Luther Burbank - Bees - and Häagen-Dazs

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“If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.”
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Albert Einstein ~
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(Above Photos Copyright - Sept. 23, 2008 - Sabina DeShazo )
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I visited the Luther Burbank Home and Gardens yesterday, and took a few pictures. The famed horticulturist made his home in Santa Rosa -- about 2 miles from my house -- for more than fifty years. There were honey bees buzzing all over the place, and it got me thinking about their recent disappearance from hives all across the United States and beyond.
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Bees are responsible for pollinating plants that provide much of our food; in North America it is believed that 30% of food for human consumption originates from plants pollinated by bees. Honeybees are generally thought of as the most common pollinator, and they are the most widely studied, but bumblebees are the chief pollinators of red clover, alfalfa, field beans, peas, runner beans, tomatoes and in some areas cotton, raspberries, apple, plum blossom, sunflowers, strawberries, currants brambles, etc.
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There's a really cute site over at Häagen-Dazs all about bees. You can even design your own bee (mine is above) and send it out via email. Häagen-Dazs is helping to fund Honey Bee research since they use all-natural ingredients in their products, and have many bee-dependent flavors.
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