lest someone say, 'What was in your smoker?
 You should have known.'

Also on the way home I was thinking about a message last week from someone
in a cabin in a clearing in a bush in Vermont, who was wanting to plant a nectar-producer
that deer wouldn't eat.  Burdock would work, maybe underseed with a mixture
of knapweed and tansey.

Hope this helps.
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