Well, yes that is the goal. Where it all began... a brief introduction into our Breeding for Resistance program began, in case any one is interested.

Are you at all concerned about what's on the food you put on your plate? Is the produce from the supermarket being sprayed with something that will easily rinse off? Or is it safe to eat without a special veggie wash? What about what's in your honey? Are the bees that we rely on going to be able to continue to pollinate our crops and survive without any harmful chemicals getting our food chain? What about the chemicals I began to read about that beekeepers were forced to use while attempting to kill the bad bugs on our good bugs"? (meaning Varroa Mites) Where does it end?

If you answered, "Yes, I'm concerned also", I appreciate and share your feelings, not only about the overall health and well being of our honey bees, but also our own personal health and that of our family, friends and for generations to come. 

Those wild bees can be dangerous, but fairly safe when dressed appropriately. They were also a bit challenging at times to keep. With all of the Africanized bees in our region, I had to change out several queens to keep them from being a risk to the community where I lived, and also the deaths by stinging that occur just by removing a hive top is nuts. Two pair of gloves were  not always enough to keep from getting stung. Many were excessively bad news, but not all of them were as hard core aggressive. 

So, I began to study the "feral bees" a bit more and kept an eye on the ones that survived the first winter without mite treatments. Some of these had perhaps never been treated for mites, at least not before I came along and relocated them from the trees, walls, sheds, etc. into my bee hives, so I wanted to see how they continued without help. 

All this started to continue the path of avoiding chemicals, not only in my diet, but also to try to understand how to deal with the mites that are one of the main problems in the hives in this modern era of beekeeping. Then I became aware that three of the top five chemicals found in beeswax is from the non-organic Miticides used over the last 30+ years. So something has to change sooner rather than later.