Sweet Collaboration

The Bee Ranchers Assist Alameda Marketplace in Supporting the Local Alameda Honeybee Population.

Donna Layburn, Owner and Operator of Alameda Marketplace, is aware of and
concerned about the decline in honeybee populations across the country and
throughout the world. Being the proprietor of a grocery store that prides itself
on its selection of quality organic produce, she understands the importance of
honeybees and how their lives intertwine with and support ours.

It was by chance that a close friend of Mike Vigo also knew Donna, and was aware of her passion for locally sourced, sustainable, quality, natural produce and products. He made an intro and as they say, the rest is history. Mike and Donna immediately hit it off and it was clear The Bee Ranchers were capable of providing Alameda Natural Grocery with a great service that would benefit the local Alameda community and the local honeybees for years to come.

Over the past several months The Bee Ranchers have been setting up hives on the roof of the Marketplace, and at key properties throughout Alameda. And we are happy to report that the effort has been a smashing success! Mike Vigo states, “Alameda Marketplace’s hives have been our most productive hives to date. There is a lot for the honeybees to forage on over here!”

This is what Donna Layburn was hoping for; to strengthen, support and grow the local honeybee population. She’s also a big believer in the health benefits of honey, local honey in particular. Always looking to add high-quality and in-demand products to the store, Donna is also excited to be able to offer the fruits of the honeybee’s work. In the not too distant future, Alameda Marketplace will be selling it’s own brand of local honey on it’s shelves alongside all the others. Layburn states that is really the secondary benefit to the effort though. The more awareness she can bring to her customers and the Alameda community regarding the plight of the honeybee, the better. It is through her dedication to ranching honeybees locally that she hopes to inspire others.

The Bee Ranchers is very pleased to call the Alameda Marketplace a client and
applauds Donna Layburn’s drive to make a better world for honeybees.

Are you a fan of Alameda Marketplace? Tell us about it!

WIRED Magazine

WIRED Magazine is buzzing with informational articles on Honeybees.

This post was just starting out as a collection of links to articles that I’ve been seeing in various magazines and on various websites. One of those magazines is WIRED. If you are not familiar, it is a magazine (and website) chuck full of information on today’s latest cutting edge technology and it’s impact on the world and our daily lives. Locally produced in San Francisco!

This month’s mag has an article on Honey Counterfeiters and individuals responsible for tracking and identifying falsely labeled honey – BIG business evidently! The article is titled, “The Hive Minder: Pollen Detective Tracks Down Honey Counterfeiters”. Unfortunately they have not released it on their site – you’ll have to pick up the mag as of this post. However, and what I really wanted to get to with this post, is the broad collection of articles on honeybees they do have to read. Below is a list with links. We found them all very interesting and worth highlighting for our followers (oldest to newest):

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/12/epa-clothianidin-controversy/

http://www.wired.com/underwire/2010/10/honeybee-orchestra/

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/01/colony-collapse-lives/

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/12/flowers-spread-bee-viruses/

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/03/bees-insects-personality/

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/03/neonicotinoids-bee-collapse/

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/04/neonicotinoids-colony-collapse/

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/04/neonicotinoids-gardens/

A lot of these focus on the plight of the honeybee and their decline over the past few years. Others focus on interesting facets of honeybees – who knew they might have personalities!? As we stated at the beginning of this BLOG, information is power, so we appreciate the thorough coverage that WIRED magazine has been providing it’s readers.

Are you a fan of WIRED Magazine? Is there another informational resource you think is equally as good? If so, let us know as we like spreading the “good word” on Honeybees!

Hungry Honeybees

For those who have never seen a honeybee eat!

This short video was taken right after a harvest in the East Bay. There were a few drops of honey on a pan that Mike left out for the bees to eat up. And they definitely did. The most interesting part (IMHO) is watching them use their proboscis to lick/suck up the honey. Turns out there are a lot of critters out there that have them!!! Check out the link above.

Good buzzing audio on this too!

Enjoy!

Proper Ranching Attire

The Bee Rancher Ts are here!

It has taken us awhile but we finally got them done and we are very happy with the results. We have a modest first run of shirts for Ranch Foreman and Ranch Hands (photo above), clients and supporters of the cause. Insight Resource Group took care of getting us the shirt specs and had them printed for us – they made the process really easy. A great group of folks to work with and a local company to boot!

Yeah, yeah, yeah…we know and we are on top of it! Our hats (which are going to be pretty darn cool) are going to be on the way shortly too and will compliment our shirts nicely. Obviously a subject for a future post!

Tell us what you think? Would you wear one? Do you like the color? We want to hear from you and determine if we need to order more!