The days are cooling off and getting shorter, farmers are bringing in crops, wood is being stacked, and beekeepers are looking inside their hives for evidence of Varroa mites, one of the largest threats to honey bees in the United States.
Located nearby the 10,000 square foot distillery on the banks of the Lamoille River, visitors may notice several beehives. Unsurprisingly, Hardie, who has been keeping bees for nearly five decades, enjoys being around bees.
Because he lives in a 21-story building and "bees don't like high rises too much" (too windy), Guillermo Fernandez keeps bees in a tiny public garden below Wall Street, next to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal.
In the last few weeks beekeepers have reported staggering losses in Minnesota, Nebraska and Ohio after their hives foraged on pesticide-treated corn fields. Indiana too, two years ago. What's going on in the Corn Belt?
Pesticides are prevalent, persistent and more scientists confirm everyday that they are making bees sick (or dead). The sad truth? Beekeepers have been sounding this alarm from the ground for years. Would that we had listened.