For two engaging (and somewhat conflicting) articles concerning honeybees, check out these magazines:

NewScientist August 29-September 4, 2009, pg. 6

Discover October 2009, pg. 39

All I can say is that one of these articles makes a lot of sense.

Amusingly, I recently returned the empty keg to the Dunedin Brewery where the brewmaster told me that we “got the last Summer Buzz in the universe.”

Needless to say, I felt privileged.

Boston, here we come. I’m just excited to be there and enjoy the food and culture. For more information on the upcoming Colorado festival (Nov. 5-7 in Golden, Colorado), go to www.ceff.net

As of Friday July 10, 2009, American Colonies: Collapse of the Bee has been recognized by two emerging film festivals in the U.S. The first is the Central Florida Film Festival and the second is Accolade — one of MovieMaker Magazine’s top 25 festivals worth the entry fee. For more information on the this festival, go to www.theaccolade.net

Let’s hope the awards keep coming for the sake of getting the message out. Thanks to all who have read the blogs or seen the film so far.

And so this year, the unofficial prize for most bee friendly city goes to Chicago. As the USA Today article by Kelly DiNardo states,”Chicago is one of the few cities that allows beekeeping, and several beehives are located atop the roofs of City Hall and The Cultural Center in Chicago. The bees pollinate the flowers along Michigan Avenue and in Grant Park, rewarding the beekeepers with a few hundred jars of honey, which are sold at center to support a job-training program.”

In an extended effort to help and raise awareness, we are posting the recipe for this compound. Feel free to use it and recommend it to beekeepers or scientists you may know. The formula IS NOT FOR SALE AND NEVER WILL BE. It is a gift to anyone who values the simple power of information.

Okay, here are the ingredients that can be purchased at any good health food store.  They must be in liquid extract form for use with the bees in their sugar water.  Sometimes, they can be found in combination products.  Otherwise, they can be divided evenly for ease of use.  These are all okay for use under the banner of Fu Zheng therapy.

Astragalus
Fo Ti
Ganoderma
Codonopsis
Ligusticum
Ligustrum
Schizandra
Peony

Then, add Olive Flower Extract from Bach Flower remedies.

In the future, we may add some extra herbs because research has shown that  some-anti-fungals may help. Good luck to anyone and everyone that could use it.

“If honeybees become extinct, human beings will have four years left on the planet.” This quote (actually popularized by one our film’s interviewees G.W. Hayes) has been paraphrased many times over since Albert Einstein’s original version. But, it leaves quite an impression anyway. Something had to be done…or at least investigated.

My father is an active and inquisitive nutritionist. So, on his own schedule, he began work on a nano-encapsulated compound that aimed to boost the bees’ immune systems, seeing as the scientific community has yet to underline one specific cause for CCD. The compound, employing the ancient Chinese therapy known as Fu Zhen (or Fu Zheng), could at least do no harm. It could only help prevent the bees from becoming defenseless to a whole range of threats and pathogens. He set up a small test with Dr. Jay Evans of the USDA. At one point, there was even talk of going to Italy to speak about the compound’s potential. After all, this is becoming a global problem in addition to a major wound on the U.S. economy. The American almond crop, which alone accounts for $15 billion annually, is becoming unsustainable not to mention the fruit, vegetable, honey, milk and beef markets are all depending on honeybee pollination.

In September 2008, I was just finishing up work on a student film entitled Postwar, Florida that went on to win Best Student Documentary at the Tampa Independent Film Festival. My father and I were out for a jog one day when he was reminding me about the CCD phenomenon and the compound in development. Half-jokingly, I said that we should make a film about trying to help the honeybees. That’s how it all started – an off-hand remark during a run around the neighborhood.

In October, our family set out on a sweeping tour through the Eastern United States with a high definition digital film camera recording everything along the way. We spoke to beekeepers, scientists and experts in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Florida and made stops at Penn. State University and the Florida Department of Agriculture. We even checked in with Dr. Jay Evans at the USDA in Beltsville to receive the results of the compound test (which were extremely positive).

The film, entitled American Colonies: Collapse of the Bee, serves as proof that more federal research funding is vital to the preservation of healthy human lifestyles. It documents one homegrown effort to circumvent the problem eluding the country’s top bee scientists. It also aims to raise awareness through an artistic and entertaining medium. In an age when the terms “green” and “independent” are increasingly diluted to mean a myriad of things for corporations or special interests, here is a truly independent film with a truly green cause that unabashedly hopes to preserve all human interests. Intended for mass audiences at festivals, theater screenings, television distribution or on home video, American Colonies: Collapse of the Bee and its makers seek only to make enough profit as to ensure the production of more films with similarly good intentions. The budget for this project was next to nothing, but I believe that the final product is well constructed and timely.

How’s this for some practical proof. As Beekeeper Steve L. Antal points out in the film, he gets stung 30-50 times a week to not only keep his tolerance up, but as a preventative measure against arthritis, etc.

Also, he says he has a neighborhood friend who was wheelchair-bound for years. After a steady regiment of sting therapy (apitherapy), she was recently able to walk into his kitchen.

It’s time for this subject to get the best treatment it can get through the ultimate artform of filmmaking. I just hope I did this important issue justice. Everyone will soon see and decide for themselves.