"I'm a ladybug. Please, take me home. I want to live in your garden. I like to eat aphids. Aphids are tiny green insects that are harmful to plants." "Just like the Grange, I'm a friend to the farmer and you.
The news is not good. The honey bee crisis is worsening. Back in November of 2006, commercial beekeeper David Hackenberg of Pennsylvania sounded the alarm. Fifty 50 percent of his bees had collapsed in Florida.
When the annual California Agriculture Day took place yesterday on the state capitol grounds, thousands of visitors buzzed the booths learning more about the food they eat and the agriculturists that provide it. But that wasn't the only buzz.
To a beekeeper, it's a four-letter word. Mite. Specifically, the varroa mite, also known as Varroa destructor. It's a small (think flea-sized) crab-shaped parasite that feeds on bees, either in the brood (immature bees) or on adult bees.
Honey bees sip nectar from the Mediterranean spurge (Euphorbia characias wulfenii) planted in our bee friendly garden. So do flies. Last weekend several flies flashing colors as brilliant as those blue morpho butterflies landed on the evergreen shrub. It wasn't your basic green bottle fly.
