This past year, we began a new venture on our little farm: beekeeping. Bees are a wonderful addition to any homestead, as well as fascinating creatures with a complex social construct.
Most people know the basics about bees. The queen is surrounded by tens of thousands of worker bees whose collective efforts keep the hive going. When I took a beginning beekeeper’s class last spring, we were told individual worker bees have little value to the hive; it is the hive itself, as an “organism,” that is critical. In other words, we shouldn’t feel too bad if we accidentally squash a bee or two while working a hive, as long as the hive itself is healthy.
A bee will sacrifice herself, unhesitatingly and unquestioningly, to defend her hive and her queen. She cannot alter or question her fate. She simply exists to serve the needs of the collective.
In a hive, all resources are shared. Every bee receives whatever amount of honey she needs to survive. Her resource contributions are collected into a central food supply destined to benefit the collective. There’s no such thing as a rogue bee. An individual bee cannot benefit from her own labors. She cannot accumulate a wealth of honey and use it as currency to get other bees to work for her. She simply, mindlessly, works to contribute to the food stores of the hive itself. All is peaceful, all is ordered.....
Read more
Most people know the basics about bees. The queen is surrounded by tens of thousands of worker bees whose collective efforts keep the hive going. When I took a beginning beekeeper’s class last spring, we were told individual worker bees have little value to the hive; it is the hive itself, as an “organism,” that is critical. In other words, we shouldn’t feel too bad if we accidentally squash a bee or two while working a hive, as long as the hive itself is healthy.
A bee will sacrifice herself, unhesitatingly and unquestioningly, to defend her hive and her queen. She cannot alter or question her fate. She simply exists to serve the needs of the collective.
In a hive, all resources are shared. Every bee receives whatever amount of honey she needs to survive. Her resource contributions are collected into a central food supply destined to benefit the collective. There’s no such thing as a rogue bee. An individual bee cannot benefit from her own labors. She cannot accumulate a wealth of honey and use it as currency to get other bees to work for her. She simply, mindlessly, works to contribute to the food stores of the hive itself. All is peaceful, all is ordered.....
Read more
No comments:
Post a Comment