Thanks,
Eric

From what I've read most vegan farmers rely on compost, green manures, human urine and humanure among other things to improve and feed the soil.

Here's one link which gives more info.

A life form that normally grows on decaying wood is fungi or mushroom. They are not plant, but their structure more similar with animal. Strange, huh.

Sandy

He offered me the pile the other day and I declined. There's also some wild Sumacs and many weeds growing in it and those are the last things I want in my gardens.

I've been a vegetarian for over twenty five years, and I know the difference between food and soil.

Check your state ag extension site for cover crop info

The organic farmers I know don't really use any animal inputs as blood meal costs a lot of money and manure must come from certified organic animals lots of times not practical

Eric

Bees collect pollen in sacs that are attached to their legs. To harvest the pollen, commercial beekeepers use a thick "comb" in the bottom of the hive, in the slit the bees use as a entrance/exit. The bees then have to drag themselves across the "comb" to enter or exit the hive. The bristles catch and often tear off their limbs and other parts, and, consequently, pull most of the pollen they�ve collected off their legs in the process. The beekeepers then collect the pollen and and get rid of most of the "debris" (aka. bee body parts).

Pollen is like bee bread (any of you who have tasted it can testify!)�they need it to survive as a healthy colony. Taking the pollen from them (in the usual way) makes them have to forage more often, which is wearing on their bodies and health.
Here�s a quote from Wikipedia about bees:

"As a rule of thumb the foraging area around a beehive extends for two miles (3 km), although bees have been observed foraging twice and three times this distance from the hive. Foraging at extreme distances wears out the wings of individual bees, reduces the life expectancy of foraging bees and therefore the efficiency of the colony."

Royal jelly is also harvested at the expense of the health of the colony. Commercial, industrial beekeeping and pollen/royal jelly-harvesting practices are cruel on the small scale and dangerous on a large scale. They�re degrading the health and balance of honey bees. Bees are so important to the health and survival of our natural world."

I've met a few beekeepers and I think they would dispute your notion of how they raise bees.

re: pnbrown's comment about competing with native pollinators: I thought we had lost 90% of our bees in the US and pollination was in serious jeopardy. This is the first I have heard about that problem. I thought honeybees *were* the native pollinators...

Honey bees will produce royal jelly, propolis, pollen and of course honey in excess depending on management. All bees apart from the queen & drones work themselves to death, whether managed or not (feral). Management doesn't mean exploitation without agreeing on some clarifying definition. Bee KEEPERS have a vested interest in the health of their hives.

If competition means burgeoning population vying for fixed resources, I agree with the premise. But I can show you 15 different pollinators in a square foot of buckwheat in bloom that belie that. Cooperation and harmony come to mind rather.

I am an organic beekeeper. I do not exploit my bees. Their existence in my flower-filled urban yard does no harm to the many native pollinators that I see every single day.

Where do these crazy anti-beekeeping ideas even come from???

I propose that you have no way of knowing what the impact of your hive/s is on the native pollinators within the range of your honeybees. You see them but you don't have much idea of what is going on at their level.

It is a rueful irony that the authors of the cited study don't consider the monoculture to be pollinated as detrimental to the native plantlife. Of course if you want cherries, you pick them only.

P.N., regarding your statement, "There is no doubt successful beekeeping is extremely exploitative" I have taken some umbrage since I consider myself successful but not "exploitative".

But I readily concede that much of the produce grown in my garden and arbor has been "exploited" for specific traits. Touche.

Similarly with apis mellifera, in its association with humans it has been able to gain a big advantage over its competitors, and in regions where mellifera abounds logic would indicate that the competitors exist in smaller numbers than they would, just as a cornfield in Indiana surely has a lot fewer trees and bushes than it would if it were a mixed use permaculture.

I encourage deeper thinking here by this thread swerve, rather than an attack to elicit knee-jerk response.

Carry on. :-]