Last week was the culmination of a project initiated by two of our local Beekeepers' Club and two members of a local government a few villages away from here. When our club asked if there were any members that would be interested in placing a few hives over there. I was the first to react positively (with a list of reservations of course). After a trip out to the site for a looksy, and several weeks of waiting to see if it would become a reality... the day arrived and the proposal would go through. We were invited to come and be present at the opening. My bride and I went and were pretty happy with the whole affair. She took this foto: The two politicians and a hand full of Club members as well as interested persons attended the ribbon cutting. The sphere was good and the initiators told of how it all came to be and how the munipicality wanted to demonstrate how eco-minded they were. They have planted some flowers in a couple of places and filled a strip of land which approaches our fenced-in terrain with hundreds of crocuses. Here is the approach to our little area: A look back down the path from just inside the gate: A look through the gate at the small collection of hives already there. Mine is the nearest by (it is dark green and on the right): The offering to us is that each member who places bees there may place four hives. There may be a maximum of 40 hives in total placed there. A couple of action shots now. What I had to do was remove one of the two over-wintering boxes (it was empty of brood and food). They were short on food and it was windy--it made for some prickly feelings in the bees. They were not happy. The empty box was off to the side and I was brushing the few remaining bees off the frames into the hive. Here you can see the size of this colony. Not too bad actually, considering that it was the smallest of the three that went into the winter over at the lottie. This initiative has a back-story. More than a year ago, two of our members asked if the municipality there (where they live) would be willing to do something to promote the welfare of bees and other pollinators, in light of the serious situation that pollinators in general are experiencing at the moment. There was talk of planting spring bloomers, a summer mixture of bee and butterfly blooms and a strip of land where folks could keep bees. There was interest shown by some politicians; but a year went by and nothing was done. That was last year. This year (two days ago) we had local governmental elections. Before the elections, the plans were quickly carried-out and there were newspaper and tv persons alerted and invited. Now the plans could be put into action and the citizens could see what good folk and eco-active the politicians were. It all looked good for them. There was a "pre-opening" for the media the day before our opening day. It all leaves me with a bit of a cynical taste in my mouth...but aside from the circus, there have been plants planted and we do have our bee terrain. The price tag was political publicity. It leaves one with this kind of face-- :-? However, my bottom line is that pollinators were served and supported in the end, and in this instance it was good enough for me.
Sometimes the end does justify the means. As you said, you have a spot for hives, there are plants for pollen and nectar, and some awareness has been raised. You came out a winner! We encountered the same thing with municipal plantings. We advocated native plants that didn't need much water and were also useful for native wildlife/insects. The city fathers weren't interested until we got an article in the local newspaper about the city fathers not being interested in native Texas plants and preferring high maintenance, high water usage non-Texan imports. Whooee! The politicians fell all over themselves to support native plantings. Those are useful tools, publicity and elections!
Thanks for your note, MG. Isn't it a shame that things have to be accomplished in this way instead of politici simply doing the right thing on their own, without being embarrassed into doing it. Ach wel...its reality, isn't it. We got what we wanted, the politici got what they wanted and the insects got what they deserved. We were all winners this time. I have often wondered what sorts of nature-friendly activities other municipalities in various countries have initiated. I realise that across in GB there have been a number of initiatives realised. I do not know about other places though.
I totally agree with you Sjoerd, but at least it is carried out and made into a reality. Over here we can only hear words like eco-friendly, greener environment, nature preservations and so on, yes words only. Like for example a forest reserve was turned into so called eco-health park. It is fine if it just stay that way but the next thing you know a very large McDonalds outlet appear follow by a few other fast food joints. Then a ferries wheel appear and soon a whole amusement park with lots of souvenir stalls. On the smaller scale for example if a bee hive is found in a public place, the authorities would just destroy it with no thoughts of relocation, poor bees. If you like to know more about how nature friendly we are follow this link for a news paper report on a recent incident Feb 12, 2014 - http://wildsingaporenews.blogspot.com/2 ... yzoQSawokI - it's sickening
Sjoerd, I also concur with your thoughts on the politicians should do these 'good' things on their own merit ratheer than being pushed/embrassed into doing them. Not to side track this thread, but have you ever heard of 'top bar' hives? I was reading about them this morning here...http://www.homegrownandhandmadetheb...Feed:+HomegrownHandmade+(Thrifty+Homesteader) They look interesting, and maybe a bit easier to work with?
Thanks for your comments KK--I did read that article that you suggested. Now I am sorry that I read it. hahaha. No, not really, but it did really wind me up. Those sorts of things always do )no matter where they occur' Things like that occur here as well, but our social system) and citizens' are such it is quite difficult for the parties to actually push something through if the resistance is too great. You know KK, it sometimes seems that really the only (or most important) factor is the money. I am concerned that we (world inhabitants) may money ourselves to the point that we can´t breathe the air, drink the water nor eat the food we have here. Someone will have money, but then...how can they and the rest of us live? It is an interesting thing to think about if not a tad worrying. BUNKIE--Thank you also for your comments. As for the `top bar hives`. Yes, I have heard of them. I do not know anyone personally that use them, but there are beekeepers enough here that do use them. It is an interesting way to keep bees and quite differently than how I do it. I have not looked into having one of these, simply because I do not have the room for one (nor the extra money to buy one new). Thanks so much of thinking about this for me though.
