The first Bee Buddy Festival in Kalapana is Saturday, September 15, at Uncle Robert’s Kava Club, from noon to 4pm. It’s a chance to learn how to be a Bee Buddy and keep the honey flowing.
Honey bees are critical to life on an island, as they are major pollinators of our food supply. Bees have been dying from various assaults, including varroa mites, small hive beetle, GMO plants and toxic substances on our aina and shortage of good bee food. As well, honeybees have been mysteriously disappearing across the planet, literally vanishing from their hives. Known as Colony Collapse Disorder, this phenomenon has brought beekeepers to crisis in an industry responsible for producing apples, coffee, mac nuts, mangos, broccoli, watermelon, onions, cherries and a hundred other fruits and vegetables. Commercial honeybee operations pollinate crops that make up one out of every three bites of food on our tables.
The event will feature a movie about bees, discussion about how to support and keep healthy honey bees, and bee products.
