Now that spring is finally arriving in the Upper Midwest, we are all gearing up to blaze out of our hives into our gardens and farmers markets. I only hope that the bees who jet out on their own spring forays make it home this year, or our gardens and markets may have less to offer than we hope for.

You may have heard last year that many honeybees leaving their hives on their way to flowers got lost on the way home. Beehives across the country turned up empty, and many crops went under-pollinated — reducing crop yield by a scary margin for many farmers. This phenomenon is called Colony Collapse Disorder (C.C.D.) and was witnessed from Maine to California and even abroad.

We don’t know why this is happening to bees, but here are some opportunities to do what you can to support the bees and farmers:

Plant a wide variety of native plants and flowers in your garden to provide bees with the right kind of nectar and pollen for your region throughout the warm months.

Shop at your farmers market or subscribe to a CSA. The Seward Co-op is hosting their CSA fair this weekend. This link also has a great list of links to local farmers to check out. I’m especially looking forward to the Midtown Farmers market opening on May 3.

And, of course, skip the chemicals in your lawn and garden care and avoid GMO’s everywhere. These are on the list of possible causes for C.C.D., but who needs an excuse to do this anyway?

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