nPostednon August 16, 2014
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n Bees!
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nSomenof us fear them—and some people are so allergic to them, they havento carry around emergency medication because a bee sting could killnthem.
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nSomenof us spend our lives raising bees, and selling their honey.
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nButnall of us depend on them, because around 250,000 species of floweringnplants depend on bees for pollination. And many of these plants arencrucial food crops! About a third of the foods we eat dependnon pollination by bees!
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- Alfalfa
- Almonds
- Apples
- Asparagus
- Beans
- Beets
- Blackberries
- Blueberries
- Brussels sprouts
- Buckwheat
- Cabbage
- Cantaloupe
- Cauliflower
- Celery
- Cherries
- Chestnuts
- Chives
- Clover
- Cranberries
- Cucumber
- Currants
- Eggplant
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- Flax
- Garlic
- Gooseberries
- Grapes
- Horseradish
- Kale
- Lettuce
- Mustard
- Onions
- Parsley
- Peaches
- Pears
- Plums
- Pumpkins
- Radishes
- Raspberries
- Rhubarb
- Squash
- Strawberries
- Sunflowers
- Sweet potatoes
- Turnip
- Watermelon
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nInnaddition to food, many of our medicines come from flowering plants.nAnd there’s cotton! Jeans! T-shirts!
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nSo,nyeah, we all depend on bees. And what about all the birds and smallnmammals that feed on the berries and seeds of flowering plants. Hownmany of them depend on bees for their own survival?
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nHopefullynI have convinced you that bees are really important. Andnunfortunately, bee populations are in freefall. All around the world,nthe western honeybee – which is not very aggressive and which makesna LOT of honey – has been suffering from parasites and viruses.nProbably the bees’ problems are made worse by modern agriculturalnpractices and pesticide use. n
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nTodaynis a great day to look into ways to help bees.
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nAlsonon this date:
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nAnniversarynof an overthrow
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nAnniversarynof the start of the Klondike Gold Rush
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nPlannahead:
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nChecknout my Pinterest boards for:
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nAugustn holidays
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nAugustn birthdays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in August
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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nSeptembern holidays
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nSeptembern birthdays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in September
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