BEYOND THE HIVE
Beyond The Hive
by R sty Bur by y Rusty y Burlew
Ethical Beekeeping our decisions define us
My friend Harry keeps bees in a bustling metropolitan city where he
harvests bumper crops of thick and luscious clover honey. The honey is so popular with local consumers, he can command any price.
His particular area of the country isn’t known for bumper
crops of anything, except the occasional bloom of rats or mosquitoes. Yet year after year Harry’s bees pack away im- pressive quantities of blue ribbon clover honey. How is this possible? If you are an early-riser and willing to stalk someone in
- ing for planting. Under cover of darkness, he loads his bicy- cle with industrial-sized bags of white clover seed, punches a few holes in the bottom, and pedals through the metropoli- tan parks and cemeteries, sprinkling seed as he goes. Within weeks, well-groomed sidewalks and headstones
are awash in clover. As soon as it blooms, his honey bees tend the blossoms, working tirelessly to collect, dry, and cap the precious nectar. Harry is truly the Johnny Appleseed of clover honey.
What is Ethical Beekeeping? Most discussions of ethical beekeeping center on the treatment of bees. Do bees feel pain? Are they sentient be- ings? How should beekeepers treat their charges? While the treatment of bees is an important consider- ation, and one that deserves scrutiny, ethical beekeeping does not stop at the apiary gate. The actions of beekeepers affect family, friends, other beekeepers, the public, and even the environment itself. When the topic of ethical beekeeping comes up, I inevitably think of Harry. Given its importance, how can we recognize ethical bee-
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