Bee Book

We have a beehive in our roof. The bees have been there for about a year. They collect nectar from and pollinate my wild town garden, where throughout the year, something is always in flower. I do whatever I can to protect the bees who live here and to ensure they flourish in my care. I even talk to them.

Diseases such as Colony Collapse Disorder and Varroa mite have wiped out millions of wild honey bees and domestic bees over recent years. Last year, at the local film festival, I saw Vanishing of the Bees, a fascinating UK documentary released in 2009.

The film focuses on the disappearance of entire colonies of honey bees from beehives all over the northern hemisphere. The name given to this disappearance is Colony Collapse Disorder and the film suggests this may be linked to the use of pesticides.
Bee expert, Doug Somerville, of the NSW Department of Primary Industry, said in 2007: “Honey bees are the ‘canaries in the coalmine’ of the environment.” So far Australia is free from Colony Collapse Disorder and Varroa mites, which are external parasites of bees that eventually end up killing them. We need to protect and encourage our bees by growing flowering plants that are free of chemicals. Even the smallest garden can contribute.

‘Bee Boy’s Song’ – A limited edition book I made featuring the famous bee poem written by Rudyard Kipling in 1906.

In 2010 I made this book for the Regenerator 2 Altered Book Project  at the University of West England, Bristol. It incorporates the following poem, The Bee Boy’s Song written by Rudyard Kipling in 1906.

Bees! Bees! Hark to your bees!
‘Hide from your neighbours as much as you please,
But all that has happened, to us you must tell,
Or else we will give you no honey to sell!’

A maiden in her glory,
Upon her wedding-day,
Must tell her Bees the story,
Or else they’ll fly away.
Fly away–die away–
Dwindle down and leave you!
But if you don’t deceive your Bees,
Your Bees will not deceive you.

Marriage, birth or buryin’,
News across the seas,
All you’re sad or merry in,
You must tell the Bees.
Tell ’em coming in an’ out,
Where the Fanners fan,
‘Cause the Bees are just about
As curious as a man!

Don’t you wait where trees are,
When the lightnings play,
Nor don’t you hate where Bees are,
Or else they’ll pine away.
Pine away–dwine away–
Anything to leave you!
But if you never grieve your Bees,
Your Bees’ll never grieve you.

About creativemarama2

Writer, teacher and book artist living on the south coast of NSW Australia.

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