What it is that Dr. Delaney does

Her name is Debbie Delaney and she is a Postdoctoral Research Student at NC State, meaning she is actually DOCTOR Debbie Delaney. Very cool.

Her research is on feral honey bees or wild/undomesticated honey bees. She is researching this in light of the honey bee health crisis known as Colony Collapse Disorder or CCD. She is hoping that after all of her data is collected that she will find something in the feral bees' genes that will help our domesticated honey bees overcome CCD.

Dr. Delaney has contacted many people all across the state, literally from the mountains to the coast, that know of wild or feral nests. She then trecks out to these places and gathers samples of both honey bees (with a SWEET bug net) and honey comb.

In the up coming winter months when the bees become very dormant and inactive outside the hive, Dr. Delaney will run tests on the collected bees' genes and the collected honey combs' chemical make up to determine if the feral bees have better, more robust genes and if the honey comb contains any pesticide or harmful residue.

She says that to help honey bees out we should allow a few weeds to grow, such as dandelions, something that honey bees love to forage. Also, when landscaping your yard, plant some yellow or blue flowers, colors that attract honey bees, because at the end of the day what it amounts to is this: honey bees feed us, so we need to feed them.

With out honey bees we wouldn't have the yeilds that we have and MUST have to feed our current population. Honey bees add 15 million dollars to our annual agricultural profit and more importantly they add nutrition to our diets to keep us healthy.

With out honey bees we wouldn't have almonds, watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumbers, squash, cherries, apples, blueberries, strawberries, oranges, etc.

Every 1 out of 3 bites of food you take is efforts produced from honey bees, whether directly [squash, watermelon, strawberries] or indirectly [steak, chicken, pig]. You may be wondering about the "indirectly" claim. I say indirectly because even though a honey bee does not pollinate Daisy the cow, the honey bee DOES pollinate the alfalfa, a major commodity for cattle feed, that Daisy eats. So the milk, meat, butter and cheese that comes from Daisy is in fact, thanks to the honey bee.

So if we are to loose our honey bees to CCD this is what we would live without:

>> 15 million dollars annually + all the jobs that went along with the farms that will fail.

>> all cucurbits: squash, watermelon, cantaloupe, honey dew, pumpkins.
>> many berries and anti-oxidant rich fruits such as blueberries, strawberries, oranges, kiwi, apples, pears.
>> Almonds, alfalfa, buckwheat.
>> a major reduction in: beef, poultry, pork.
>> a major reduction in their by-products: butter, milk, cheese, ice cream, eggs, etc.

So that means you could sit down to a meal with oatmeal, bread, water and turnips.

No jam for your bread. No butter for your oatmeal. Forget meat, it will be too expensive.

There will be tomatoes at least, bumble bees are responsible for tomatoes.

So, as you can see, Dr. Delaney's research is VERY important, not only for America and her Farmers but also for our health and quality of life.