That big rig you're passing might be full of bees

[yortsed snacilbuper]

There are still cowboys driving livestock across America in 2019. While most of us are snoozing, they’re rolling up to dark fields with trucks full of creatures that are critical to our nation’s agriculture: thousands and thousands of bees.

"Very few people know that this happens, and it happens as a necessity of the way our agriculture’s done,” apiarist and filmmaker Peter Nelson explained to me. “I see bee trucks when I’m on the road, but most people don’t recognize them because it looks like a truck with boxes covered by a net.”

Nelson’s new movie The Pollinators is all about the bee industry, its huge role in our food system and the dire situation it’s in today. After months embedded with beekeepers documenting the complicated logistics of hauling bees from one end of the country to another, and years raising bees in his own backyard, he’s become something of an authority on the subject.

After watching his film myself, I have a whole new appreciation for this fascinating biological and economic ecosystem. I will now impart some of this wonder to you, before getting back to the part about trucks filled with bees driving down the highway at night.

link

[eleny]

1. Scroll to about the 30 second mark for a close look at the trailer full of bees

[Takket]

2. I was in one of these facilities once

I’m a mechanical engineer and the facility was having trouble with its HVAC systems. The facility was a giant empty warehouse with all these bee growing rooms. Bees were moved from room to room as they grew because their optimal temperature and humidity requirements changed.

They had these little plastic pods with this nectar like substance that the bees grew in. When they were mature they actually put the little plastic habitats in a plain cardboard box and shipped them out by plain old UPS.

I hate bugs but surprisingly only saw a handful of bees there so I didn’t freak out too much lol

[underpants]

3. Stolen bees

My stepbrother, as far as I know, has a few hives.

Gov. MacAuliffe (VA) had a special program that provided $300 to beekeepers. I can't imagine that's enough to start up a bee operabut I think it was meant to encourage expansion.

Great post. Thanks.

[Blue_true]

4. Anyone that has a garden should plant Borage seeds in the garden or around the borders.

The plant grows well and is a good companion to many types of plants, tomato, strawberry, melon and helps deter bad soil nematodes and flying pests. The plant is easy to care for. It grows into a big plant and put out lots of beautiful flowers that are edible in salads (tastes like cucumbers), also the stalks can be made into pickles if you scrap off the spiny fuzz with a steel wool and brine them in sweet vinegar/salt. The thing about the plant is bees adore, absolutely adore it's flowers, the plants attract bees from afar. It is a great plant for helping struggling bee colonies near where you live.

If you don't want the borage bushes to grow too big, you can prone the roots bonsi style in an "X" pattern, cutting out the roots along the lines of the x, just be sure to leave some space between each line so that the plant still get root formation, and avoid cutting at an angle so as not to damage the taproot.

[Brother Buzz]

5. I live in Almond country

Seems like all the bees from the western states are shipped to California for the early, early almond pollination season. I believe the hibernating bees from the colder regions take a week of feeding, or so, before they are fully awake and up to the task.

[jberryhill]

6. .