Save the bees

[Matt2584]

Hi folks,

I have been buying some tasty pies from a company called Abel & Cole lately.

They are really nice and the service is very good too.

With the latest order I got a leaflet with it talking about the drastic decline in bees.

Many petitions I have signed to stop neonicontinoids (neonics) and other pesticides such as Glyphosate which are killing off bees.

If we have no bees, we will have a very limited supply of food and for some, none at all.

I have mentioned Glyphosate once in a post before, it is the main ingredient in known weedkiller Round Up. Anyone who uses Round Up, please stop using it now. Glyphosate is not only a danger to bees but to humanity as well. I read not long ago about how a groundskeeper in America sued Monsanto and won. Monsanto had to pay out $289 million. He sued them because Glyphosate causes cancer!!

Back to Abel & Cole. The leaflet was also telling you about a competition where you could send in a photo of a bee/s or draw your own. I didn't care much for the comp, I just thought I would draw a bee, simply because I care, and I would send them a copy... Also it may get me a bit more notified :).

[steve55]

i like your effort matt,

[Matt2584 in reply to steve55]

Thanks :).

[bexx87]

I planted specific pollenating flowers for butterfly's and bees and did work until the heat went up and I couldn't keep up with the constant amount of watering

[Matt2584 in reply to bexx87]

My Headway got me into a bit of gardening in 2010, I did a little bit at home as well but couldn't really keep on top of all the watering and so on.

That is when my mum did some research on permaculture where you don't need to do constant watering and gardening is just so much more easier.

Basically, horticulture is the harder, expensive way to garden. Permaculture is natural, easier and costs less.

Composting brings worms into the soil and the more worms you have, the softer the soil meaning no real use to go out and buy a spade.

Plus also, keep feeding the worms and they will produce the fertiliser so you don't have to go out and buy more.

Put straw, hay or wood chipping onto the soil. These will soak up water so you won't have to keep watering yourself :).

[bexx87 in reply to Matt2584]

I only have a slabbed patio as my back garden

[Matt2584 in reply to bexx87]

You can still do composting with limited soil. You could have a separate bin for composting and after it has all rotted away you should hopefully have nice soil.

The REAL magic comes from nature.

I had a large bucket/pot filled with branches, wood chips, leaves.... anything biodegradable. About a year later that pot with only biodegradable matter had soil in it, worms and other beneficial insects!

Have you also thought about vertical gardening?

This is how to grow a big/bigger garden in a small space.

[cat3]

Coincidentally, I was reading earlier today how bee-keeping has become fashionable, and people are keeping honey bees as a hobby. These honey bees are decimating pollen sources, meaning that the Bumblebee is even more in decline.

Bee conservation trusts started an importation scheme in 2009 to bring bumblebees from New Zealand where they've been thriving (since we exported colonies down there 100 years ago) but now, as you've said Matt, pesticides along with neglect/destruction of habitat have speeded up their demise and that of butterflies, dragonflies and many other wonderful species.

Mankind will continues to ride roughshod over its fellow creatures 'til nothing but boring humans remain on Earth ; so depressing...……..and tragic.

Great drawing again Matt ! xx

[Matt2584 in reply to cat3]

Thanks Cat and yes mankind continues to wreck the planet/animals/insects until nothing but boring humans are left... and eventually, nothing at all will be left :(.

Consumerism is slowly killing our planet and the government and other officials add to it with all this unnecessary fracking, burning fossil fuels, drilling for oil and many other ways.

The dodo, is a bird that was extinct before I was born. Animals don’t just go extinct for no reason. Man is the reason why the dodo is extinct.

I don’t know if you know of this but Sudan, the last white male rhino has passed now. This may be the end of the white rhinos :(.

Orangutans are on the brink of extinction due to all the rainforests being torn down because of palm oil. A lot of items in the supermarkets use palm oil from food to cosmetics.

And not only orangutans but tigers as well.

Soon, all these animals will be no more and it’s all because of consumerism and corporate greed.

If people woke ip and researched the things they use and stopped buying into palm oil and so on then maybe these companies wouldn’t need to go tearing down rainforests.

This is partly why the vegan community is exploding across the world.

[Hidden]

Hi Matt,

Luv your drawings. You're right about bees.

It's a coincidence that you mentioned the advantages of permaculture. I am half way through a part time (one day/week) 16 week permaculture course. It is about working with the eco system and the environment, not against it.

So far, I have made an in ground worm farm. I feed the worms regularly with my veggie/fruit scraps and my tea leaves. The soil/plants surrounding it are thriving. When all is done, I will relocate it to another part of the garden.

[Matt2584 in reply to Hidden]

Hi Claire,

Thank you :).

I am glad to hear you are in the middle of a permaculture course.

My mum has been the one that has done all the research on permaculture by watching youtube videos :). You can seriously learn a lot from watching youtube videos.

My mum has the capacity to watch and absorb the info from these videos, I don’t. I nick some of the info off of her. I am a sponger :).

You find that when you do permaculture and make your soil lush via worms you then realise that you don’t need to go out of your way to stores like Homebase and basically waste your hard earned money on bags of compost/fertaliser or buy spades and other garden tools.

The worms are your tools.

There is a great video called ‘Back to Eden’ starring an American guy called Paul Gautschi. He owns an orchard and does permaculture too. He is very religious as well.

As I was saying in another comment, nature is where the REAL magic comes from. I was pretty amazed a couple of years ago where I had a large plant pot and filled it with biodegradable goods, wood chips, leaves, straw and so on. A year later all that had rotted away and I was left with lush soil and beneficial insects. Spiders and roly polies (woodlice).