In an effort to curb some fuel costs I've been trying to stretch the time between mowing. Last year, it was every 6-7 days. For sure. Now, I'm getting up to between 10-14 days between mowings...I leave quite a trail of grass, but I've been raking in up and putting it around the gardens for "mulch". Huge pita but it does curb the weeds which is a fair trade.

Anyway, the other side effect has been a VERY healthy supply of clover. I would even say that I let it take over. lol. Big waves of white and purple on top of the green.

So, my yard has been humming. Buzzing actually. sitting outside last night while weeding, I realized that I was kind of surrounded by the bees. The kids and pets were running through the yard...it was working. No one flipping out. Not sure when some of my kids became afraid of bees, but they did...but now, they're not so much. Anyway, maybe that bee movie helped them along. Or maybe I've been pondering out loud. Which I'm guilty of.

So bees just got moved from "oh that's cool for someone else" to "I really think I'm going to consider this."

I love clover! The more the better. The chickens love to eat it; it's the best pasture for them from what I've read.

We also have a VERY healthy bee population. OMG...it's hard to imagine that colonies are collapsing with the amount of bees we have. But, we're also out of reach of cellular transmission. I am wondering if that has something to do with it. Maybe not?

I love clover! The more the better. The chickens love to eat it; it's the best pasture for them from what I've read.

We also have a VERY healthy bee population. OMG...it's hard to imagine that colonies are collapsing with the amount of bees we have. But, we're also out of reach of cellular transmission. I am wondering if that has something to do with it. Maybe not?

I was thinking the same thing.

Cellular transmissions are suspected of interfering with bees? I didn't know that.

I saw a documentary on our Australian 60 Minutes just recently. Apparently there is some type of parasite that is killing the world's population of bees. Apparently Australia (being a big island) is the only country in the world that it hasn't appeared in yet, but it's just landed on the shores of NZ so it's a definite concern.

We actually ship our bees to a bee farm in CA to help keep the US bee population alive. If all our bees die it will drastically affect the world's food source. It's quite a dire situation.

I'll see if I can dig up a link.

Here is the link: 60 Minutes Bee Story (http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=560012)

:eyes: omg, I had NO idea.

You know, seriously, our news channels have turned into fluff and gore. NOTHING of substance any more. I used to tune in every single day to the bbc, then of course they nixed that too from local programming.

We're in so much trouble.

Yikes. Thanks for that link. I had heard that cellular transmission was theorized to have something to do with it, but they weren't sure.

Quickly, I will say that media has (of course) turned this into a scare-frenzy. DH says that the towers don't truly have anything to do with it... I will ask him later to find me some link with better info. He just laughs at some of the info circulating right now.

Yes, there are issues, but there have been issues for YEARS!!!

Mites are another HUGE problem but they aren't as media friendly. Kind of gross to most people. Dh's dad got out of the bee business because of the varoa mites! Dh fights them constantly and does it without chemicals. He says the chemicals are another big problem as well, as you can imagine.

Enjoy those bees and thank you for letting your clover grow. Dh and I just love when we see other folks doing that! Golf course lawns are not for everyone and totally not good for our world!

I don't know about cellular transmission, nut we have a fair number of bees in our yard - 2 yrs running now - anfd a variety of types too. I also have a lot of clover in the grass; I'm sure to the chagrin of the neighbors. Oh, and I live in the middle of Chicago.


I kind of wonder if there is a correlation between when we saw that huge drop in birds a few years ago (due to West Nile) (it was eerie - we'd be walking and find dead birds routinely) and a lack of bees. I'd think they'd be two separate issues, but now both birds and bees are back.

sorry, I didn't get back to this with dh's info... I will soon.

I also wanted to add that there are so many other pollinators out there... bumblebees, tiny little honey-bee look-alikes that I don't know what they are but I know you guys prolly see others in your area too. Media freak-out!
Yeah, we need to pay attention to what we do (chemicals on lawns and other things that disrupt animal habitats) but like when the media says broccoli is bad for a person and everyone swears off broccoli... Sad that Americans, in general, will listen to the main-stream media!
heck, even a Christian radio show I listen to will throw in some political and anti-environmental agenda! I was a bit shocked!