April 29, 2005

The Phillips Collection of beekeeping books. A selection of ten full, searchable texts has now been made available online.
  • O clever o most excellent Pleggers! Some of the illistrations are quite wonderful. Wot is there about bees that makes human bee-ings want to liken the activities or social order of the hive to those of human societies? Must bee that little touch of nature that makes the whole kin. Or perhaps kin-fused? Many )))!!!
  • =the whole world
  • I had always disliked bees and favoured wasps, especially giant mutant ones that spit poison acid and cruelly torment downtrodden pilgrims on their way to Lourdes. But then this great post turned me round on the whole issue! Thanks, pleggers!
  • I'm afraid of (and allergic to) bees, but I like the ones that write poetry. and they have the cutest knees...
  • Heh. The knees of worker bees have baskets on 'em for hauling pollen. Actually a collection of bristles, but often gets called a basket by metaphorically minded folk.
  • Wasps are bastards.
  • Bees can recognize human faces, study finds I knew there was hope yet for 'im. ;)
  • a human nose a human eye may drink the rose before its petals fly as bees may snore through winter's blast before we face spring flowers or a human gaze at last
  • Tho bees they rob The keepers know The hive must wait Through winters' snow No harvest fall No stores depelete Their waxed-in doors Retain the heat The workers know That spring will come The flowers call Their pollen runs For now the quiet Hum of frost It's only sleeping It is not lost
  • ))) !!! "Hum of frost" -- wish I'd written that line!
  • Makes me even more desperate for spring.
  • But in a lovely way.
  • That was the best, brother bees. Thank you! (ps> acacia, or black locust wiki entry here) That acacia honey sounded good, although I probably would be just as happy with the mixed-wildflower. mmmm. I wonder if the Carniolan bees are best tempered and don't bite . . .
  • No noneybees bite -- some sting, of course.
  • Hungary seems a country that truly loves its bees.
  • Hungarians are delightfully mad folk with a sad history. Many spirited horsemen in those parts. Supposedly, our words for coach and hussar originated in Hungary.