That line came from a favorite song of my dad's - Sixteen Tons by Merle Travis - and it was that song which came to me after preparing syrup to help my bees grow stronger for this coming winter.
My bees, along with many hives in my area this year, had a terrible time of it. Little brood, lack of food, rainy spring - along with a host of reasons why they didn't do well from the local folks. Yet, just like Merle Travis wrote that song for the miners who kept canaries as their signal for the air quality in the mines, I do believe the bees are our signal that things are not good.
And yes, each day we ignore the earth, blazing on with drilling oil, fracking and the like and all the while digging ourselves and our children deeper in debt. A chilling line from the song is, "I owe my soul to the company store." Do we owe our souls to the companies who cut through preserved land for oil, for the politicians who turn deaf ears to the scientists' heeds of global warming, and for the ever mighty stock dollar that must grow despite the tell-tale signs we all see each day?
I know the outlook for my bees this year is not good. I will feed them, wrap them, and watch the hive as the winter bears down upon us, hoping they will survive but knowing they probably won't. Then, in the Spring, when hope is budding and the birds are singing, I will start all over again with a new hive, new bees, a new Queen and a renewed sense of hope. Hope this year they will do better and hope that we are, indeed, not too deep in debt that Mother Earth can't find someway to forgive us.
Enjoy Sixteen Tons here
My bees, along with many hives in my area this year, had a terrible time of it. Little brood, lack of food, rainy spring - along with a host of reasons why they didn't do well from the local folks. Yet, just like Merle Travis wrote that song for the miners who kept canaries as their signal for the air quality in the mines, I do believe the bees are our signal that things are not good.
And yes, each day we ignore the earth, blazing on with drilling oil, fracking and the like and all the while digging ourselves and our children deeper in debt. A chilling line from the song is, "I owe my soul to the company store." Do we owe our souls to the companies who cut through preserved land for oil, for the politicians who turn deaf ears to the scientists' heeds of global warming, and for the ever mighty stock dollar that must grow despite the tell-tale signs we all see each day?
I know the outlook for my bees this year is not good. I will feed them, wrap them, and watch the hive as the winter bears down upon us, hoping they will survive but knowing they probably won't. Then, in the Spring, when hope is budding and the birds are singing, I will start all over again with a new hive, new bees, a new Queen and a renewed sense of hope. Hope this year they will do better and hope that we are, indeed, not too deep in debt that Mother Earth can't find someway to forgive us.
Enjoy Sixteen Tons here
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