Editor's note: Kim Flottum is the editor of Bee Culture magazine.

That honeybees die is not new. And that beekeepers accept that on average 30% or more of their livestock will vanish each spring isn't new either. But when more than half of all the honeybees in this country die almost at once - that is new. And that's what happened this spring.

Scientists have given this disaster the catchy, all-inclusive name Colony Collapse Disorder. It describes symptoms, but not cause.
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Bees, bees, everywhere! 50,000 of them - on purpose.

Table 45 in the Cleveland InterContinental Hotel is nourishing a beehive on top of their building in an effort to eat more locally-grown food.
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While you're frying up some eggs and bacon, we're cooking up something else: a way to celebrate today's food holiday.

September is National Honey Month.

Fun fact: to make one pound of honey, a honeybee needs to tap 2 million flowers. No wonder they’re called worker bees.

Honey has been around since before the dawn of humanity, but we’ve been relying on it to sweeten our food and drink since we caught on. Some of the earliest references to honey can be found in paintings on cave walls in Spain and Greece.
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After some pressure from the online home brewing community that included a petition on the White House website and a Freedom of Information Act request, the Obama administration gave in Saturday and released its homemade beer recipe.

In a post on the White House Blog, head chef Sam Kass posted the recipes for two beers brewed on the grounds of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the White House Honey Ale and Honey Porter. Both beers are made using honey harvested from the White House bee hive.

Read - White House releases much-anticipated beer recipe on CNN Political Ticker and see Sam Kass' full post on the White House blog

Previously - Inside the White House garden: a conversation with White House chef Sam Kass

Cassandra Lawson admits that beekeeping wasn't popular and was considered "a little eccentric" when she first started.

"Most people thought that it was weird," the Decatur, Georgia, beekeeping teacher says. "Why would you want bees and you live in the middle of a city?"

But Lawson's not the only one fascinated with bees these days. Interest in beekeeping, or apiculture, has been on the rise in the United States.

Kim Flottum, editor of Bee Culture Magazine, estimates about 150,000 noncommercial beekeepers are in the United States – up from 110,000 in 2008.

Read the full story on CNN's Light Years blog: "Backyard beekeeping creates buzz"

Most of the honey sold in chain stores across the country doesn't meet international quality standards for the sweet stuff, according to a Food Safety News analysis released this week.

One of the nation's leading melissopalynologists analyzed more than 60 jugs, jars and plastic bears of honey in 10 states and the District of Columbia for pollen content, Food Safety News said. He found that pollen was frequently filtered out of products labeled "honey."
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The sounds of Gotham: a shriek of a siren; the blare of a taxi horn; the screech of the subway car; the buzzing of a bee in your ear?

The cacophony that reflects the many moving parts of New York City has gotten a bit louder recently with the re-emergence of urban beekeeping. Since March 2010, man-made hives have been taking roost on rooftops, balconies and gardens throughout the five boroughs. Additionally, local honey stands have become a staple in the many farmers markets that pop up throughout the city.

“There has never been urban beekeeping in New York at this level. The exponential growth, it’s unparalleled," says Andrew Coté, Founding Director of the New York City Beekeepers Association.

This is all happening after an 11 year ban on beekeeping was finally lifted. "That period is what us beekeepers called 'the bitter years,'" says Coté.
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Previously - Honey laundering and a hive in peril, In praise of urban honey and Backward beekeeping

See more small business success stories from Morning Express with Robin Meade

Watch the Green Solutions in Focus: Eatocracy Edition hour-long special hosted by Tom Foreman on Saturday, April 23rd at 3pm ET and see all Earth Day coverage at eatocracy.com/infocus

Read the full story: "Rescuers try to save bees from devastation"

Previously - In praise of urban honey
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"It's very important to feel the bees," says this glove-free British beekeeper. He swears by tactility and terroir as key influences on honey's flavor variances from block to block on rooftops all around London.

Previously - Honey laundering and a hive in peril