Team Chat threat on Etsy forums....

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5691149

Since it can be difficult to check lots of different things- like Etsy, the Google Group, any other sites you guys are on, I thought I'd make a post on the Etsy forums where we can chat a little and check out each others' stores and things.

So if you like, make a post in the thread, and make your store and honeybee helpers team status known :)

News of the Bee

Riverton,NJ has been seeing a lot of swarms lately, a seemingly increase in the bee population, one such population has taken to a local church, filling its walls with honey. See the video here. http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=6215911

Weston, WI About 15,000 bees descended upon this town, blocking entrances to local businesses. FOrtunately the exterminator they called was wise enough to call a beekeeper. http://www.channel3000.com/news/16673149/detail.html?rss=c3k&psp=news

New Zealand, Agcarm has sent out 10,000 brochures to help explain to farmers and growers the importance to the honey bee in crop pollination, in hopes that farmers will think about their use of pesticides including what type, how much, and when to preserve the work and life of the bees. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0806/S00364.htm

Concord, NC a 100 year old home was found to have about 60,000 honeybees living in the walls, Honey was starting to seep through the walls as well. Some walls had to be torn down to safely remove the bees. http://www.wyff4.com/news/16613800/detail.html?rss=gs&psp=news

Hollidaysburg, Pa, a boys bees are causing quite a buzz, neighbors have complained. Officials have asked the hive be moved to a more rural area, the owner is ready to take it to court. http://www.wjactv.com/news/16637696/detail.html?rss=john&psp=news

There is also an excellent commentary on possible causes of CCD, that can be found here: http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/commentary/dissection/2008/02/dissection_0222

Tibetan Prayer Flag

Combine your artistic and spiritual talents to make a prayer flag for the honey bees. While watching a program about quilting, there was a segment on a quilter who kept her sister-in-law company through out her lengthy struggle against cancer. To comfort both of them she began a prayer flag with quotations, and prayers for healing.

More about prayer flags can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_flag . Last spring, I made a prayer flag for honey bees and the conquest of CCD. It is a long rectangle of muslin, which is basically white (air). To that rectangle I added strips I'd torn from fabrics with floral or bee designs, and other strips with quotations about bees. Here is one to get you started... “What is not good for the swarm is not good for the bee.” Marcus Aurelius.

I used small safety pins to attach the strips to the muslin background. It hangs outside in our yard, and releases prayers to the universe. It is also a nice reminder to me, to say a prayer when it catches my eye, that the causes of CCD will be discovered, and that if they can be found conquered. When I first heard about CCD there was some belief that cell phones might be causing the demise of bees. I didn't think the bees had much hope if human "beeings" had to abandon cell phones. Thankfully, it now seems more likely that there are viral causes for CCD, although our actions as humans no doubt weaken the environment for feral bees and other animals as well. Cotton Eyed Jo

Will Donate 50% Proceeds from Art

After watching the program on the vanishing bees on Nature last night, I've updated the Last HoneyBee listing on my Etsy shop. This artwork was created to help bring awareness to the honeybee problem. The vanishing honeybee epidemic is a serious matter we all need to be concerned about. I will officially donate 50% of the proceeds from the sale of this artwork - Last Honeybee. You can purchase this high quality print directly from either my Etsy or my website Off The Cuff Art.

A Charming Bee Story

OneHoney here,

Since I have news feeds through our Chicago Honey Co-op google and Pageflakes pages, I came across this story from the NPR show, "Living On Earth"
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=08-P13-00024&segmentID=6

Not all the news about honey bees is bad right now. I want to let everyone know that there are beekeeping operations that are specializing in breeding queens and providing new bee colonies to beekeepers. We get our bees from a producer in Texas who has worked very hard over the last 6 years to select queen bees that show resistance to 2 of the most troublesome bee parasites, varroa and tracheal mites. It will be operations like this one ( BeeWeaver ), that enable beekeepers to overcome the various parasites and diseases that affect honeybees. Without chemicals and antbiotics that the beekeeping "Industry" is so reliant on.

Finally! A Team Treasury:

It expires on June 12, so look fast!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=12560







And if you're an Etsy member, please leave us a comment!

Thanks for looking!!

Here's a picture of one version of the treasury.

"The Busy, Busy Bees" painting...

"The Busy, Busy Bees"

12" x 9" Acrylic

I have this as an 8"x10" print on Etsy and as with all of my 8"x10" prints, $10 from the sale of it will go to pollinator.org, part of the CoEvolution Institute, toward bee research.

I created it for the May Plant Parade Challenge on WetCanvas. The challenge was to create a piece using both cherries and cherry blossoms. I did a lot of thinking about what I wanted to create, and since a concern of mine has been honeybees, I worked that into the concept as it seemed so obvious. Show the flowers, show the delicious product that we get from them- thanks to honeybees. Obviously you'd never actually see flowers and cherries on a branch like this at the same time, but showing it this way seemed to be the best way I could illustrate pollination.

The painting is 12" x 9" acrylic. I think I'll get a white linen liner with a white frame to finish it!