Is canola bee heaven or hell?
Do you love it or hate it? Many environmentally-concerned people detest it as a genetically-engineered monoculture crop. Some people get hay fever from it. But canola (rapeseed) crops thrill me. Yes, I have to admit, it is the electric radioactive yellow. It makes me feel alive and energetic.
Bees are attracted to canola like an addict to crack cocaine. Canola blossoms in early spring and is one of the earliest floral species available to commercial honey bees in the Canberra region. The honey apparently tastes mustardy, since canola is a brassica species too.
If the conditions are not right, though, the bees can be so energised they get super-stressed out and die by striving too hard to feed their brood with the over-abundant pollen.
We've cultivated rapeseed for tens of thousands of years as cattle fodder and lamp oil, but in the 1970s Chinese scientists bred it without the human heart toxin erucic acid. Nowadays, it is a massive human food and biofuel oil crop.
I love to drive west of Canberra to take painting photos. It's a peaceful drive between Harden and Boorowa, popping in and out of the car to take shots, ending in an afternoon tea of scones and jam. This year, we are strictly locked down, so I will be painting from last year's photos.
