Apparently my dry sense of humor does not always bode well with everyone, especially those with preset opinions lacking niche experience in the realm of apiarism (i.e. beekeeping).
This post is simply a follow-up to my first post about the generalities of beekeeping, and how I got into it myself; apparently, at least one vegan follower in particular felt quite strongly about beekeeping in a negative light and so shared her sentiments with me, claiming that I was not truly a vegan on the grounds of exploiting bees, and that making any joke (referring to the “Level 11 Vegetarian” comment in my prior post) regarding veganism is not only not funny, nor appreciated, but inappropriate. Yeesh!
I cannot understand for the life of me why it seems to be human nature that we automatically fly off the handle at perceived slights or causes unaligned with our personal preferences and so forth, but it’s been a dichotomy struggle between being a vegan lifestyle follower and a beekeeper where I’ve found myself getting into long-winded discussions to inform people what’s REALLY going on with the bees, and why it’s not simply important but crucial that we step in proactively rather than waiting for them to dwindle into extinction as their population in recent years has been struggling at best.
This is the rectification I hope that will straighten out and elaborate further regarding the particular nuances/caveats of apiarism and help give a more thorough understanding of where I’m coming from in my experience as opposed to an opinion (i.e. personal thoughts on any given subject without being properly informed). To keep it short and sweet as possible, I have taken the excerpts of my conversation with said upset vegan and pasted here for direct correlation understanding. As ever, I still welcome any questions someone might have if further clarification is needed about the bees or the role we caretakers play in assuring their livelihood and well-being as a whole:
(MY REPLY TO SAID UPSET VEGAN) –>
“If you’ll kindly bear with my novel, I hope to clarify by sharing my experience more in detail:
I’ve had my bees about 7 months. The reason I got them at all is due to their current endangerment; Florida agriculture in particular (one of the fields I’m in, living/working on an organic farm) has suffered due to many pesticides and invasive species that were brought in. This greatly killed the natural nectar sources available.
Thusly, bees would continue to dwindle in population if we didn’t intervene to some extent on their behalf and tweak nature to bring colony numbers back up to healthy environmental levels.
In total, I’ve spent well over $1,000 out of personal pocket (versus using a USDA grant or such) to pay for their happy home setup, and feeder jars that supplement when, in the case of recent frost where we lost nearly all blossoms, they would be struggling for food sources and weather is too cold for them to forage anyway. I’m not commercial or hiree based, so I don’t make any money off of them pollinating someone’s field, & don’t disrupt them with occasional relocation. To date, I have not once yielded any honey for personal use, & especially again with current weather, I’ve done my due diligence and leave their food for them as needed.
The caveat is that a healthy hive, in most regulated seasonal conditions, will actually overproduce as a precaution to survival (just how they’re wired, they have collective-consciousness mentality).
Once their honey super is filled, if the workers run out of space, they feel they have no more work to do and will likely abscond and swarm, leaving them prey to the elements, setting up in someone’s yard and getting exterminated, or even killed by rival wasps or the aggressive Africanized bees (illegal species, but here nonetheless). So, rather than have to explain this long stipulation every time someone questions why I’ve spent time and money for zero personal return helping the bees, I opt for light humor to hopefully deflect the instantaneous anger often roused by vegans who are always well-meaning, but may not understand the complexity of bees, the caretaking process, and how they respond to different scenarios. The bottom line for me is keeping the numbers up because we all go if they go.
Thank you for your patience if you read this all. I don’t expect to change anyone’s mind or opinion, but simply to shed some light to facets possibly overlooked.
I have not taken any honey since it’s not currently an issue– the weather we’ve had means they will be using it themselves, and so they are fed and cared for by me but otherwise left alone to roam the farm unless it comes the time where honey extraction is crucial to avoid them swarming and risking death. I hope this helps clear the air.”
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Unless you and I are cousins (and who knows, we may be!), the answer is no. My name is Alex, I am the proud owner/operator of this blog and an organic backyard beekeeper. All the material written on my blog is my own coming from my personal experiences, and aiming to bring healthy and eco-conscious living to anyone who is interested. 🙂