Happy New Year--do something green

Happy New Year to all the folks kind enough to take a gander at my blog...even if you are here just snooping into my life and what is in my future.

If your city has legalized beekeeping like the 5 boroughs of New York, let them know over at The BeeKeeper blog. This is a positive aspect from 2010.

Smith Electric Vehicles is British no more...the majority of ownership has come to America. This is great green news. This is a 90-year-old British company that produces Britain's "milk floats," the primary delivery system for dairy products in the UK. Here in the US, things are headed towards using these non-fossil fuel vehicles with orders for the vehicles being placed by some heavyweight US companies.

The company has developed a special niche – medium-duty electric box trucks – and it has orders for more than 200, including 176 for Frito-Lay and 41 for Staples. Other launch partners include Coca-Cola, AT&T and PG&E. They've all bought trucks, too, but CEO Bryan Hansel won't say how many.

2011 for us looks like a bright new beginning. My lovely wife is feeling much better and improving daily. New developments in her writing and books are soon to be announced. The Ties That Bind should reach publication this year, with any luck. She has also got her graphic arts website up and is working on book and Website trailers.

I am currently uncovering historical relics in our attic as I make some needed home improvements.

The best discovery so far, is a copy of the "Juvenile Instructor" dated December 1, 1891. Check out N-D girl's blog for more info.

This was the first illustrated children's magazine published west of the Mississippi.

Hoping for more as I clean out a section of the attic that seems to have been shut off since 1944.  I plan to seal and re-insulate this section, with the possibility of extending an existing room here as a writing studio for my wife.

Birds: Eggs in 7 nests right now, so I should start having babies any day. Still need to order bands for the old German owls and go pick up racing club bands from the club secretary. I am really excited about the old German owls, since I raised no babies from this breed last year. I have a pair of yellow lace that I am hoping will produce well, and a dun hen with the strawberry red cock to the right that should make some exciting genetic variables.

On another note, I had something occur this morning that I have never experienced before. I have a feather-footed Van Loon hen that I got from my friend Don White; he claims the trait comes from the famous 083 hen; Ken Christopher claims the feather-footed ones make the best breeders. I have been concerned the last couple of days that she may have become egg-bound as she had not laid after two weeks of being paired up. This morning, there were two eggs in the pen. Sadly, one had fallen out of the nest bowl and frozen, but she is sitting on the other. If anyone has had such an experience, share it with me, please.



Honey: If you are involved in beekeeping, make sure you follow the link above and share what your city is doing about legalizing beekeeping. And if you have a special honey, let me know...I would like to get some exotic honey to make into mead. Maybe cactus honey or orange blossom honey.

Climate Change...of course not.

I ran across a great article today. It was the first time I had heard mention of a grolar bear...the hybrid cross of a grizzly bear and a polar bear. They have done it in zoos, but in the wild? The first one seen in the wild was taken by hunters in 2006. Prior to this confirmation of a grolar bear in the wild, it was thought there were only 17 existing in zoos. This could be a concern on many fronts, but for those that don't think there is climate change going on, and that science doesn't know what it is talking about...no worries. For those of us that believe climate change is real...this is one to think about. A bear larger than a grizzly, without the morality or good taste shown by most griz in not eating humans is a frightening thought. Polar bears are known to hunt and eat humans given the opportunity...in their world, any protein is edible. With an expectation that there will be no summer ice flow in the Artic Sea by 2060, polar bears and grizzly bears will be sharing the same habitat, and the possibility and even probability of more of these grolar bears becomes more real.

About time the grizzly found a way to even up the score. With increasing numbers of grizzlies in the lower 48, there is talk of them being removed from the Endangered Species Act. At least 45 grizzlies have been reported killed so far this year, mostly by hunters in self-defence or government wildlife officials. But wildlife officials estimate the true number is above 60. Two people have been fatally mauled, one in Montana and one in Wyoming.

The US National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Juneau, Alaska, found 34 possible hybridizations between discreet populations or species of large mammals living in or near to the Arctic. Loss of polar ice could become perilous for many of these populations.

In a previous blog, I had mentioned the decline of the honeybee in North America. The theories that have popped up to explain why the North American honey bee population has fallen off have included: electromagnetic radiation, malnutrition, and climate change. Now, these have all been pinpointed. A new article I read shows that the EPA allowed bee-toxic pesticides be used, while subsidizing honey on the agricultural market. Is this really a case of the government comitting genocide on honey bees while paying beekeepers for their honey...or just a "mistake" on the EPAs side?

"Clothianidin has already been banned by Germany, France, Italy, and Slovenia for its toxic effects. So why won't the EPA follow? The answer probably has something to do with the American affinity for corn products. But without honey bees, our entire food supply is in trouble."

Birds: This past week, I have sold several of my late hatches and have eggs in a couple of nests. Pictures will be coming soon.

Honey: Mixing the next batch of Mead...but a little discouraged about more in the future with the EPA's stance.

The cost of Mead

Have you noticed a decrease in the number of honey bees in the last few years?  I have a friend that is a beekeeper...he even has a "watch hive" by his back door, but that's another story. My friend tells me, that there is a worldwide threat to honey bees...they are calling it Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), and they aren't sure what is causing it. Various reasons have been given which include exposure to genetically modified crops, pesticide poisoning, invasive parasites, malnutrition from pollinating vast tracts of crops with little nourishment, and the stress of being moved long distances
A report in Wednesday's edition of the journal PLoS ONE, claims that researchers have found a combination of a virus and a fungus that they believe is responsible for the massive losses of our honey bees.

A decrease in the amount of bees to produce honey, equates to a rise in the cost of honey...affecting the cost of producing mead.
The other catastrophic issue here is pollination, as bees are responsible for a major share of crop pollination in this country, and a good portion of the none-crop flowering plants as well...including century plants, barrel cactus, prickly pear, etc.  Additionally some of them are pollinated by bats, hummingbirds, moths, butterflies and flies.  There are concerns for these other pollinators...that whatever is causing problems with the honey bee population, may next be seen in these other populations.

Some strange efforts have been made to assist in the pollination of our crops, like the Beamer Bee...genetically created...You be the judge, it this real or just a pipe dream.

And how do we bring the cost of mead back down??







Birds: If you don't have the pigeon bug, you will never understand...if you have it, you can never get enough of pigeons.  What new threat is out there for our avian friends, much like CCD for the bees, could be Pigeon Circovirus.

Honey: The majority of this post is dedicated to the loss of honey bees and the pollination of crops and flowers...honey is really just a bi-product, and a tasty one.