Natural Beehive, Natural Backyard

This all leads up to (or follows from, depending on your eye's point of view). the "natural" beehive and "natural" backyard.

The natural beehive is not moved, its produce is not harvested, and it receives no medicine. It is designed and operated for the happiness and health of the bees, not for the harvest of bee products. When the bees are happy, the plants will be happy (and vice-versa).

The natural backyard grows on its own, it receives no chemicals, fertilizer, or water. It is designed and operated for the happiness and health of the family - for the quality of its produce, not for the quantity of its produce. Plants are harvested as needed, but enough plant is left behind to continue through to the next year. If the plant cannot overwinter, seed is collected and replanted the following season.

The symbiosis among the bee, plant, and person predates modern times by millennia, but modern man has forgotten the relationship and engaged in its own systematic destruction. Returning to the natural state will take many generations. In this first step, we have to make decisions to bridge the gap. For example, we eat too much food and cannot support ourselves completely from our backyard crop, so we must supplement with store produce. We have to design and build a beehive, which is an artificial construction from the bee's perspective. We have to deal with unnatural pests and challenges like rampant deer, poor air and soil quality, chemicals sprayed by neighbors, and acid rain.

Please, please, please, contribute your comments and suggestions to this blog. If at all possible, link to this blog ("Bee Vision") and I will link back, so we can spread the word. The purpose of this blog is to chronicle the challenges and experiences of this struggle to change our environment one backyard at a time, for the benefit of bee researchers, latent backyard gardens, and hopefully farmers.

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