What's the Buzz?

March 1st is the start of meteorological spring, and the recent warm weather has given us hints of what's to come.It was during a warm sunny day just a few days ago that I saw my first honeybee of the season! And I hope it won't be a rare occurrence. As most of you probably know, honeybees are still suffering from unexplained colony collapse disorder, putting at risk the pollination of roughly 30% of our crops.Soon everything will be blooming, including Washington's cherry trees (March 23-April 4 say current predictions). And while those cherry trees don't produce food for us, numerous orchards in the Washington foodshed do, along with many, many more crops that rely on bees for fertilization. Bees are an essential part of our food system, and without them we'd be in big trouble.I hope you will consider signing Slow Food USA's petition to help save the bees from colony collapse disorder.  It's a plea to the head of the EPA to make good on a promise to look into whether pesticides are an underlying cause. Our apian friends do so much for us. it's time to do something in return. Please check out the Slow Food USA's blog for more information.Oh, and the picture is from Flickr user Microecos used under a creative commons licence. The bee I saw was too busy to pose for pictures.