The Story of Cajun Fiddler Honey

Ann Vidrine, a Louisiana local Cajun fiddler for the last 20 years, has joined the growing ranks of urban beekeepers. After Katrina downsized her fiddling career significantly by blowing away the touring riverboat industry on the Mississippi River, she looked around for a supplemental income source and found instead a new love and passion ... raising urban honeybees. She provides water and floral sources for the bees, as does the urban garden next door and the well-flowered yards in her subdivision.

Urban bee colonies such as Ann's have proven to be just as healthy and  just as productive as rural bee colonies. Combating CCD (colony collapse disorder) and helping the struggle against disappearing natural pollinators are strong incentives for more and more people to dart into the nearest telephone booth and come out with their beekeeping suits on. While the cause (and cure) for CCD is still a mystery, Ann's approach is to build a stronger bee naturally (without using poisons to kill hive pests) and to let the stronger bees survive to reproduce. Large beekeepers often find this method less than economical. But it's Ann's opinion that what she looses in not using pesticides she makes up for in not stressing her bees in large-scale moves to pollinate fields.