Greetings

I think Aaron made several important points. I urge anyone who skimmed his
message to read it carefully and assimilate what he said. We need to be
better beekeepers. It's not a matter of learning it and then doing it, one
has to keep on learning one's whole life. Everything is changing and more
rapidly than ever before. Beekeeping is 50% back, 50% brain. You can't skimp
on either.

The future lies in better bees, not letting nature take her course. Nature
will probably ensure that bees will survive, but not necessarily *my* bees
and not necessarily bee-keepers. Good examples from the wine industry! The
grapes themselves have been selected and bred, too. If you want good wine you
have to pay more; the blended stuff can be real cheap but you may get a
hangover...

Beekeeping is one of those things that is so tightly tied to weather and
climate and markets, that it will always be unpredictable. That's why so few
people are in agriculture, it just keeps getting harder all the time. You
have to love it. And I haven't heard of anyone getting a crop insurance
policy on honey.

pb