Bees Return To Antioch

We heard a wonderful sound in our backyard today! The buzzing of hundreds of bees collecting pollen from the flowers of our fruitless Pepper tree. Now most of you are probably saying…..what..are you nuts? That makes you happy? Well, yes it does…along with other things of course. Many years ago, you would always hear the loud humming of the bees in that tree. Then year after year, it got quieter and quieter.

The plight of the bee in recent years has been a difficult one. Their numbers have been diminishing dramatically. This has been blamed on a variety of different factors. Honey bees are susceptible to the same chemicals that are sprayed on many crops for insect control. These pesticides are known to be toxic to bees. Parasitic mites and Colony Collapse Disorder have also reduced their populations.

Bees along with some other insects are responsible for pollinating many of our crops. We need them and I hope that the buzzing sound in our tree keeps getting louder and louder.

*Beth Tibbits is a resident of Antioch and a founder of MonsterWorms.com If you’d like to know more about gardening and agriculture, please check out the Monster Worms blog.