[NatureNS] Honey Bees

Date: Tue, 05 Jun 2007 17:22:39 -0300
From: Brian Bartlett <bbartlett@eastlink.ca>
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
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Original-Recipient: rfc822;"| (cd /csuite/info/Environment/FNSN/MList; /csuite/lib/arch2html)"

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The ultimate disappearance of honeybees and honey was imagined several years ago in a poem by Irish poet Matthew Sweeney, published at first in The Times (London), July 13, 2001, and available on-line from them. It imagines a sad future when honey will be replaced by pseudo-honey.         



A Dream of Honey

            by Matthew Sweeney



I dreamed that bees were extinct,

had been for decades, and honey

was a fabled memory, except for jars

hoarded by ancient, wealthy gourmets.

 

Honey was still on the shelves, of course -

that's what they'd named the sweet concoction

chemists had arrived at, and it sold well,

not just to those who knew no better,

and the day was coming fast when no one

alive would be able to taste the difference.

 

Then one Friday morning in Riga

a peasant woman arrived by horse and cart

at the old Zeppelin Hangars market

and set up her stall with jars of honey

flavoured by the various flowers. Around her

sellers of the new honey gawped, then sniffed

as she screwed the lids off, then glared

as her jars were snapped up in minutes,

and she climbed on her cart again

and let the horse take her away.

 

In the dream, e-mails sped everywhere

about this resurrection of honey,

and supermarket-suppliers scoured Latvia,

knocking on every door, sending helicopters

low over houses, looking for beehives,

but after a month they gave it up,

and the woman never appeared again

though rumours of her honey-selling

came over the border from Russia

and continued beyond the dream



  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Matthew Baker 
  To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca 
  Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 3:49 PM
  Subject: Re: [NatureNS] Honey Bees


  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_Collapse_Disorder

  this is happening all over north america. i have been talking to farmers here in southern california, and they either have no idea what is happening, or suspect some kind of virus. i have read that there is a japanese mite that is spreading across the continent, and it's either the mite that is killing the bees, or a virus on the mite that is killing the bees. 

  there are travelling bee colonies that are being hired to polinate crops, and they 

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<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal 
style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT 
class=Apple-style-span face=Times>The ultimate disappearance of honeybees and 
honey was imagined several years ago in a poem by Irish poet Matthew Sweeney, 
published at first in The Times (London), July 13, 2001, and available on-line 
from them. It imagines a sad future when honey will be&nbsp;replaced 
by&nbsp;pseudo-honey.</FONT></SPAN><FONT 
face=Times><SPAN>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</SPAN><SPAN><FONT 
class=Apple-style-span>&nbsp; </FONT></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal 
style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT 
class=Apple-style-span face=Times color=#666666></FONT><?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = 
O /><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal 
style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT 
class=Apple-style-span face=Times></FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal 
style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT 
class=Apple-style-span face=Times>A&nbsp;Dream of Honey</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal 
style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT 
class=Apple-style-span face=Times>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; by Matthew Sweeney</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal 
style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT 
class=Apple-style-span face=Times></FONT></SPAN>&nbsp;</P>
<P class=MsoNormal 
style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT 
class=Apple-style-span face=Times>I dreamed that bees were 
extinct,</FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal 
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT 
class=Apple-style-span face=Times>had been for decades, and 
honey</FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal 
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT 
class=Apple-style-span face=Times>was a fabled memory, except for 
jars</FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal 
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT 
class=Apple-style-span face=Times>hoarded by ancient, wealthy 
gourmets.</FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal 
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT 
class=Apple-style-span face=Times>&nbsp;</FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal 
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT 
class=Apple-style-span face=Times>Honey was still on the shelves, of course 
-</FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal 
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT 
class=Apple-style-span face=Times>that's what they'd named the sweet 
concoction</FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal 
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT 
class=Apple-style-span face=Times>chemists had arrived at, and it sold 
well,</FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal 
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT 
class=Apple-style-span face=Times>not just to those who knew no 
better,</FONT><O:P></O:P></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal 
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 12pt; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><SPAN><FONT 
class=Apple-style-span face=Times&