This is a deeper dive into carpenter bee ecology, supplemented by first-hand observations and my own speculations. We look at native flowering cycles in the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains, remember the American chestnut, and consider the resources for climate change offered by such a widely adaptable generalist pollinator as the carpenter bee. More deeply, we acknowledge the transformative power in relating with a bee-ing for its own sake.

READ POST/TRANSCRIPT: https://www.katymorikawa.com/borer-bees-iii-carpenter-bee-as-native-pollinator/

REERENCES/LINKS:

Podcast with entomologist: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7ytRKlFyXS6EcoDSJV6uy7

American chestnut. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:42, May 30, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=American_chestnut&oldid=1088371741

The Lord of the Forest: the American Chestnut. Retrieved from Our State https://www.ourstate.com/american-chestnut/

Photo of Loggers in a Great Smoky Mountains forest (standing among giant American chestnut trees) https://www.katymorikawa.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Loggers-in-a-Great-Smoky-Mountain-chestnut-tree-forest.jpg

Moissett, B. (March 4, 2013). Pollinators of the American Chestnut. Retrieved May 30, 2022 from Pollinators http://pollinators.blogspot.com/2013/03/pollinators-of-american-chestnut.html

Robinia pseudoacacia. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:42, May 30, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robinia_pseudoacacia&oldid=1089479918

Natural Range of the American Chestnut Tree. Retrieved May 30, 2022 from The American Chestnut Foundation https://acf.org/the-american-chestnut/native-range-map/.

Natural distribution map for Robinia pseudoacacia, black locust. By Elbert L. Little, Jr., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Robinia_pseudoacacia_distribution_map.png

Monofloral honey. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 02:42, May 30, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Monofloral_honey&oldid=1062933894

At the end of Consider the Borer Bee (Episode 24), now a few weekends ago, Michael and I built some cute bee houses for my friend and for our own house, inspired by the veritable plethora of DIY YouTube videos and Amazon products for housing solitary bees. The idea behind these houses is that you can deter borer bees from your wood siding by providing ready-made housing which they prefer over the far greater effort involved in drilling their own. This is the story of our saga to charm our carpenter bees into the bee house. Spoiler alert: We succeeded, and experienced a multitude of tiny joys along the way.

READ THE POST/TRANSCRIPT: https://www.katymorikawa.com/borer-bees-ii-the-carpenter-bee-house-saga

Let’s face it, most of us, most of the time, assume insects are simply too tiny and primitive to interact with in any meaningful way except to objectify as pest, mindless bug, or at best, ecological agent (e.g., pollinator, predator, or even food). After working with bees and wasps, I’m convinced there is so much more to them, and I have updates on my carpenter bee saga to share in the next few posts. But here, I want to look at age-old attitudes toward insects and their surprising lack of representation even among indigenous wisdom traditions where you would expect to find them.

READ POST/TRANSCRIPT: https://www.katymorikawa.com/the-least-of-these-our-insect-teachers/

REFERENCES:

Borer bees can be the bane of homeowners with wood siding and other exterior wood. Accordingly, a multi-million dollar industry has arisen around killing and deterring them. But I discovered this month there is much more at stake, as I tried to get a group of borer bees to move using the method I shared in my last post, "Talking to the Bees." The stakes, I came to see, have to do with our relationship with native species. This shocking insight led me to discover the relatively smaller but well-established industry of adorable bee houses which reflect a growing realization about the importance of native pollinators.

READ POST/TRANSCRIPT: https://www.katymorikawa.com/consider-the-borer-bee/

LINKS: Our bee houses: https://www.katymorikawa.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IMG_9565.jpeg 

“Bee Basics: An Introduction to Our Native Bees,” by Beatriz Moisset, Ph.D. and Stephen Buchmann, Ph.D. with USDA Forest Service https://efotg.sc.egov.usda.gov/references/public/SC/Bee_Basics_North_American_Bee_ID.pdf

Quite by accident, I discovered that I can relocate the nests of bees, wasps, and hornets through mental communication alone. I'm sharing the backstory and the method for any who would like to try it. It offers an effective and miraculous way to approach so-called dangerous pests, as well as a doorway into a richer relationship with the non-human natural world.

READ POST/TRANSCRIPT: https://www.katymorikawa.com/talking-to-the-bees/

LINKS: Spikenard Honeybee Sanctuary https://spikenardfarm.org/

This is a how-to for working with anxiety. It looks at anxiety as essentially a kind of indecision, and offers ways to identify the components of that indecision and for breaking the impasse.

READ POST/TRANSCRIPT: https://www.katymorikawa.com/how-to-unlock-and-defuse-your-anxiety

In the midst of a mini-breakdown, I pulled on a strategy used in war and business alike: turning a breakdown into an opportunity. I decided to explore the anxiety that was flaring up during my little breakdown, discovered a whole new way to understand it, and defused it in minutes! The How-To on that follows in the next post, Episode 22 on the podcast.

READ POST/TRANSCRIPT: https://www.katymorikawa.com/turning-a-breakdown-into-an-opportunity

This is an excerpt from Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson. It's the kind of passage that's just filled with gems of insight: a parable inside of a novel. You could dismiss them as just that, but if you really need them, they're the kinds of words that can save and change your life. Spoiler alert: This reveals some plot points that remain largely a mystery through the first 3 books of The Stormlight Archive.

READ POST/TRANSCRIPT: https://www.katymorikawa.com/words-of-wisdom-from-nohadon/

Reference: Sanderson, Brandon. Oathbringer, Book 3 of The Stormlight Archive.

Focusing on what is right in front of you is a strategy for all times and seasons. We'll look at both pragmatic perspectives and master teachings around this strategy. Then we'll explore ways to apply it to your everyday life that don't require intensive mindfulness disciplines to unlock the miracle of the present.

READ POST/TRANSCRIPT: https://www.katymorikawa.com/focus-on-what-is-right-in-front-of-you

Passage quoted from Green, G. (2011). Love Without End: Jesus Speaks. Fideli Publishing and Spiritis Publishing. Smashwords ebook edition, p. 73-74.

One of my favorite resources for managing anxiety, depression, frustration, or boredom is to tap the reservoir of joy that seems to dwell beneath the shallower currents of my daily cares. This is a wonderful resource that I want to share here, a resource for wild and uncertain times like these, as well as for times of peace. In this post I will share some background principles and then steps for accessing your own reservoir of joy. 

READ POST/TRANSCRIPT: https://www.katymorikawa.com/tapping-the-reservoir-of-joy 

INSPIRATION:  

Daniélou, Alain. (1991). The myths and gods of India: The classic work on Hindu polytheism. Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions. 

J. R. R. Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings. 

Joe Dispenza's Becoming Supernatural and Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself. 

"The Body Compass," a coaching tool shared with me by Larkin Goff. Listen on Spotify or find it wherever you get your podcasts: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1VjH6ZUOEDaWjqmKrHNq9h