Ah, it is springtime again; all the farmers are breaking out their almanacs to check for the appropriate day to plant various vegetables so we can have something fresh to eat. Grass begins to grow in our yards, along the highways and fence rows and under power lines. It won’t be long before those in charge of these various areas get out their bottles of pesticides with multiple assortments of weed killers to dispose of these unwanted green plants that unwittingly provide us with beauty as well as oxygen.

As a standing rule, I do not cut grass in the month of March. Some would probably call this being lazy, while others might actually understand the benefit of allowing the nature’s green to flourish unabated if only for a few short weeks. Even after preparing the lawn mower for a new season of exhaustive work, my father would instruct his laborer to steer clear of the clover within the yard. This practice gave the clover an opportunity to flower, producing nectar and eventually seed. The nectar produced by this clover fed honeybees and other winged organisms responsible for pollinating the multitudes of angiosperms throughout the area.

Recently, the CBS news magazine “Sixty Minutes” broadcast an episode dealing with the demise of honeybees. For decades as the farming of various fruits and vegetables grew into a big business encompassing hundreds and thousands of acres rather than small patches of ground, the bee handling business grew in astronomical proportions as well. Until recently these agricultural growth industries flourished supporting each other as they their expanded. However with the advent of certain types of pesticides and herbicides to rid golf courses and farms of various pests, a life-threatening problem has emerged.

It appears a new variety of these kinds of “killers” nicatinoids, while reportedly less toxic to birds and mammals, may be causing problems for honeybees. The bees are becoming lost, permanently leaving their hives, never to return. This unwanted result from exposure to nicatinoids is only suspected and mostly by the honeybee keepers themselves. However, it is widely thought that these new chemicals work by making insects forget such things as where they live and how to feed.

This problem is one that has numerous scientists, farmers and beekeepers alarmed not only for their own well-being but for the continuity of our food supply. It could cause severe food shortages.

So it might behoove us all, as we move into spring, to allow green things to grow. And once we determine to cut or otherwise remove some of them, we might consider purchasing a goat.

James R. Brown, born and raised in Autauga County, has been an educator since 1992. He currently teaches at Autaugaville High School.