Synopses & Reviews
The honey bee is a miracle. It is the cupid of the natural world. It pollinates crops; making plants bear fruit and helping farmers make money. But in this age of vast industrial agribusiness, never before has so much been asked of such a small wonder. And never before has its survival been so unclear-and the future of our food supply so acutely challenged.In steps John Miller, or rather in he bounds. Miller tasks himself with the care and safe transportation of billions of bees. He is descended from N.E. Miller, America's first migratory beekeeper, and trucks his hives from crop to crop, working the North Dakotan clover in summer and the Californian almonds in winter. He provides the crucial buzz to farmers who are otherwise bereft of natural pollinators, and does so for a price. But while there is steady demand for Miller's miracle workers, especially from the multi-billion-dollar almond industry (without bees an acre of almonds produces no more than 30 lbs of nuts; with bees, 2,000 lbs), he's faced with ever-mounting hive losses. In addition to traditional scourges like bears, wax moths, American foulbrood, tracheal mite, varroa mite, Africanized bees, overturned tractor trailers, bee thieves, PPB ("piss-poor beekeeping"), etc., beekeepers now lose hives in the most mysterious of ways, when whole colonies simply fly away, abandoning their combs, in an epidemic known as Colony Collapse Disorder.While bad news is in constant supply, Miller forges ahead because he can't imagine doing anything else. He copes and moves on. He works and sometimes triumphs, all with an inspiring sense of humor. The Beekeeper's Lament tells his story and that of his bees, creating a complex, moving, and unforgettable portrait of man in the new natural world.
Synopsis
The honey bee is a willing conscript, a working wonder, an unseen and crucial link in America's agricultural industry. But never before has its survival been so unclear—and the future of our food supply so acutely challenged.
Enter beekeeper John Miller, who trucks his hives around the country, bringing millions of bees to farmers otherwise bereft of natural pollinators. Even as the mysterious and deadly epidemic known as Colony Collapse Disorder devastates bee populations across the globe, Miller forges ahead with the determination and wry humor of a true homespun hero. The Beekeeper's Lament tells his story and that of his bees, making for a complex, moving, and unforgettable portrait of man in the new natural world.
Synopsis
An awarding-winning journalist tells the extraordinary story of John Miller, one of America's foremost migratory beekeepers, who, despite mysterious epidemics that threaten American honey populations--and the nation's agribusiness--forges on and moves ahead in a new natural world. Original. 40,000 first printing.
Table of Contents
Fast cars and big trucks -- Beekeeper's roulette -- The tiny leviathan -- Faustian bargains -- Trespasses -- Charismatic mini-fauna -- Survivor stock -- The human swarm -- Bittersweet bounty -- Next year, right?