The Bees are Screwed

The Bees are screwed

A couple of months ago I did a blog on the Neonic ban [I will use the word 'Neonic' to prevent my spelling checker have a nervous breakdown over my attempts to spell neonictictinoid neoniccitinide, that word].
Since then a couple of things have happened.

The UK was one of the two countries that voted against the EU ban and their decision was largely based on a report written by two Defra officials.They also were advised to do so by the NUT who deny Neonics have any proven effect and say that if they are banned we will have to use old technology. This is a bit like saying if we scrap Trident we will have to go back to bows and arrows.

It now appears that at the time Defra refused to allow peer group review of the document and since then there has been mounting evidence to suggest that the report was what is known in scientific technical circles as crap.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/26/uk-drew-wrong-conclusion-from-its-neonicotinoids-study-scientist-says
https://www.buglife.org.uk/blog/matt-shardlow-ceo/pesticide-report-was-defras-dodgy-dossier

Also its perhaps interesting that one of the two authors of the Defra report left two months after its publication to work for Syngenta. Syngenta are one of the main producers of Neonics and tried to launch a legal appeal against the Neonic ban.
I have been advised by my solicitors Sue, Grabbit and Runne, to make it clear that there is clearly no connection between these two facts, Any fule kno that Government officials are above reproach and are shining beacons of moral loveliness and to suggest chemical companies that produce insecticides [the word means something that kills insects] are in any way corrupt, money making bastards is misrepresenting

In the blog I suggested that perhaps Syngenta [helped by the ex Defra official] and others might either [a] be keenly waiting for the outcome of the report, or [b] getting their retalliation in first.

Today the following email was passed on to me.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Dear friend,

Our bees are in danger again. Toxic chemical companies are trying to get their banned pesticides back on UK fields. Yesterday an application was submitted to the government asking them to lift the ban on bee-killing chemicals for some crops planted this autumn. [1]

Bees don’t have a voice, but 38 Degrees members do. Together, we fought for a Europe-wide ban, now we need to stop it getting watered down. [2]

Please can you sign the petition right now demanding that we keep the ban on bee-killing pesticides?

 

PETITION TEXT Elizabeth Truss MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Please don't allow any exemptions to the European ban on bee-killing pesticides (known as neonicotinoids). Our bees are too important.

SIGN THE PETITION

The powerful pesticides which Europe banned last year are called neonicotinoids - and they pose a huge risk to bees. Last month an influential group of scientists concluded that these banned pesticides don’t just kill bees, they wreak “havoc” with other insects and plants in the countryside too. [3]

We need to keep working together to protect our bees because we know how crucial bees are to life on earth. We've marched on Parliament, we’ve signed petitions, we've sent thousands of emails and we've challenged politicians face to face. We worked alongside campaigners from across Europe to get these killer pesticides banned. [4]

Now, we need to pull out all the stops - again. A huge petition will make it clear to the environment minister that she still needs to protect our bees, not the toxic profits of bee-killing chemical companies.
___________________________________________________________________________________

So those of you who voted [b] - congratulations!!

It has been suggested that I am perhaps a shade cynical but I would propose signing a petition won't make the slightest bit of difference.
The Conservative government have a working majority and don't need to suck to anybody to do what they want. As they have won the election they needn't care less what the public think until the next election.
Also I have no doubt that mysterious plain brown envelopes of vague, misleading and ambigous scientific 'facts' produced by Syngenta, Monsanto and Bayer have been landing on the desk of government officials for some time now.

However to sign the petition go here.

Propolis and Mead

Mead and Propolis - coming soon!

At the first markets I did I just sat behind a small table with a few jars of honey, looking faintly embarrassed.
As time went on the things I sold expanded often as a result of a discussion with someone at the stall.
On Sunday I was at the Forest Centre Farmer's Market but had to desert the stall for a few minutes to take a phone call. When I returned I found Zena, who has the stall next to me, talking to a couple of chaps and she informed me I had 'agreed to make some mead'. Apparently they had asked the brewer at the market if they did mead which they didn't so asked at my stall.
In my younger days I made home made wine and beer and last Summer decided to use the apple wind falls to make cider which wasn't too bad.
So, I thought 'Why not!', I had most of the equipment anyway. Apart from it being honey wine I didn't know too much about it and I spent some time Googling.
This morning I went to the excellent Happy Brewer shop in Bedford who pointed me in the right direction for some recipes and kitted me out with yeasts, etc. I'll have a look at the sites he showed me and will get things going by the end of the week. I intend making two varieties but Happy Brewer tell me its a fairly long process [several months] so please be patient.
Paul Giffney, who asked about mead at the market, has volunteered to be a tester for the mead and hopefully once his psychiatric tests are cleared and his next of kin sign the necessary waiver forms we will be on our way!

Recently I was also asked about Propolis. As beekeepers know this is a sticky substance made by bees primarily from tree resin, which they use to seal small gaps in the hive. It also has antiseptic properties and the bees coat the inside of the hive with it to make one of the most sterile environments in nature. It also has medicinal properties.
By coincidence I had just looked at one of my hives for the first time this year and as it was a late arrival last year, it had been undisturbed for some time. As a result when I opened it there was propolis everywhere and I was able to collect quite a lot.

Next stage was to find a recipe for it which wasn't as easy as I thought but eventually found something suitable. The actual process is quite simple but there are lots of variations in strengths etc.
Basically the propolis is very insoluble so it has to be dissolved in alcohol. Problem is it has to be at least 70%ABV which isn't easy to get hold of in the UK and I couldn't get any from local chemists
Alcohol of this strength is usually 'denaturated'  to stop people getting pissed on it by adding chemicals to make it undrinkable.
However I finally got some from Germany and chopped up the propolis and added it to the alcohol.
The mix has to be shaken 2-3 times a day for 3 weeks.

Its then strained and bottled.