A thought on cross-pollination

Today was the annual meeting of the Wisconsin Honey Producers Association's Western District. The guest speaker from the WI Ag. Dept. asked for a show of hands to get a sense of how many "new beekeepers" were in attendance. Dennis's hand and mine went up--we're just starting our seventh year, which makes us n00bs by comparison to most folks there. But so did the hand of one of the "old timers." Somewhat in jest, certainly, but a recognition of the fundamental truth that if you aren't learning something every year, it's time to retire.

So it was a little depressing when, in conversation, one of the folks present complimented the vitality of the La Crosse Beekeepers and followed it by noting that the beekeepers in his area operate in a spirit of mutal distrust. I sincerely hope that he's just had the (temporary) misfortune of running into one or two bad specimens.

Better yet, I more fervently hope that he will realize it and launch a beekeeping group with those who aren't paranoid. Because beekeeping operations of any scale have many enemies: Pesticides, foreign honey dumped on the market, adulterated or purely fraudulent products, drought, antibiotic-resistant diseases, devastating parasites like the varroa mite, bears, and the incompletely-understood phenomenon of colony collapse disorder. Unless they're actively destroying your hives, equipment or customer relationships, fellow beekeepers emphatically do not rank within that list.

Fortunately, the awesome peeps in this area aren't shy about sharing what they've learned, what they're currently trying, and what they don't yet understand. As I semi-joked to my district-mate, getting some of us to shut up might just be the tricky part. Here we understand that, economically, "live and learn" takes the proverbial back seat to "learn and live." Reading books and trade journals is good, except that honeybees don't necessarily consider themselves obligated to conform to laboratory or academic expectations. And the bees themselves can only teach so much: It's not like they bring back gossip about how other hives and honey-houses are being managed. The only remaining option is to talk to the bees' humans, and thereby ditch the bogus mindset of playing a zero-sum game.

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Full disclosure: No one saw fit to nominate any replacement officers, which effectively continues my regime as District Secretary. Tremble, all ye keyboards!