I recently met someone working in apiculture, and he told me if you find wild bee nests on your farm, it means the air is very pure! I was very happy to hear that! These are rock bees (Apis dorsata), and they have a ferocious temper and can be quite aggressive. Domestication is impossible as they have a nomadic habitat, shifting the nests regularly.

I used to be afraid of them and, in the past, smoked them out. Over the last few years, we have had two huge nests, and I recognized that they are part of an intricate balance in our food forest. They, too, have their place. From an anthropocentric point of view, they are dangerous, and we can’t even harvest their honey. From Fukuoka’s perspective, we can’t begin to understand what they bring to our ecosystem.