Monday, March 14, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
BEE-ing
What a treat to have Brandon Pollard, co-founder of Texas Honeybee Guild at The Legacy Performance Center last night!
Brandon was drafted by the MLS in 1996, right out of college, coming to Dallas to play for the Burn. He was at the Atlanta Olympics. He retired from soccer early: perhaps because he began to have close encounters with bees in his apartment. For days on end, one summer, they started to swarm into his open kitchen window! These experiences were not menacing. Rather, Brandon took it as a sign to which he was supposed to pay attention.
So, ten years ago, he became a Bee Wrangler!
His knowledge is phenomenal and his passion makes you want to sign up for an Adopt-A-Hive program, praying you will pass the vetting process and have the privilege of a hive to tend and watch over.
As an Urban Beekeeper, Brandon, his wife Susan, and all other urban beekeepers face a real challenge as they care for and rescue hives in a city environment. Sometimes, the safest place to tend a hive is on a rooftop somewhere. One of the roofs with the most cache is the Rose Garden on top of The Fairmount Hotel in downtown Dallas. Every week, Brandon and Susan can be seen ministering to the Fairmount Bees! For Brandon, this is such a juxtaposition of sensations: hearing the noisy traffic below, being dwarfed by the skyscrapers all around him, and reveling in the utter peace and beauty of a rose garden filled with his charges.
The more I learn about these miracles of Nature's engineering, the more I love bees! Truly, this critter that only lives for 40 days is a marvel of work ethic coupled with the aesthetic of a remarkable adaptation and co-existence with the environment.
In a Chinese experiment, it took 50 workers to pollinate what one bee would normally do and in less the time! One bee, living those short 40 days, spends her entire life making only 1/12th teaspoon of honey! Bees fly three to five miles from the hive in search of pollen to bring back! Bees can detach their wings during winter cold snaps, while tensing their muscles as a means of generating heat for the brood! Honeycombs within the hive are of different dimensions and the Queen uses her front four legs to measure each comb so she will know whether to lay a drone (male) egg or a worker (female) egg in each! She is able to lay a fertilized egg for either sex based upon the size of the empty comb! After sex with a Queen, the drones' insides rupture and they die instantly! After stinging someone, a bee disembowels itself when it pulls the stinger out of the person, thereby giving its life to save the hive if it is in danger! Bees communicate by doing a "waggle dance", which tells the others where the nectar is located!
Bees are for modern times what the canary was in the coal mines decades ago. They have much to tell us, but I fear we are not listening...GMOs, chemical treatment of soil and crops, pesticides...if it isn't good for the hive, it is not good for the people who benefit from the work the hive does on our behalf. Over 90 species of food crops depend upon the honeybee for pollination. Let's not wait to act until the shelves of our food stores are empty.
For more information on Brandon Pollard and the work he does email
texashoneybeeguild@yahoo.com
214-826-8696
Texas Honeybee Guild
Susan and Brandon Pollard
Urban Beewranglers
Bee Rescue and Relocation
Educational Outreach
Community Gardens
BEEscapes
Zip Code Honey may be purchased at Dallas Farmer's Market Friday-Sunday
"Instead of dirt and poison, we have chosen to fill our hives with honey and wax: thus furnishing mankind with the two noblest of things, which are sweetness and light."
Jonathan Swift
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
IT IS NEVER TO LATE TO FORMULATE A PLAN
You can call them New Year's Resolutions...your Wish List...a Dream Board...the Vision Journal...any creative name you can come up with.
Bottom line: we are talking about Goal Setting.
And it is an art.
The good news is that goal setting is an art that can be taught. The even better news is that it is never too late to begin to acquire this skill. It will change your life.
Goals are ambitions, aims you have...a result you wish to achieve. There are many types of goals: those that relate to us only...those that encompass at least one other person, who might be a spouse or life partner, a business partner, our children or parent(s)...and those that deal with a small group of people, our community or a more global audience.
It is possible to be working on I-We-All goals at the same time. Regardless of the type of goal, setting goals involves consideration of safety and security, rhythm to your life, your sense of self or ego, health, work, relationships and play.
In addition, you need to know a little bit about yourself. Are you a great starter who flags towards the end of a project? Are you best in the middle of a task? Are you a great finisher, charging hard toward the finish line? Being clear on this will help you structure how you are going to accomplish the goal(s) you set for yourself.
Be realistic about the energy you have and the resources available to you when you design your plan for achievement. You need to know what tools are at your beck and call, what your skill-sets are, how the brain actually works and what meme systems might be running that could affect your success.
Clarity, motivation, planning and and the ability to adjust are crucial elements in goal setting and goal completion.
Make no mistake; if you are not emotionally invested in achieving the goal you set, no plan will be enough. You must have a passion for what you are trying to accomplish, even if the goal itself sounds mundane.
Visualize your goal...see the image: feel it, taste it, savor it as something already accomplished.
Write your goals down. There is a visceral component between pen in hand and words on a paper that no amount of typing into a computer can match. This amounts to a commitment you are making with yourself, a giving voice to what it is you want. Carry your list of goals with you and refer to it on a daily basis. This emphasizes the importance you place on what you say you want.
Solution-based thinking enables you to create a plan or a 'program design', if you will, outlining the steps in the process of bringing your goal to fruition. Often, adjustments need to be made. Life happens and you need to be ready for the possibility that the original plan will require tweaking in order to accomplish what you set out to do. You may also find that the goal you set cannot be achieved within the time frame as originally thought: enter Plan B.
Know that you don't have to go it alone.
Engage in group discussions, create an accountability partner, have a team to go to for support and help, share your goals with others. Having a cadre of people who want you to succeed and are generous with their time and ideas is a beautiful experience, not only for you as the recipient of this largesse, but for those from whom you receive help. You just might be allowing them to achieve one of their goals by asking for their support!
As we look to end one year and usher in a new one, take this time to dedicate yourself to yourself. It's not difficult. It is simply a matter of knowing how to start, how to hang in, and how to finish!
At The Legacy Center, Scott teaches a course in Goal Writing as a part of our Legacy Lifestyle Series. Check our calendar for the next Creative Problem-Solving Seminar to be offered.
Happy New Year...Happy New You!
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