KINGSTON — By day, Paul Lundy of Kingston works as a corporate health-care administrator. In leisure time, Lundy and his wife, Lisa Knox, buzz around in their backyard apiary.
The couple harvests more than 200 pounds of honey each year from their three on-site hives and three more at another property. It’s enough for their own consumption with plenty left over to sell at local feed and gift stores.
Lundy told the Kitsap Community &Agricultural Alliance recently that honeybees are thriving in Kitsap County despite the mysterious “colony collapse disorder” afflicting hives nationwide. The volunteer-led alliance is leading a resurgence in Kitsap-based agriculture through monthly meetings on topics of interest to small farmers, gardeners and locavores.
Honeybees, imported from Europe, have played a vital role in U.S. agriculture for centuries not only for the honey, wax and other products they make, but as pollinators for crops.
But over the past three years, the commercial bee population has been hit hard by colony collapse disorder, which has wiped out entire hives. Some beekeepers have lost 50 percent to 80 percent of their populations, Lundy said. Researchers are frantically searching for the cause and cure of the problem, which has affected commercial crops nationwide.
The good news for local farmers and gardeners, Lundy said, is that small apiaries so far seem to have escaped colony collapse disorder. Lundy is an officer with the West Sound Beekeepers Association and has not heard of any hobbyists’ hives being affected.
The West Sound Beekeepers Association includes 60 members in Kitsap County. Lundy would like to see that number increase. Thriving hives of bees are a boon not only to local crops, but also to wild plants and by extension to local wildlife, he said.
Local bee populations have taken a hit from loss of habitat and pesticide use, Lundy said. Feral colonies are now rare but could make a comeback with a little help from humans.
Even if you don’t keep a hive, you can encourage honeybee population growth by laying off the pesticides, Lundy said. Herbicides, too, can be toxic to bees. If you must use these products, he said, at least avoid using them on flowering plants.
Filling your yard with a variety of blooming plants will provide a steady food source to bees, Lundy advised.
The native bumble bee and mason bee also play a role in plant pollination.
Mason bees, active from mid-April to early June, make their nests under shingles and in just about any hole or crevice they can find. Many gardeners attract them by boring holes in blocks of wood or filling boxes with paper straws.
Dave Hunter of Woodinville has gone in for mason bee farming in a big way. Collecting starter colonies from throughout the region, he cares for the bees, providing conditions in which they will proliferate and storing them over winter. Each spring, the partners get back their original “deposit” and then some. The bees graze on the partners’ land, increasing in number.
Eventually Hunter hopes to sell his mason bees to California almond growers as a hardier alternative to honeybees. Mason bees will probably not totally replace honeybees as pollinators, however, because, their active period is relatively limited, Hunter said.
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