Holliston localtownpages
Vol. 2 No. 7
Free to Every Home and Business Every Month
Good for Bees, Good for Humans, Too
By J.D. O’Gara
By J.D. O’Gara
It’s late spring or early summer. You see something moving, and you realize it’s a cluster of bees. They are swarming. Why do they do it, and what do you do?
These days, folks are wont to hear a lot of buzz phrases about going organic, buying local and doing things naturally and sustainably. A number of farms operate in Holliston, and we asked them just what they’re doing to preserve the environment while putting out a product people want to buy. Here’s what we found:
According to Tony Luleck, President of the nonprofit Norfolk County Beekeepers Association (NCBA), the last thing you should do is kill them.
Luleck says that swarming, which is not something to fear, is very common from about May 15 until July 15. According to the NCBA website, honeybee swarms can be
Outpost Farm found in trees, homes, barns or sheds. Honeybees, when swarming, are searching for a suitable place to build a hive. In the meantime, they will gather into a tight ball and form a temporary cluster virtually anywhere they can land, while they send out scouts to find a more permanent home.
“These days, a farmer has a lot of tools to choose from in his toolbox, says Adrian Collins, who owns Outpost Farm with Kevin Drake and Paula Hale. “You can choose the gamut. Whatever fits your growing needs.”
take wasps and yellow jackets for honeybees. Luleck says honeybees don’t usually take up residence in homes, but if it does happen, he says, “It is not advisable to kill honeybees at all.” In addition to considering the threat of colony collapse disorder
Luleck says bees get a bad rap. People commonly mis-
Postal Customer Local July 1, 2014
Local Farmers Do What They Can to Keep It Green
Bee Kind to the Bees Bee-Friendly Practices
“A natural thing that happens during the early summer is swarming,” says Luleck, who is also chair of the Holliston Agricultural Commission. “When that happens, the bees need to take up a residence somewhere. We get a lot of calls to catch swarms.”
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Collins says that he looks to computer models, counting and scouting for insects. “They’ll tell you when the winter moth is coming, when the fire blight is coming. You
Bee Friendly continued on page 4
Available Homes in Holliston
don’t have to waste all the money buying chemicals. It’s expensive. It’s not good for you. If you don’t need to spray, don’t spray.” Using the models, he says, saves time and is good for the checkbook. He says, for example, he could go into his cornfield and count three moths in a certain square footage, at which point it wouldn’t be worth spraying. “That’s not going to invade the entire farm.” He also notes that his farm never sprays when bees are out, as well. “Bees are a number one concern. We’ll never spray if there’s bees out. We don’t like to spray. We’ll only spray if we have to, early in the morning or late at night when the bees aren’t out pollinating.” As for fertilizer, Collins says, “We don’t like to use any synthetic fertilizer if we don’t have
Local Farmers continued on page 2
Ed and Doriane Daniels
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