From: "deelusbybeekeeper" <deelusbybeekeeper@excelonline.com>
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 09:50:17 -0700
To: <BiologicalBeekeeping@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: Re: Just what is Biological Beekeeping?

Hi to all on Biological Beekeeping

Clay wrote here and others have already answered:

I have to give a reply back to the head of the organic Task force and the
badly changed rule making which I will be commenting on line by line and
paragraph by paragraph.

While my Husband and I are the farthest ahead in the program and probably
the largest in the US for quantity produced for organic honey (filling a
truck load this year or more) we have always fought for our friends to come
along with us and tried to help others.

We will not see nor let something get passed that others cannot follow in
our footsteps. To us organic is natural beekeeping, biological beekeeping
without the internal use of chemicals, drugs, essential oils, acids or other
substances thrown into a colony.

Further you do not designate zones except in special cases i.e. GMC crops,
feed artificial food i.e. pollen and sugar (you leave honey for the bees and
save in fat years to feed in lean years as the bible says).

To me a beekeepers that is not near GMC crops and works his bees naturally
should not be penalized for being near an asphalt state road or some odd
ball occurance as bees don't normally forage on the stuff, and when they do
it is easily seen and put aside.

Also I don't believe in bookwork hive by hive or super by super for control
of a product that you wouldn't do with other livestock animals.

If beekeepers weren't using chemicals, drugs, and oils and acids, etc I
don't think there would be a problem today!

You can be too tight with laws as well as too loose, but not so stupid as to
allow artificial feed and drugs and essential oils, acids and think you have
a product when bees are still dying, because on a natural biological or
organic system, that just does not happen. Bees don't continue to suffer at
man's hands.

Clay, you say it good here! This is what this list is about!

Keep the comments coming. I have much to write this week and discuss with
Washington over the phone.

Also on another note. For those of you that can get a copy of Oprah magazine
"O" and turn to the center fold you will see a honey Ad. It is the first
attempt to establish an organic/biological price in this country for what
our honey in the USA and elsewhere in the world is really worth and start
raising prices for all.

I don't know if the coop buying our honey and NZ honey and honey from
elsewhere can succeed with so many not wanting to see it happen. But if the
sales come from the ad--the selling game is about to change.

Too bad we had to go outside of normal beekeeping packing channels to try to
do this. Maybe packers should take notice and rethink. Clean honey is the
future, along with biological beekeeping for our WORLD industry and not
something for the few and to that end we will continue. We must raise the
STANDARD for all so we can all make a living and help others more.

Again Clay and others participating in the discussioin. Keep it going, as it
is helping alot with my thinking. That means you Helmut and Don and Chris,
etc.

Dee