Five Bees for Friday
We explore the Solar Waltz, a song dedicated to bees, a beekeeper's funeral & the telling of the bees, small things we can do to help them, and bee art.
Dear Reader,
There are so many topics I want to write about and there are many things that don’t fit neatly into a story. So that is why Five for Friday is a part of Mindful Soul Center, there is space for them here. Today’s newsletter is themed on our fuzzy little bee friends - beings that see an entirely different spectrum of light, play an essential role in making life possible on Earth and give us the gifts of honey, wax and pollen too.
Bees are cute, sometimes scary, an integral part of the life cycle and they are in danger.
Yet we as a whole are sometimes complicit or complacent in allowing their plight and struggle to continue, and that struggle is born of human beings’ use of pesticides and other practices that are contrary to a life flourishing on this Earth, and that includes our own lives. If you know of ways that people can take action and be the change, feel free to leave a comment, and I’ll research the ideas and put something together so people can have a quick and easy actionable guide. For now, at least one of the items of the five here are useful tips to help our bee friends. Now let’s get the buzz on :-)
One: Cosmo Sheldrake’s Solar Waltz, a song about bees
If you don’t know his music Cosmo Sheldrake is a storyteller who takes us to the natural world through his music. I originally came across his work a few years ago when he was working with Bernie Krause. Krause has been recording the sounds of nature for many years and discovered through sound the peril the natural world is in right now. He has the largest known collection of nature sounds in the world. Cosmo collaborated with him at The Great Animal Orchestra exhibition at Foundation Cartier in Paris, and in 2019, he released a series of Wake up Calls, pieces composed entirely from recordings of endangered British birds. Here I am sharing the lyrics and his music, do listen. You won’t be disappointed.
“a song about the bees, and I guess it’s in a way, just trying to give them a bit of love, given the plight they’re facing in the world.” - Cosmo Sheldrake
Two: A Beekeeper’s Funeral and the Telling of the Bees
If you are afraid of bees or are indifferent, this may bring you closer to loving and appreciating them.
There are poems and folklore around these practices from many places around the world, with the tradition called the Telling of the Bees and includes birth announcements too. If they are not told, there can be consequences. You can read John Greenleaf Whitier’s poem here and Eugene Field’s poem here. There is a folklore wiki too.
Three: The Alchemy of Bees
We revisit April Aronoff’s article, where she shares her introduction to bee medicine in the Alchemy of Bees.
Four: Bees in the city
Paris and New York allow people to keep bees in the city. Certainly more cities have joined in permitting people to keep bees on rooftops and other areas since legislation passed sometime around 2008 in Paris and NY. City environments are frequently healthier for bees since pesticide use is not as widespread. You can watch a live bee cam when the bees aren’t dormant (they’re still asleep right now) in NY at Bryant Park. Bookmark the bee cam page here.
But having a full hive may not be something for you but we can do little things. You can:
participate in community gardens or
create mini guerilla gardens in your city or even on your balcony or terrace too.
You can support solitary bees by providing homes by not cleaning up ground cover too early as the weather warms, provide holed masonry blocks in a sheltered area or create insect hotels and fairy gardens on your balconies in the city or in your garden.
Don’t use pesticides. Start a letter writing campaign to chemical companies or find other ways to place pressure on them. It’s good karma.
Plant wildflower seeds. Get rid of large grass lawns. Plant clover.
Let dandelions alone and other early pollinators. The bees rely on these blooms. Instead pick their leaves and eat them whilst allowing their gorgeous yellow blooms to thrive.
I talk about insect hotels and fairy gardens in my digital edition of my book A Garden Guide and the print edition book/planner combo A Garden Planner: Dream it, build it, watch it grow! (Print/spiral bound or paper bound) Share any resources or ideas in the comments or chat.
Five: Art inspired by bees
A couple of artworks are collected here in this short video with the theme of bees, because #artmatters. If you want to investigate an intriguing past art project called the Hive, visit this link. There have been many projects for awareness but we’re not making a real difference yet.
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Thanks and Namaste!
Amy
Here is a preview of the Garden book and planner if you are interested in it:
A Garden Planner: Dream it, build it, watch it grow!
Get the spiral edition here or the paperbound edition here. The paperbound edition is also available on Amazon here. Finally if you don’t want a print book with the tracking and journal pages you can get the PDF download/Ebook Reader version only here - open it on your phone when you’re at the nursery.
What interesting information, thanks.
A worthy celebration. A celebration of bees is also a celebration of our survival as a species. Without bees, we can't survive. If bees don't survive, we could disappear.