Once a year, in spring, the beautiful and fragile flower nymphs come out, dressed in white. They walk the streets of suburbia and throw around flower seeds in all the front yards of all the houses.

People enjoy and participate in the celebrations. The children are excited, because soon the honey bees will be presented.

There they are. The bee-priestesses present the swarms, who are safely kept in their bright wite, fashionably designhed bee-hives which rest on a high pole. Some bees circle the bee-hives, all adding to the excitement.

Here and there, the bee-hives-on-a-pole are planted in a garden, looking out over suburbia.

This is the ritual colonisation of suburbia by bee-colonies. Welcomed by everyone, because everyone is well-educated and knows about the catastrophic risks of colony collapse disorder (CCD), which threatens our food supplies.

Suburbia will now grow beautiful flowers, in a wild, random way, and have innocent, healthy bees enjoying this new biodiversity.

The bee-hives are hip and become landmarks in suburbia. They are in fact, fully automated machines, from which you can buy a pot of fresh honey. Put in your credit card, and some honey will flow out in a nice jar. (I'm designing this automated bee-hive, will open a new post on it).

Next spring, the flower nymphs come out again, to seed suburbia. The beehives are relocated, and a new cycle begins.

Some of the many healthy beehives will be used to help regional farmers pollinate their crops.

That's it.
-- django, Aug 13 2008

Hongerige bijen krijgen 'asiel' in Duitse steden [Transl: "Hunrgy bees get asylum in German cities"] http://www.hbvl.be/...-90A5-09D8B24B9453}
Dutch article: bees moved to cities, which are cleaner and healthier for them, - to prevent CCD. Based on the French experience and trials in Paris, where bees seem to survive much better than in the country-side. [django, Aug 18 2008]

How and why will you ensure fragility in your nymphs? Could robust flower caryatids play this game too? Could the whole thing be combined with maypole dancing and, if so, then should it? Will Morris men run around with pollen on their sticks?
-- pertinax, Aug 13 2008


//How and why will you ensure fragility in your nymphs? Could robust flower caryatids play this game too?//

Unfortunately, I cannot help you with this question.

Please call the Greek Mythological Entities Recruitment Agency - Department B: Lesser and Non-Divine Creatures - Section 4.A: Nymphs: Aulsonids and Auloniads.
-- django, Aug 13 2008


Just yes, but can i also be a transvestite flower nymph? Also, mason bee nests too would be good, as would vegetables and fruit in suburban streets.
-- nineteenthly, Aug 13 2008


//Welcomed by everyone, because everyone is well-educated and knows about the catastrophic risks of colony collapse disorder (CCD), which threatens our food supplies.//

A number of individuals I know will go into anaphylactic shock, and die if they are stung by even a single. I doubt that any amount of education will make them welcome bee hives anywhere near them.

I also suspect that the aforementioned CCD will make creating any new hives somewhat difficult.
-- ye_river_xiv, Aug 13 2008


ye_river_xiv, I just watched a documentary about the latest scientific insights on CCD. And apparently, urban bees thrive, whereas mass-cultured commercial bees who feed on monocultures don't.

One of the key reasons for CCD, is the lack of biodiversity (the comparison was made with feeding a human being on potatos only; many bee colonies are forced to feed on a single crop only).

Experiments with bee-hives in downtown Paris show that colonies there are much more resilient than rural bees - amazing but true.

Obviously, this is only one of the many possible factors at play.

--------

Will make sure that the bee-hives are only located amongst people who agree to it and who are not afraid of bees / allergic to them.

If necessary, will call on aid of Asclepius, God of Healing People & Animals too.
-- django, Aug 13 2008


Mason bees don't sting people. You just have to let go of the idea of getting hive products off them.
-- nineteenthly, Aug 13 2008


Honey from bees kept in the suburbs (where bees have a rich variety of flowers) also tastes far better than commercially produced honey (which tends to be derived from a single type of flower). If the bees are kept high up (like, on a flat roof) they never bother the neighbours either, because when they leave the hive they first fly up, not sideways.
-- hippo, Aug 14 2008


There's value in monofloral honey too though, for example manuka and thyme.
-- nineteenthly, Aug 14 2008


A coincidence: they just published an article about an increasing trend in Germany: moving hungry bees from the rural monocultural, pesticide- and insecticide-infested areas to urban environments, where flowering plants are abundant and clean.

Beekeepers all over Germany are doing this. How strange! [See link].
-- django, Aug 18 2008


That makes sense, but it wouldn't help pollinate food crops on most farms. However, it would help people growing food crops in their own gardens and allotments, and city farms.
-- nineteenthly, Aug 18 2008


It's a lovely idea, which will not be implemented until after the first large die off due to starvation when CCD interrupts our food source.
-- James Newton, Aug 18 2008


Bees and fairies, *and* something sweet to eat, (honey), all in the same idea...now there's a combination I just can't resist! *****
-- blissmiss, Aug 18 2008



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