Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Welcome to the Busy Bee Blog! The homepage of Freelance Writer and artist William E. Blackburn

   William E.Blackburn 
         Freelance Writer, Poet, Artist & Craftsman


Latest Update: 4:17 AM Jan 19th 2013 Yesterday was my daughters birthday! (Happy Birthday Bear) In addition to writing a poem to her I also published my article "Plight of the Honeybee"at Hubpages.com. The birthday poem is published here on Busy Bee Blog, and for those interested in the Bee article, there is a link provided on this page that will take you over to Hubpages where you'll find some of my other writings.

The article on the disappearance of Honeybees and other pollinators is of particular importance because they are dying off in record numbers. There is a good deal of evidence that one of the primary factors in the disappearance of Honeybees is the use of pesticides, and while I agree with that statement, I believe it's actually a multitude of factors all combined that are bringing bees and other pollinators to the brink of extinction. Industrial farming of mono-crops relies heavily on pesticides, "clothianidin-manufactured by Bayer Pharmaceutical)" being the most notorious related to the Colony Collapse discussed in the article. Other factors (I believe) is the overuse of antibiotics, Chemical Mite strip used inside the hives, and removing bees from their natural environments i.e. transporting them from crop to crop. The whole system of industrial farming and commercial beekeeping put an un-natural stress on the honeybee. They weren't made to be transported, and for millions of years before man arrived on this planet, bees didn't need to take a regular dose of antibiotics either. It ludicrous considering that the bees actually produce their own antibiotics! The present practice of delivering plane and truck loads of bees onto a seasonal mono-crop is for lack of a better word asinine!  Here's one reason why! If you want to (let's say) catch the flu during flu season, where would be the best place to go catch the viruis? That's right, "a hospital or public school) and that's because everyone that has the flu... is likely going to the hospital or doctors office. So when we transport bee from all over the country, or world for that matter, and deliver them to a massive mono-crop, then we run the risk of exposing normally healthy bees into a condition where an pandemic is likely to occur!Not to mention these big industrial farms are big on using pesticides and other chemicals.  "Up to 50 different pesticides used annually on California Almond crops! In 2009 18,345,800 (Eighteen million, three hundred forty-five thousand, eight hundred pounds) of pesticides were used on California almonds alone."

If these figures aren't staggering enough, consider that the above pesticides (18,345,800.00 lbs annually) are for California almonds only! Imagine what these numbers are when we take into account the hundreds of crops all over the world each year. Not to mention crops like strawberries require far more pesticides than other crops; the numbers climb even higher.

* Some upcoming writing projects include The GMO debacle, Edible Landscaping, Permaculture, Fish Farming, Surviving the coming economic crisis, and Corruption in Washington. Stay tuned folks!


Well, I went an entire year last year (2012) without making a single entry on this site... so my goal for this year is to get in gear and get this site up and running. My life has been topsy-turvy the past year and it's really interfered with my ability to focus on what I really love to do, which is writing. I did publish 33 hubs on my site at Hubpages.com  http://web923.hubpages.com/ and a few others were published at my Wordpress site: http://web923.wordpress.com/. Also started up a business website displaying some of the work I do outside of writing, which is a bit of everything from construction to antique restoration. http://blackstoneenterprises.jimdo.com/

My goal for 2013 is to establish myself as a writer and completely phase out of the other projects; possibly put together a book of my poetry, and also to find a publisher  for my Biblical commentaries. I'd also like to sell my home here in the Mojave Desert of California and relocate to Arizona this summer. Have a productive and rewarding New Year everyone, and thanks for visiting the Busy Bee Blog.
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