The buzz on bees
DECLINING BEE POPULATIONS ENDANGER FOOD PRODUCTION
N.M. Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum wants to remind us how connected honey bees and humans actually are Food,
Humans rely on honey bees for one in three bites of food.
But beleaguered bee colonies are declining at a rate of about 30 percent a year, even though dedicated human beekeepers re-establish some every year by dividing their remaining hives.
That’s why the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces is celebrating the honey bee through June 2017 to help visitors consider how connected honey bees and humans actually are.
“If a plant has a flower, it needs a bee to pollinate it,” says Mesilla Valley beekeeper Harold Shumate. “Everyone goes to the store to buy their food, so they don’t realize if it wasn’t for bees, we wouldn’t have much to eat. Crops couldn’t grow to produce seed for replanting.”
Leah Tookey, curator of history at the museum, says bees have been pals to humans for a very long time. Egyptian rock art is inscribed with bees and beekeepers, she says.
“We hope people come away (from the exhibit) understanding the biology of bees and how important they are to us as an agricultural society,” she says.
“What’s the Buzz: Why Bees Matter,” may be worth a road trip.
The exhibit explains bees’ history, biology and their role in pollinating a third of all food crops, Tookey says. Commercial beekeepers often move their hives across the country following the harvest to do this important work. Almonds, blueberries and strawberries are all pollinated by bees, she says.
Of course, butterflies, bats, the wind and other pollinators help, but bees didn’t earn the name, worker bees, for nothing, Shumate says.
The large-scale die off of honey bees started in 2006 and experts attribute the loss to a web of interconnected events. Experts say the decline began with industrial farming practices after World War II, like monoculture farming, where one crop like corn or soybeans is grown over large areas.
Pesticides are meant to kill insects and they kill helpful bees along with destructive insects. Neonicotinoids are especially harmful. The EPA has proposed a ban on bee-lethal pesticides when crops are blooming.
Herbicides that kill blooming plants also reduce the food available to bees.
Weakened colonies are more suseptible to mites, their natural enemy, Shumate says.
“Bees are a good barometer.
What’s happening to bees can happen to man,” he says.
Shumate, who works his bees in the valley, says he carefully investigates the practices of farmers and their neighbors before he lets the bees pollinate their crops.
Yield increases when crops are thoroughly pollinated, he explains.
He is careful to split his hives, to keep his bee population stable. Worker bees live about 30 to 35 days and a queen can lay eggs for about three years, he says.
He gets increased honey production for his efforts. In the Mesilla Valley mesquite is the first to bloom, then alfalfa, cotton and wildflowers. “The flower determines the honey’s flavor and texture,” he says.
Honey may have antibacterial and antibiotic properties and has been used for wound care since Egyptian times, according to WebMd.com.
Some people use raw honey that contains pollen to help them build resistance to their seasonal allergies, Shumate says.
In Albuquerque, Anita Amstutz, director of the New Mexico Beekeeper Association, says she and other bee supporters are advocating to make Albuquerque, a Bee City USA. That effort would mean planting more flowers and other plants attractive to pollinators and reducing the use of sprayed pesticides and other chemicals dangerous to bees.
She added that spring is swarming time when bee colonies naturally divide. She encourages residents who see a large number of bees, in a sprinkler box, for example, or other area to call a beekeeper to come and collect them and support bees in that way. Albuquerque beekeepers are listed at abqbeeks.org/page/report-a-swarm.
But bees have friends everywhere.
She says a group of middle school children, organized through a University of New Mexico program, Wild Friends, lobbied and this year the state Legislature passed a memorial to support healthy bee habitats.
Amstutz says she doesn’t harvest her honey, but leaves it for her bees to eat because one year she lost a whole hive.
“They can starve and die in the winter, if they don’t get enough pollen to eat. The year they died, I sat down and cried. This is my sixth year for keeping bees. I love them,” she says. “I think every beekeeper knows they are doing a huge community service by keeping bees.”
PUMPKIN HONEY BREAD
1 cup honey
½ cup butter, softened 1 can (16 ounce) solid-pack pumpkin 4 eggs 4 cups flour 4 teaspoons baking powder 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 2 teaspoons ground ginger 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg In large bowl, cream honey with butter until light and fluffy. Stir in pumpkin.
Beat in eggs, one at a time, until thoroughly incorporated.
Sift together remaining ingredients. Stir into pumpkin mixture.
Divide batter equally between two well-greased 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for an hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Let loaves cool in pans for 10 minutes; invert pans to remove loaves and allow to finish cooling on racks.
DATA PER 1-INCH SLICE SERVING, ABOUT ⅛ LOAF: Calories 261, fat 7.51 g, protein 5.43 g, carbohydrates, 44.5 g, sodium 411 g, fiber 2.53 g
— honey.com
SPINACH SALAD WITH HONEY DRESSING AND HONEYED PECANS
Serves 6 to 8 6 ounces baby spinach 1 cup quartered fresh strawberries ½ cup thinly sliced red onion ½ cup fresh blueberries 3 to 4 cooked bacon slices, crumbled
¼ cup crumbled blue cheese Toss together first 4 ingredients and ⅓ cup dressing. Sprinkle with bacon, cheese, and pecans. Serve with
remaining dressing.
HONEYED PECANS
¼ cup warmed honey (immerse capped honey jar in hot water) 1 cup pecan halves Parchment paper Cooking spray 1 tablespoon sugar
¼ teaspoon kosher salt Pinch of ground red pepper Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix warmed honey with in pecan halves.
Coat a parchment paper-lined jellyroll pan with cooking spray; spread pecans in a single layer on pan.
Combine sugar, salt, and a pinch of ground red pepper; sprinkle over pecans.
Bake 15 minutes or until toasted, stirring after 8 minutes. Cool completely; break into pieces.
HONEY DRESSING
Makes about a cup
⅓ cup white balsamic vinegar 2 tablespoons honey 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard ½ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon black pepper ⅔ cup extra virgin olive oil Whisk together vinegar, honey, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper. Add olive oil in a slow, steady stream, whisking constantly until smooth.