...So Much More Than Honey
It has been two months now since synchronicities have led me to learn more about bees. The first book that caught my eye on the subject was “Dancing with Bees – A Journey Back to Nature’ by Brigit Strawbridge.
What drew me to this book was the promise of more than scientific fact, but also of personal discovery. And that it was. Interspersing the passages describing the habits of different bees were glimpses into the author’s life, and how nature – or the absence of it – offered awareness and insight into the many small moments that compose the great story that is life
“In 2017, migratory beekeepers shipped around 1.7 million honeybee colonies to and around California, where they pollinated 1.3 million acres of almond trees. These bees were in addition to the 500,000 colonies that were already resident in the almond valleys. The almond crop alone relies on trucking some 88 billion bees from their wintering homes, which, in some cases, are up to one thousand miles away.” – p. 2
Mirrored in the minutiae of the daily life of bees, bee imposters (Cuckoos) and other creatures, we are invited to witness the magic of the mundane, and just how much vibrant life springs from everyday tasks. The bee does not flit from flower to flower so that we can have fields of almond trees for commercial production. Yet in it diligently honouring its instincts, it provides us with fields of everything from tomatoes to squash. It makes me wonder, if each of us were to honour our instincts, what would flourish as a result of our everyday magic?
But don’t expect a book that glosses over the basic science. Latin names for each bee pepper the text, which can be good or bad depending on your feelings toward 9th grade biology class. In any case, I am richer for having read this book, and have not looked at bees the same way since.
“I cannot help wondering if our lives are now so full of advancements that we have left no room or time for nature. Perhaps we all suffer, to some degree or another, from a subtle form of displacement.” - p. 94
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