June 2015

A Highway for Bees from Norway http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ I think this is such a terrific and fun initiative http://www.telegraph.co.uk BEE NEWS from FRANCE The Minister of Agriculture in France is calling for a label for French Honey http://www.lemonde.fr And here, the Prinicipality of Monaco is supporting Beekeeping. Installing hives and teaching beekeeping to school children https://www.facebook.com

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Celebrating Film

By the time you read this, the 68th Cannes Film Festival will have packed up its wares and the pantechnicons will be back on the road. The awards will have been handed out and celebrated at illustrious parties, Elton John will have hosted his annual Aids event, and the stars will be on planes flying…

Palmyra

Palmyra in Syria is a UNESCO World Heritage Centre. The news is reporting that ISIS has massacred children in this ancient capital. It brought back this memory that I felt compelled to share… Palmyra. What can one say? The despair I feel is overwhelming. I spent several days alone there when I was writing, researching…

It’s all good news!

It is the time of the Cannes Film Festival and we are enjoying days that are as sunny and warm as midsummer. It makes for a great atmosphere down along the promenade and on the beaches at Cannes. No raincoats over evening dresses, so far this year. No umbrellas to try and keep the coiffed…

May 2015

It seems that slowly, slowly governments are waking up to the dangers of the neonicotinoid pesticides. Let us hope they do not drag their feet for much longer. How many bees have you seen this spring? We have far fewer feeding at the farm. In spite of a tremendous display of cherry blossom we have…

STOP PRESS

I am a little late to the table with this due to a heavy workload this week, so sincere apologies. However, better late than not at all because I think it is exceedingly important to mark this moment in our fight for the safekeeping of the honeybee, for all pollinators and for the natural order…

April Newsletter

Hello! Are you glad Easter is behind you? Ours has been wet although yesterday morning it cleared up and the sun is now shining and promises to remain with us for at least another week. Fortunately, the two days of heavy rain have really irrigated the land. It was in dire need of it. We…

This is Homer

It has been a while since I have written a blog for this page and I apologise. Life seems to have overtaken me these last few months. Aside from my days of writing, I have been travelling, but a little less than usual. I have just returned from a short trip to Thessaloniki in northern…

March 2015

A very innovative way of creating awareness of honeybee loss: http://www.louismasai.com/#!outside-bees-2014/cnwh The Bee Cause. Dear Carol, Giant chemical company Bayer just tried to sue Friends of the Earth Germany over its claims that a pesticide called thiacloprid harms bees. They lost. The German judge ruled in Friends of the Earth Germany’s favour, saying that they had a right…

February 2015

Thank you Michael Sutton for this informative little film about honeybees: "Apis Mellifera: Honey Bee" a high-speed short from Michael N Sutton / @MNS1974 on Vimeo. I have signed this. Perhaps you would like to as well? http://action.foe.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=16305 It is good to hear that British urban bees are surviving and should point the way for…

On the train…

I  am writing this from the Eurostar on the way back to Paris. The France Show is over for another year, our Olive Farm lunch (anyone from the Olive Farm Facebook page who attends the France Show is welcome to join us for this annual event) is also behind us. Both were great fun. I…

January 2015

I have been sent this link by beekeeper in Devon, England. It looks like a terrific way to get in touch with bees and beekeeping and to support them. http://www.naturalbeekeepingtrust.org/ for those of you living in or near the Hudson Valley, New York, this looks like a terrific organisation. http://www.ulsterbees.org/Ulster_County_Beekeepers/Welcome.html

JE SUIS CHARLIE

I am writing this ahead of my regular blog date because I will be away on a work commitment and possibly without internet. Much could happen between today and the 26th… However… This month of January has been a tragic opening to the year of 2015. One of the murdered Charlie Hebdo team collaborated with…

December Newsletter

Dear friend, This will be the briefest of Newsletters and will not contain a great deal of news! I am intending to deliver my new novel later today or tomorrow so I am DEEP in the world of my ‘lost domain’. As you can see from the photograph, I have recently returned from a week…

December 2014

This one is a bit urgent. Deadline 22nd December to sign, Please USA, sign this. I have. Thank you. Friends of the Earth U.S. : Tell the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: suspend neonics now! We only have until December 22nd to comment and tell the EPA to protect bees, not chemical companies’ profits, and suspend…