Author Archives: Roger Gosden
Waxworms make Holey Shopping Bags
A shameless boast, I take fewer than a dozen plastic shopping bags home from the grocery store each year (a trillion are manufactured). Discarded in garbage for burial in landfill, this non-compostable stuff awaits a post-Homo sapiens archeologist who learns … Continue reading
Posted in beekeeping, biodegrading plastic, Environment, Wax moths
Tagged beekeeping, Galleria mellonella, plastic biodegradation, Wax moths, waxworms
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What Hatidze Knows
A woman in a desolate corner of North Macedonia claimed to be the last wild beekeeper in Europe made a splash at the Oscars. Her story told in Honeyland took three years to produce on a slim budget and was … Continue reading
Posted in Bee-line, Environment
Tagged bee hive, beekeeper, Bekirlija, Hatidze Muratova, North Macedonia, Oscars
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Clean Water Matters
When we turn on a faucet we assume the water is safe to drink. It’s not a safe assumption in many countries, of course, but regarded here as an unwritten right and safeguarded by public officials (Ahem, what about Flint, … Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Health
Tagged Elk River, PFAS, pollution, Ralph Waldo Emerson, WV legislature
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The Dawn Chorus—Requiem for a Birder
The last hour of the night seems darkest after tossing and turning to wake from strange dreams with a pounding heart. But there is a spell that can cast off the pall if we listen at an open window in … Continue reading
Posted in Animalia, Environment, nature
Tagged Brown flicker, Carolina wren, Northern cardinal, Pileated woodpecker
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My Neighbor's Maple Syrup Sugar Shack
There’s a family I know in the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia that has made maple syrup for over a century. As they are now short-handed of youngsters leaving for city work and the retainers get older and frailer, I … Continue reading
Roger musing about Peace with Nature 