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By Isadora Pennington
According to a 2017 USDA report, Georgia is home
to around 100,000 honey bee colonies. These black and
yellow striped fuzzy insects live together in a complex society
within a hive. During the day, bees travel from flower to
flower, collecting pollen as they brush up against the stamens
and then bringing that pollen back to the hive where it
is harvested as food for the colony. An average hive hosts
between 10,000 to 80,000 bees and produces around 30
pounds of honey per year.
“Honey bees are the most powerful pollinators we have,”
said Julia Mahood, master beekeeper and the president of the
Metro Atlanta Beekeeping Association. In contrast to other
insects that are considered to be accidental pollinators — such
as butterflies — honey bees have evolved to the task, utilizing
static electricity to collect pollen in a pocket called a pollen
basket on their backs. Pollen is the honey bee’s primary
source of protein and they process it along with nectar in the
hive to create honey.
They are the single most efficient pollinator worldwide,
contributing 75 percent of all pollination, according to
the biologists at the University of California San Diego.
Additionally, they have a tendency to stick with only one type
of plant in a foraging session, which increases the likelihood
of the correct type of pollen being spread between plants. The
financial impact of honey bees on agriculture is estimated to
exceed $50 billion annually for the United States alone.
Unfortunately, there are many factors that put these
crucial creatures at risk today. There has been a steady
population decline in recent years due to mites, illnesses
and the use of neonicotinoid (neonics) pesticides which
are systemic to the plants and toxic to bees. The toxin is
considered to be sub-lethal, meaning that the bees live while
infected with the toxins and after generations they begin
to suffer from genetic damage and compromised immune
systems. A new type of honey bee disease known as Colony
Collapse Disorder (CCD) was discovered around 2005,
which causes hives to unexpectedly die in the winter months.
“Now it has gotten much much harder to keep bees alive,
and it makes me sad,” said Mahood.
There are a number of ongoing efforts to
maintain and grow the honey bee population, both
All
About
Bees
Intowners encouraged
to help honey bees
flourish in the city
commercially and in backyards. The Metro Atlanta Bee
Association is one local organization whose intent is to
educate, promote and facilitate backyard beekeeping.
Classified as a nonprofit and completely run by volunteers,
they offer classes, workshops, mentoring, services and
certifications.
Mahood has been a beekeeper and a member of the
Metro Atlanta Bee Association for 15 years, and recently
became the association’s president. She’s very passionate about
bees and is involved in a number of education efforts for kids,
adults and even inmates at local prisons. One such program
is a beekeeping course at Arrendale State Prison in Raoul,
Georgia, where she has been teaching for the past three years.
“That has been a very powerful program, giving these women
not only something to take with them when they leave in
terms of supplementing their income, but also something to
learn,” she said.
Honey bees typically forage within two miles of their
hive but sometimes go to twice or even three times that
distance, and as such have the ability to affect a large amount
of pollination for yourself and your neighbors. The inmates
at Arrendale are not only learning a new skill and the science
of honey bees, but they are also likely aiding nearby farms
and gardens such as a neighboring orchard. The inmates’
interest in beekeeping is contagious, and they are known for
talking to others in the facility about bees, helping to dispel
unfounded fears of the creatures and encourage learning.
“What has happened is that the guards have gotten interested
and they are basically taking the class along with the
inmates,” said Mahood.
Mahood lives with her family in a Sandy Springs ranch
with a property of just about half an acre. In her backyard,
she has maintained multiple hives for years. While the bees
only live for about six weeks in the summer, she admits that
she holds a certain irrational affinity for some of her colonies.
Having grown up in a house full of girls who were squeamish
about bugs, Mahood’s love for the fuzzy flying bugs is rather
unexpected. Despite her fears and anxieties regarding bugs, it
was after seeing her two young sons bravely interacting with
bees that she realized her fears were unfounded. These days,
now that her sons have grown and moved out, she spends a
lot of her time tending to her colonies and educating others
about how to care for their own.
Those interested in beekeeping can attend the Metro
Atlanta Beekeeper Association’s (metroatlantabeekeepers.org)
or a local bee club like Little Bee Project (littlebeeproject.
com), founded by Steve Esau in East Atlanta, which started
with two hives and has now grown to 10 and is expanding to
the backyards of other bee-lovers. QH
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Little Bee Project's master beekeeper
Steve Esau leads a class for aspiring
beekeepers in East Atlanta.
Phiitos by Isadora Pennington
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1 6 April 2018 | Q3
AtlantalNtownPaper.com