Bee's....lets get it on!

This summer on an outing to the county fair, we went into the "bee room". It was a small, out of the way building tucked back into the far corner of the fair gardens. To bee (teehee) honest, I'm not sure how we even got back there. We've been going to the fair for years as a family, but never saw it before.

While inside, I chatted with a guy for a few minutes about my desire to get a bee hive. We have 5 acres of land at our disposal, and for the most part, its just sitting there. We will be getting some cows this spring to go in the pasture and eventually butcher to fill our freezer with, but I want to do more. I feel like I have a responsibility to do more. Both to my own family, and our bigger extended family, Mankind.

Someday, I want solar panels on the roof. Geothermal heating/cooling system installed. Rain barrels. I don't know why I feel this way, it just all seems like the right thing to do. We have the room for things, why not utilize that space and "get off the grid" somewhat?

Anyway, beekeeping has been on the back burner for me for months now, slowly building momentum. So tonight at work (I know, I should be working, and I was but...) I found a movie on Netflix called "The vanishing bees". It's a documentary about an epidemic that swept the bee population here in the States back in 2008, and continues to this day. Bee's are dying. Our government is doing jack shit about it, even though they've been told why. Systemic pesticides. The shit that is supposed to be keeping us all healthy by keeping bugs out of our fruits and veggies. It's killing the bees. And not just one or 2 here and there. Millions are dying in the course of 3 weeks in some cases. I'm not going to quote the movie, but if you have the chance to see it, do it. It's an hour and a half long and might teach you a thing or two. If nothing else maybe it will get you charged up and eating organic produce.

I'm signed up for a beekeeping class in January and I'm pretty excited for it. I even put a book on hold at the library to start educating myself. I figure if I go into the class with some read knowledge, I'll be better equipped to ask some good questions.

You can read more about the movie here.