Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Consider the Honeybee

After the last posting of this blog, ‘Moby Dick’ responded with an article about honeybees, concluding that we ought to consider the bee. So we will give it a whirl.

I have a friend who is a part-time honeybee-keeper. The rest of the time he works for the government, a job he detests. He has about 100 hives, and says at least 300 are necessary to keep bees full-time. I was taught some very interesting things about bees. For instance, did you know that they are often used 3 times a year? In February they are taken to California specifically to pollinate the almond trees or similar plants. The farmers pay the bees’ owners for this privilege. Then they are taken to places like South Dakota or other areas where there is plenty of clover or other type of grass that is good for making honey. Then they may go to Florida for another season, or they may try to repopulate some hives that have been decimated somewhat.

My friend keeps a couple hives on our property at work. It is in the back and the bees don’t bother us at all. I have seen him working on the hives, cleaning and repairing them with a swarm of bees buzzing angrily around him. Of course he has his ‘armor’ on and doesn’t seem to be bothered by it at all. Actually he says he enjoys it! And his bees produce some very tasty honey.

But when you think about it, we probably would be hard-pressed to feed the billions that the farmers feed each year if it were not for the help of our tiny friends. While we may not consider them friendly if they get too close to us, the honeybees are an important asset to any agricultural community.

In His wisdom God created many different types of animals and plants. When I was much smaller, I would wonder why God created such nasty creatures as spiders, until I realized that they keep the population of insects down. This is often the case in the animal world; different carnivorous animals keep the amount of other animals down so that a balance is maintained. And God did a marvelous thing when He created the small honeybee. As Moby Dick pointed out in the response, they know when to pollinate certain plants, when not to go out and use up energy uselessly, and they even have a God-given GPS!

And we are reminded that as King David said in Ps. 139, ‘I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are Your works.’

Yes, consider the bee.

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