NC Bees
Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 8:38 pm
I can see a few flaws in the info, but overall I thought it was a good story.
Now, Howard's workers face yet another obstacle -- more honeybees. Says Howard: "In February this year, classes held by the Wake County Beekeepers Association graduated over 50 new beekeepers. ... North Carolina now has more hobby beekeepers than any other state."
Consider this: One hive contains 30,000 to 60,000 bees. Each worker spends the entire 35 days of her life traveling from flower to flower gathering nectar. It takes a dozen workers a lifetime and a combined 42,000 flight miles to produce one teaspoonful of honey. With a quota of 100 pounds of honey a hive per year, all those new honeybees will need a lot of spring flowering trees and shrubs.
Public efforts are under way. The Department of Transportation, Howard says, has planted sourwood trees along the I-26 corridor from Asheville to the South Carolina line. But Howard pointed out that home gardeners can make a significant contribution to the growing honeybee population by merely choosing plants and trees that bloom during peak nectar-gathering season.
http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/489713.html
Now, Howard's workers face yet another obstacle -- more honeybees. Says Howard: "In February this year, classes held by the Wake County Beekeepers Association graduated over 50 new beekeepers. ... North Carolina now has more hobby beekeepers than any other state."
Consider this: One hive contains 30,000 to 60,000 bees. Each worker spends the entire 35 days of her life traveling from flower to flower gathering nectar. It takes a dozen workers a lifetime and a combined 42,000 flight miles to produce one teaspoonful of honey. With a quota of 100 pounds of honey a hive per year, all those new honeybees will need a lot of spring flowering trees and shrubs.
Public efforts are under way. The Department of Transportation, Howard says, has planted sourwood trees along the I-26 corridor from Asheville to the South Carolina line. But Howard pointed out that home gardeners can make a significant contribution to the growing honeybee population by merely choosing plants and trees that bloom during peak nectar-gathering season.
http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/489713.html