Time To Think About Holiday Gifts
Clothing for a cause. That is what Bloom Clothing Company is all about. With a portion of profits going to the Honeybee Conservancy, we are making an effort to spread the word that honey bees are friendly little creatures that the world needs.
The company started in 2017 to try something new and to make a difference in the world. It started with only three colors of t-shirts and now has around 100 products from shirts, to sweatshirts, bath bombs, lotions, bracelets, and more.
With the help of amazing communities like the Bee Culture family, the company has seen so much growth in the past year. With all of this support we were able to win a competition at SouthPark Mall in Strongsville, Ohio for free rent in a retail space for six months. It was a competitive and tough experience, but the management team for SouthPark saw the potential.
The first brick and mortar space will be opening at SouthPark Mall on November 1st of this year and we’re hoping to spread the word to shoppers from all over who visit the mall. With the growth we’ve seen of the past year locally, we are attempting to spread it nationally and internationally by announcing that we are now shipping to over 240 countries. Heart and soul have gone into this business with support from so many lovely individuals who love the cause, products, transparent business practices, holistic strategy, and so much more.
Can’t wait to see where the business is next year and how we’ve helped the amazing creatures that support us every day.
You can learn more about Bloom Clothing at www.bloomclothingcompany.com or visit us at Southpart Mall, 500 Southpark Center, Strongsville, OH 44136.
Visit www.bloomclothingcompany.com
Almost 1½ years ago we were approached by a major queen and honey bee breeder with the question, “Why don’t you make a new, easy to use version of the standard wooden cage most people are familiar with?” Had this not been asked, I would never had given much thought to Building the Better Mousetrap”.
So after several missteps, mistakes, and at times misguided notions, the product is ready for the U.S. market.
Mike Gardner, of Gardners Apiaries/SpellBee, pushed to get the queen cage built to his specification – it was Mike who had planted the idea. The first 20 some thousand went to the local landfill. They worked, but they didn’t work to Mike’s satisfaction.
So after promising to show the world a new queen cage, and failing to produce, we now have the Shamrock Queen Cage, a Patent Pending unit that comes completely assembled, saves time & materials and makes for easy intro and release.
Imagine if you will, having 200,000+ wooden cages that are filled with paper, after which fondant is added, then a small screen carefully stapled in place, plus the balancing act of keeping up with two corks. And if they are to be used for packages the strap is cut and stapled in place. All that’s done before you add the queen.
With the Shamrock Queen Cage you still have to install the fondant. Then . . . well, you put in the bees.
If the cages are not to be used for packages, simply order them without a strap (that costs one penny more) or just cut the standard strap with scissors.
Shamrock Queen Cage samples are available in boxes of 50 for $39 (that includes the freight). They scale downward as the quantity rises.
To order samples email johnsullivan@triad.rr.com
Easy-On Hive Covers
These covers were developed five years ago. They are manufactured and field tested in Northwest Ohio. Last Winter many lost most of their hives to the cold. Our bees were medicated and fed. Old man Winter didn’t get a single hive during the 2017/18 Winter.
The covers are made from heavy tear resistant material that cleans easily and lasts for years.
Effective Efficient Easy!
Seconds to put on
- Windproof
- Waterproof
- Foam Board insulation
- Holds tight to the hive
- Stands up to Winter wind
- Does not block ventilation
- Fits just under the hive lid
- Fits the Langstroth 10 or eight frame two deep hive
- Folds flat for storage
- Lasts for years
- Looks Good!
Visit www.easyonbeehivecover.com
Bee Child, written by Wyatt A. Mangum. Published by Stinging Drone Publications, ISBN 978-0-9851284-1-8. Paperback, 560 pages. $17 + tax and shipping. To order go to www.beechildthebook.com.
In his first novel, honey bee scientist Dr. Wyatt Mangum weaves the intricacies of bee biology into a spellbinding story about the power of love, motherhood, and of course bees.
This book takes place in the 1840s, during a crucial time in this history of America and beekeeping.
The main character of the book is a boy named Amaron, who is orphaned as an infant by his mother. But before she died his mother filled him with words of wisdom regarding the bees. She had a very special relationship with them.
The boy’s mother had already lost her husband and twin daughters to the rough wilderness they lived in. She did not want the boy to grow up afraid of the bees, as her husband and daughters had been. So she talked to him all of the time from the day he was born, about the bees.
Some would call her a ‘bee tamer’ because of her relationship with the bees. The bees protected her and her children after the loss of her husband. They provided food in the form of the honeycomb for them when Winter came along.
The book starts out very dark and forboding as it describes the harsh circumstances of the mother’s life. But it is intriguing also as she has the bees to protect her.
At one point the bees keep her from harm while she tries to get her and her infant son out of the wilderness and into civilization. Three wolves start tracking the boy and his mother and one by one the bees kill off the wolves.
Even with the help of the bees the mother still ends up orphaning her young son. But hopefully she has filled him with the knowledge of the bees and the promise of a magnificent girl who will search for him.
It is a long book, but if you are a fan of fiction it is well worth the time and Dr. Mangum does a great job of weaving bee biology into the story. – Kathy Summers
Visit www.beechildthebook.com
Vanishing Bees: Science, Politics, and Honeybee Health (Nature, Society, and Culture) by Sainath Suryanarayanan and Daniel Lee Kleinman. Published by Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-7458-5. I60 pgs., 6” x 9”. Paperback, no color, soft cover. $26.95.
Interestingly, this book is written by two professors from my alma mater, the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The project began some 8 years ago, with the goal of looking into the whys of vanishing bees. It does just that with extraordinary success with one tiny exception, which, it turns out has little to do with the value of the book. It is, to a small degree, somewhat dated – by two to three years or so, and when looking at the history of what has happened to bees in the past decades, it matters very little. Besides the time needed to complete this work.
There are only five chapters. One on beekeepers, one on researchers, one on growers, one on Bayer and one on the EPA. This covers, without doubt, all of the players in the plight of bees and beekeeping.
It took me a couple of chapters to realize the technique of each of these chapters. The authors would argue one side of a question, then argue the other side, and only then reach a conclusion. It was frustrating at first, but the value is that you have laid before you both, or more, sides of a question and the logical deduction of what actually is correct. The Cutler/Scott-Dupree experiment is a good example of examining data from more than one perspective and reaching the correct conclusion.
They have sections on knowledge and ignorance that have given me new meaning in some of the discussions I have had over the years about this subject with clients on both sides of this coin.
If vanishing bees has meaning in your world, this book should be part of it. – Kim Flottum
Visit www.rutgersuniversitypress.org
