Honey by the People: How Beekeeping Turned from Hobby to Passion
Honey by the People is a small-scale beekeeping operation in Hood River, Oregon. What began as an extension of my garden has grown into my passion project.
Honey by the People is a small-scale beekeeping operation in Hood River, Oregon. What began as an extension of my garden has grown into my passion project.
Beekeeping is a hobby that you can easily turn into a side-business no matter where you live. Keeping bees requires a relatively small monetary investment to get started and can turn a profit within a few short years. There are many non-monetary benefits to keeping bees like better garden yields, fresh honey, and a feeling of self-sufficiency. Believe it or not, beekeeping is very relaxing. It requires a focus on the immediate surroundings and a letting go of everything else.
No only have the bees been dying in record numbers, but about the same time bees began to die in unusual ways. Beekeepers were going to a hive and find the queen, a few workers, good amounts of brood (baby bees), and plenty of honey β just no adult bees. So where had they gone and what was causing them to leave?
There is new evidence that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) may be a culprit in what is known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), or the disappearance of honeybees. Colony Collapse Disorder has killed off more than one-third of the bees in the United States. Beekeepers know that when there isn’t nectar readily available to their …
In keeping with Honey Week here at Eat.Drink.Better, I started looking at the various ways individuals can help combat Colony Collapse Syndrome. One major impediment to the endeavor is that scientists aren’t really sure what’s causing the disappearance of honeybees. Theories range from viruses to environmental and agricultural causes. What we do know is that …