Today I stumbled across this article from March. Frankly, I am surprised this is the first I am hearing about it. Apparently, in addition to growing their own organic garden the Obamas are also harvesting their own honey from a hive of honeybees. Not only am I a big fan of honey (tastewise), but I think this is important because the world's honeybee population is inexplicably disappearing. I wish the Obamas' initiative was more publicized in order to bring more attention to this baffling problem. The disappearance of the honeybee is alarming because it is confounding scientists and also because they are excellent pollinators and many crops depend on them for survival. Click here to read an article from the New York Times about the disappearance of honeybees. Even Haagen-Dazs ice cream has started a "Help the Honey Bees" campaign. Their products are at risk without the world's best pollinators.
On a honeybee sidenote, there is a honey purveyor who sells his honey, produced right here in NYC, at farmers' markets around the city. He has also started an amazing non-profit called Bees Without Borders. This organization teaches beekeeping to people in impoverished countries so that they can become beekeepers and sell the honey for a profit. Honey is a better commodity than crops because it doesn't spoil. In a word, genius!
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