Organic Varroa treatment for bees

Last weekend we went to the Apiculture NZ Conference.

It was 3 days long and there were so many interesting speakers. They were just about all scientists, who all seem to be just starting on their various research projects. Now, as we all know, science takes a long time, there is no "well that seems about right, let's publish that", and definitely no 'anecdotal evidence'. Or at least the anecdotal evidence might create new areas to look into, but it doesn't form the published results. So it all takes years and years to get a good result. Great stuff that it's happening though.

And, apart from the speakers, we found the conference goers to be super interesting too.

And one great guy we bumped into was Dr Pablo German, who is a scientist who is working on an organic varroa treatment. Doesn't this sound a great idea?! His new (hot off the press) company is here Pheromite.com . Pablo says:

"Beekeepers currently have three types of treatments at their disposal, synthetic chemicals, organic chemicals, and biotechnological methods. However, they all have limitations. Synthetic chemicals are the preferred method for commercial and many non-commercial beekeepers because of their convenience. This has led to the frequent use of these chemicals, often without the use of alternatives, which in turn led to the rise of chemical-resistant mites, in particular in the USA and Europe. "
"Organic chemicals and biotechnological methods are alternatives to synthetic chemicals. Their limitations are that they are very labour-intensive and the results are often inconsistent."
"Pheromite has developed a treatment against the Varroa mite which is organic, works consistently, is long-lasting and easy to set up."

And if you think this is a good idea, well scientists always are on the look out for funding too, so you can find that bit in his web site too. Pheromite.com

We hope he gets adequate funding because if at least one of the chemical treatments for varroa has stopped working in the USA then it might here too any minute. And the traditional organic varroa treatments are very time consuming, so that's OK if you have a few hives, but no good for big commercial operations.

Varroa Free Bees to save the world

Our world's food supplies rely heavily on bees for pollination. But they are increasingly under attack from various causes, creating colony collapse disorder. But here is good news of an amazing dude who has been working hard on bees in Niue since 1999. That's 16 years, so patience is often required when working with nature, as this guy must know.

Check out the article Creating a Global Bee Sanctuary . And for more information see their fund raising page.

Extracting Honey

These are the Karamea hives of my brother.

And here is the honey being extracted and dripping into the sieve and into a bucket. A lovely harvest this year, although he reports that the rata honey is in short supply, probably because of the rata flowering profusely last year, and not much this year. The kamahi is good though. Different areas produce different honey types.

And, a jar of fresh honey. What could be better? (I know the answer to this: homemade sourdough and honey!)

Queen Bee

Here's a busy queen, and all her helpers. Isn't she just a beauty?

She also lives in Karamea, in my brother's hive.

Karamea Bees

These are my brother's and friend's bees, in Karamea in the west coast. Thriving like crazy!

A Yurt House

One of our bee hosts lives in a yurt! 

It has fabric walls and roof outside, and a timber lattice arrangement on the inside of the walls. The walls are insulated between, and it has a fire inside, and bedroom and kitchen and the full works. Louise says it is cosy all year round, maybe just a bit chilly in the middle of the night in the middle of winter when the fire dies down, but isn't everywhere cold then?

This one wouldn't fit a large family, but is perfect for one or 2 people. They come in a variety of sizes, although no McMansions I would think.

Isn't it just the coolest?

And, one of her chickens. Which has its own regular chicken house, not a yurt.

Bee people are universally interesting, in my experience. I wonder why?

The meaning of Honeymoon

The term Honeymoon came from the old custom of giving newlyweds mead (an alcoholic drink made from fermented honey) for the first 30 days of their marriage (a 'moon').

from Te Ara Encyclopedia

And if you think that this might be a feature, here is a company that makes mead, and that does courses for how to make it too. Haewai Meadery. Their next course is 20 January in Wellington, NZ.

Beautiful Inquisitive Horses

Beehives hiding in the grass

Bee Suits - One Size Fits All

Bees and children do mix. Just look at this! A kitted up beeboy, just add oxygen tank and he will be ready for a moon walk with Neil Armstrong. Moon walking chickens and horse too....

I think the one-size-fits-all bee suit and gardening gloves works splendidly well, but if you were after a real child-size one, check out the Ceracell's ones, in groovy green, or white.

The stallion and the bees

One of our hosts has a beautiful stallion. Well, possibly many of our hosts have lovely horses, but I have only met this one. He's really friendly, although wasn't quite that fussed with me pointing a phone camera at him. Or maybe I didn't come loaded with apples?

And he often roams around in the beehive paddocks. I guess if he gets too annoying to the bees he'll learn all about the natural consequences, but animals and bees do mix very well. The only thing is, we don't want all those beehives tipping over with a bit of a bunt from the animals. Cows are pretty rough I think, probably more so than horses (you can tell I'm a city girl, all you real farmers). So you can see here all our beehives are girls, with ribbons in their hair! Takes a bit of extra time for the beekeepers to do their checking and feeding and whatnot, but if the hive does get a shove its much less likely to tip over with them all tied together. A tipped over beehive is NOT a happy thing, at all at all.

Life, the Universe, and Everything. And Pea Straw

Anyone who is a fan of The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy will know that the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything is 42. And the Interconnectedness of All Things. Always carry a towel. And DON'T PANIC. All good advice

Anyway, getting back to bees, it would seem that life is indeed interconnected with all things. We discovered one of our excellent hosts through a random happenstance. I've been doing a spot of severe gardening. Severe, as in, everything is awash in clay. We also frequent the Clevedon markets, which is an all-round marvellous Sunday morning out full of fabulous stalls and yummy food. (I can see this post is going to be a shaggy dog story...)

And discovered Michele, pea straw lady extraordinaire. Well, the pea straw is definitely extraordinary, and Michele is pretty special too. So I bought a trailer load of pea straw, and covered my whole back yard with it. Spread it around a bit. This was back in June, and it has been just the ticket to keep all the clay down.

And its all breaking down well now, just in time to sprinkle a few seeds around. The 'Plan Bee' seeds from the NZ Gardener, of course.

If you need some pea straw too, contact her here. Or visit the Clevedon Markets on a Sunday.

And...back to the interconnectedness of all things... Michele's partner John grows the peas that make the peastraw (peastraw from actual peas! well, I'm a city girl, so that is a revelation, duh). And now he is one of our wonderful bee hosts.

John might just have to make do with his own post another time.