An anecdote at the CF Intergalactic Headquarters :) was covered by a local newspaper -- Positive News.  --Bhoutik

What would you do if a colony of bees took up residence in a wall of your home? Harshida Mehta faced just that issue recently.

Harshida hosts "Wednesday" meditation in her home in Santa Clara, California on Wednesday nights. It was one thing for bees to swarm around her patio on and off for years when it was just her family at home, but with guests arriving on a regular basis, she and her husband finally decided something must be done. A little internet research showed that honeybee populations are disappearing at an alarming rate around the world.

Harshida read that no one knows why this is happening but a mysterious disorder called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) could even affect the availability of the food we eat.

But what to do? Harshida had learned long ago from her mother in Gujarat, India that every animal on the planet plays an important role. She knew that somehow the bees must be saved. Thus began the search for a natural way to collect the bees and help them keep their rightful place in the ecosystem.

Happily, word of mouth - and possibly some good karma - brought Lothar Schicker to Harshida's home. This elderly gentleman explained that the bees had probably come in through the roof and made their way into a wall through a tiny hole. Harshida was greatly relieved that, whereas all professional services offered only the option of eliminating the bees with chemicals, the beekeeper had a better solution.

Harshida watched as the beekeeper spent the next one and a half days carefully removing the bees from her home. He opened the wall up and then used suction technology to meticulously draw the bees into boxes, with a great dealt of patience and, as Harshida says, "a large dose of kindness."

Lothar drew out more than 20,000 bees, and gave them a new home.

Not long after, Harshida was able to greet her guests with a gift the bees gave back. Before giving the customary Wednesday night meditation opening, she addressed the group with the words, "In today's lemonade, you will taste the gift of honey ... from those very-local bees for whom this was home for many years."