Dec 4, 2010: Red Bees

[xoxoxoBruce]

Red bees, not to be confused with commie pinko bees, on the state collectives in Mother Russia.
No, the Red bees are American, and live in New York City, which sounds strange, but there is an urban farming movement afoot. Urbanites are growing fruits and veggies in vacant lots, on rooftops, and even window boxes.

Cerise Mayo expected better of her bees. She had raised them right, given them all the best opportunities — acres of urban farmland strewn with fruits and vegetables, a bounty of natural nectar and pollen. Blinded by devotion, she assumed they shared her values: a fidelity to the land, to food sources free of high-fructose corn syrup and artificial food coloring.

But they started producing red honey, in fact in the sunlight the bees appeared red.

“I thought maybe it was coming from some kind of weird tree, maybe a sumac,” said Ms. Mayo, who tends seven hives for Added Value, an education nonprofit in Red Hook. “We were at a loss.”

Well no, it was coming from Dell’s Maraschino Cherries Company over on Dikeman Street, in Red Hook.

“I didn’t want to believe it,” said Ms. Mayo, a soft-spoken young woman who has long been active in the slow-food movement. She found it particularly hard to believe that the bees would travel all the way from Governors Island to gorge themselves on junk food. “Why would they go to the cherry factory,” she said, “when there’s a lot for them to forage right there on the farm?”

You see, Ms Mayo, you may choose a Prius, Volt, or bicycle, but nature/bees will go straight for the 93 octane every time. Maximum return on their effort, with no compulsion for philosophy, only next winter's survival.

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