Preston Pouteaux, a pastor for the Lake Ridge Community Church in Chestermere, held an hour talk about honeybees and beekeeping in the Chestermere Library at 6:30 p.m., March 20th. With a table set up showcasing around twenty books and movies about bees, Pouteaux also brought along his beekeeping attire, honey, and some shelves from his honeybee box. ”There are a lot of misconceptions about honeybees,” says Pouteaux, “bees are essential for the fertilization of almost everything we eat, and they also produce honey, whereas wasps are foragers and do not pollenate.” Since the education on honeybees is low, many of their hives are destroyed every year. In fact, Calgary has a bumblebee rescue group that receives calls all of the time from people who would like them to be relocated. Some of you may be familiar with Albert Einstein’s quote, “If the bee disappeared off the face of the Earth, Man would only have four years left to live.” This was said because of the fact that bees are essential to the pollination of our crops, which are food for livestock as well. One out of three bites you eat are directly related to bee involvement, and like a chain reaction, the disappearance of bees would only leave humankind with enough food until Earth’s population depleted it entirely. Since 2005, the honeybee population has declined yearly by 30% due to colony collapse disorder. This disorder describes the phenomenon of the complete disappearance of worker bees from a hive, and at this rate, the bee population will become extinct by 2039. Scientists are not sure of what causes this disorder, and do not know how to prevent or treat it either. So, what does that mean for Chestermere? Currently, there is a bylaw that makes it illegal to keep bees on one’s property, whereas it is legal in Chestermere and Calgary. “I don’t want to spearhead a movement of pro-beekeeping,” laughs Pouteaux, “this is just something I am passionate about and do for a hobby. I just think it is really important that people understand their importance, and are educated about them enough to know that they’re important and should not be killed.” Bees tend to be more docile than people realize, and when they are cared for by a beekeeper that quality increases. According to Pouteaux, having them in the community is extremely beneficial, especially for gardens or landscaping that tends to not do well. With increased fertilization by bees, Chestermere would see our flowers bloom with intense beauty, and the gardens in people’s backyards would grow better than ever before.
At the event, Pouteaux handed out testers of his honey that he collected from his two honeybee nests last year. “Bees do all of the work,” he says, “and that is why we are beekeepers, not bee farmers. They just need a home and things to fertilize and they’ll be happy.” If you live in an area that allows beekeeping, you can purchase your bees from New Zealand. This is the location where Canada gets its bees from because the bee population there tends to have fewer diseases than those from the lower states of the US. They’re around $150 for 2kg. “They say if you can change cat litter, you can become a beekeeper,” Pouteaux says.
