The Buzz (...on bees)

The latest Sunset magazine issue (August 2009) featured an article called "Hive Minds," and it's worth a trip to the grocery store if you aren't already a subscriber. The article isn't accessible online, but here's "the gist:"

The Great Sunflower Project

"As honeybees around the world vanish, one Bay Area biologist is enlisting an army of backyard gardeners to help figure out why...the concept is simple: free 'Lemon Queen' sunflower seeds [are distributed] for people to plant in their yards. In return, once the flowers bloom, the recipients report back any bee-related activity. 'Sunflowers are easy to grow and wildly attractive to bees...You're basically handing over a thermometer that allows people to measure how their garden is doing.' [The Sunflower project] recently partnered with Cornell University on the Birds & Bees Challenge, which helps young people between the ages of 7 and 17 rediscover nature in their own neighborhoods, becoming amateur scientists, photographers, and artists."

Click here for more info.

Also, for avid gardeners and wannabe farmers, here's a blog worth following (it even includes more info on bees):

Sunset's

One Block Diet

"We're writing about how we've used our garden expertise to grow just about everything we need, in a plot actually much smaller than a block—more like what most of us have at home: a suburban back yard. Then we're using our produce to cook a series of seasonal feasts. Last summer, we had our first dinner. Right now we're working on a winter garden, with feast to follow.
We're not just growing plants, though. To make our dinners more interesting (and tasty), we're raising chickens (for eggs). We've made beer, and wine, and vinegar. We're making cheese (from 'imported' milk, but who knows, maybe a cow is in our future) and olive oil and honey. We've even made salt (from ocean brine), because how can you cook without seasoning? If you're a DIY kind of person, someone who thinks that dinner starts with the earth, the sea, and a few animals, this blog (and our accompanying how-to guides) can you help you put together your own made-from-scratch meals.
To follow the adventures of Teams Garden, Kitchen, Bee, Chicken, Beer, Cheese, Wine, Vinegar, Salt, and Olive, see the links under 'Categories' ... We'll probably be adding more projects as we move into different seasons."

And, for die-hard nature lovers, a "bee books" link for "those charmed by bees" (click here).