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