A global concern near and dear to my heart

“If we were ever to see the extinction of the honey bee, humankind would follow four years thereafter.” - Albert Einstein


I would like to bring awareness to the plight of the honey bee. Honey bees are dying rapidly, in fact, over the previous two winters, the US has lost 70 per cent of its honeybee colonies, according to ABC news (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/24/2552327.htm) If an intervention of the tragic phenomena known as "Colony Collapse Disorder" does not occur, honey bees will be extinct in less than a decade.

Of course, one of the first things one associates with the honey bee is, of course, their golden sweet honey. In 2008, crop failures in the U.S., Argentina and Canada, plus very diminished imports from China seriously affected the availability of honey essentially to none causing honey prices to soar from .75 cents a pound in 2007 to $2.00 a pound in 2008 in the U.S. ** A classic example of supply and demand economics. Many of you readers may say "Eh, I don't use it much anyway." But honey is a main ingredient in beer and alcohol, it is an excellent preservative often added to foods for a twofer; sweetener and preservative. An additive to warm soothing or exhilirating teas. Honey is also used for many homeopathic remedies, many of which are listed at http://www.natural-healing-guide.com/natures-remedies.htm.

The second thing a person may realize with the advent of the absence of the honey bee is the absence of pollination. Without the work of our honey bees crops around the world will diminish. "Every third bite we consume in our diet is dependent on a honeybee to pollinate that food," said Zac Browning, vice president of the American Beekeeping Federation. *** Without a solution to this malady, world famine will increase, changing diets and risking human health. And not only crops intended for human consumption will suffer but the indigenous crops that supply food to the animals of our earth which in turn, effects our entire food chain. Honey bee pollination also helps to revive agricultural systems in war ravaged terrain and are used to help detect land mines at no danger to themselves.

There are more subtle products honey bees provide us as well. Lip balm, petroleum jelly, facial creams, and bees wax that would surely be missed by many.

Honey bees buzz in a special place in my heart and to see them suffer and approach the brink of extinction scares me and causes me great heartache. Please be aware of this serious global problem. A few simple ways you can aide in relieving the suffering hives is to buy local honey encouraging the population of bee keepers' private hives. Buy Burt's Bees skin care products which began funding the Honeybee Health Improvement Project. Support your local organic farmers at your local farmers' markets. And even enjoying a scoop or two of honey flavored ice cream at Hagen Dazs raises funds for research facilities dedicated to resolving Colony Collapse Disorder.

“Hope is the only bee that makes honey without flowers.”

~ Robert Green Ingersoll

by
Melissa Morgan~Heim

** http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/blogs/bees/colony-collapse-disorder-55061804?src=rss#ixzz0eH1TIkyl

*** http://www.naturalnews.com/021724.html

I won the One Minute Writer blog!

The following blurb is the first public recognition I have received for my writing. May not seem like much, but is enough of a boost to keep me going. It's my response for the prompt "Water". The response could be anything fictional to do with anything that involved water.

"No." He regretted it as soon as his lips pursed to make the "o" sound. Her eyes welled with tears instantly. He hated her cries, subtle, heart felt not like other girls' cries surrounded in drama. He watched as one mascara tinged tear ran down the inside of her cheek and off the ridge of her upper lip. He reached his calloused hand out to catch it .

C. Beth (host of the blog One Minute Writer http://oneminutewriter.blogspot.com/) words of praise:

Congratulations, Melissa Morgan! I could picture this scene and love the emotion in it.

This is a fun blog to check out. An original blog that allows the guest bloggers to interact rather than just read personal blah blah blah. The daily prompts stimulate thought throughout my day.

Welcome to the Honey Pot.

Welcome to the Honey Pot.

This blog is my tiny dimension in the vastness of the blogosphere of the over opinionated, the self-indulgent, and general blow hards, to create as I please. Be it prose, thoughts, rants, opinions, ramblings, discoveries, or photos or on the rare occasion paintings, one and all I aim to share and allow serendipity to do her thang.

Allow me to introduce myself. I am Melissa Morgan-Heim. Melissa, my given name, means honey bee in Greek and generally translated as sweet as honey. Also, was the name of the Greek princess from Crete who turned to a honey bee after learning to collect honey. My surname, Morgan, means "bright sea and dwells by the sea" in Welsh, and my married name Heim means "Home" in German.

The pot where my sweet honey of creative juices shall flow with viscous thoughts and golden words. Where a reader may allow me to sweeten their cup of morning Earl Grey, their afternoon cup of Darjeeling or their evening mug of chamomile tea and on the occasion (probably more often than not) provide enough spice to make chai.

I aspire to be a writer of some sort, or sort of a writer would probably be more accurate. According to writers with whom I have engaged, my proclitivity to procrastination qualifies me.
I am currently rotating through, a short sexy steamy story. A novel of a woman who loses her mind only to find she was robbed of it. A childrens story, inspired by my daughters, of princesses and dark forests, of a devious gecko and a staircase that leads to underground frenzied flames (pretty dark for a children's book I know, I'm working on lightening it up a little, the flames aren't quite bright enough). I also have my eyes set on a romantic novel where upon the universe has bestowed upon the heroine a gift.

And last but not least, a novel named "The Chosen One" which is about the rapture. Christ is reincarnated in the form of a young girl born to a family of misfits chosen by the little girl's mother of a previous life. Unable to provide the correct conditions for the child to bring the rapture in that life, she must try again in this next life. The little girl's absent father from her previous life has been yanked away from his afterlife of comforts by the scorned mother and returned to Earth as a bum to protect and guide the child until her purpose comes to fruition. But the rapture is not dependent on the child but of the mother and father resolving the issues of their previous life.

Hopefully that made sense, if not, add a little more honey to your tea, stir, listen to your spoon clink against the sides of your tea cup, peak out your window at the weathered sky and try not to mourn the previous minute you spent reading the ridiculous synopsis above that you will never get back.

Allow me to introduce myself again. I am Melissa Morgan, the sweet honey bee inviting you into her home of the bright sea and this little virtual stage is The Honey Pot. Thank you so much for stopping by and please feel free to say hello or whatever else may be on your mind.

Peace, Love and Happiness
Melissa
The Queen Bee