Print and Internet Resources for Natural, No-Treatment Beekeeping

...” to describe systems like beehives that benefit from adversity. Challenge bees with an invasive parasite such as Varoa mites and they’ll eventually figure out a strategy to deal with them. That is, unless we humans decide to prop up weak colonies with misguided interventions. Taleb says, Crucially, if antifragility is the property of all those natural (and complex) systems that have survived, depriving these systems of volatility, randomness, and...

Read…

Why is My Squash Bitter?

...t to save seed and you take the precaution of taping up the flowers, bumblebees and solitary bees can chew their way through the tape to get at the pollen. In short it’s really easy to breed a freak Frankensquash or Frankencucumber, which can actually be toxic. Cynthia, a Root Simple reader in Texas, alerted me to an interesting hazard with bitter out-crossed Cucurbitaceae. According to Tony Glover, regional extension agent at the University of Al...

Read…

Saturday Tweets: Artichokes, Rants and Rare Bee Art

...ple (@rootsimple) July 24, 2015 Another great podcast from @GardenForkTV: #bees #weightloss and #BBQ: http://t.co/d2Exgap3op — Root Simple (@rootsimple) July 24, 2015 Support #Westwood bike lane #completestreets #greatstreetsLA @lacbc call or email Councilman #PaulKoretz 213.473.7005 [email protected] — Joel Epstein (@thejoelepstein) July 23, 2015 Pictures: Rare Bees Make Flower-Mud "Sandwiches" http://t.co/5LFMWUa3eY via @NatGeo — Root Simpl...

Read…

Asking the Right Questions

...eed to ask about the many subjects covered on this blog. Take for instance bees. Mainstream beekeepers ask, “How can I get more honey?” when they should be asking the same question Parsifal asks, “What ails thee?” That is, “What is in the long term interest of the bee’s health?” This is the question Michael Thiele and Kirk Anderson both ask. It’s a wise one to ask, since our health is inextricably entwined with that of the bees. Or think about ais...

Read…

We Grow Houses

...ttractant is species-specific and won’t attract beneficial insects such as bees and butterflies. Public information officer Ken Pellman, on the scene to deal with NBC, assured me that I wouldn’t have any trouble unless I “licked the utility poles” and went on to say that the Naled application would prevent larger applications of pesticides should oriental fruit flys establish large populations down the road. Perhaps. While toxicity concerns are pr...

Read…