Why You Should Have Honey Bees in Your Garden

by: Gavin Prumatico

Honey bees are a very important pollinator in your garden! Without bees, we would not have a large crop of fruits and vegetables. Bees pollinate 1/3 of our food, isn’t that crazy! I personally have three honey bee hives and I am a certified beekeeper by the state. I keep them close to my garden and they pollinate my flowers, herbs, vegetables, citrus trees, etc.

Not only do honey bees provide a calming presence but they are very busy workers. Without a honey bee pollinating your plants you would have to give a chance for the wind to fertilize your vegetation. Wind pollination is very uncommon and only happens around 12% of the time. I myself am so glad I have my three hives because without them I would not have any vegetables. I would suggest getting two beehives because when you first start out something may go wrong with one of the hives. you still have the second hive you can use to help the first hive if something goes wrong.

As the honey bees cross-pollinate, your garden will end up with more flowers. This happens because pollination is needed in order for flowers to produce seeds. Bees are one of nature’s best pollinators! Can you believe one single flower pollinates 300 million flowers a day! That’s a lot of flowers!

Honey bees have been disappearing in large numbers for many years. Every year we lose about 30% of honey bees in the world. If you want to get into beekeeping I have to say that the beekeeping communities are the most helpful and kind people you will ever meet! I 100% recommend that you should become a beekeeper to these little fascinating creatures! I am not going to lie, beekeeping is an expensive hobby but it is completely worth it!

The first year of beekeeping is all about learning from your mistakes and getting a general understanding of the care of honey bees. The second-year is the year you get to collect your honey. The honey can not be harvested in the first year because they need it to survive the upcoming winter.  But when you do your daily checkups in the hive there may be some beeswax out of place. For example under one of the frames. Then you may harvest it to make products (lip balm, candles, and etc.) or you can harvest it and use it as decoration!

Last but not least honey bees are very friendly. They only sting when they feel very threatened! So make sure to be calm and they will usually reflect that behavior to you!

If you have any questions or concerns about anything please feel free to email me at 250223@northwarren.org! My name is Gavin Prumatico. Have a great rest of your day!

A Gob of Historical Significance

By: Nick Pollard

Throughout my various pilgrimages to the hallowed halls of the Catherine Dixon Hoffman Library, adjacent to our very own North Warren, I’d often find myself perusing the local history department. This almost morbid curiosity for anything historical has captured my general interest for some time now, slowly evolving into a somewhat obsession for anything obscure in nature. Beit traditional American History, to ancient civilizations, to even true-crime cases, I've always had this profound fascination with finding out why something happened and what changed because of it. 

One book that caught my eye, in particular, was from the American Bicentennial in 1976, which detailed up until then, fascinating stories about the history of Blairstown and many other miscellaneous side stories. Picking up that felt, faded-red book for the first time, I wasn’t expecting anything too profound. But as I kept reading, I was surprised to learn more and more about all these significant events just lost to the sands of time. The following issues of The Patriot Press will contain stories like the one I’m about to tell you, and continue until I either run out of material, or I’m finally run out of town. Whichever comes first…

North Warren’s always brought out strong opinions from the “well informed” locals. Most of them regard the constant flounderings by the administration, but even its presence seems to spark a controversial debate between townspeople. This isn’t a new thing by any means; flipping through that bicentennial book (past the five pages devoted to murders) to the section regarding the newly built high school revealed a myriad of information regarding the locals' then-feelings about North Warren. 

The multiple planning meetings open to the public only garnered a staggering twenty (or fewer) people in attendance, and the common consensus at the time was a mix of apathy and utter vexation. Many people didn’t like the idea of a bigger, more expensive school in their town, and others didn’t like the idea of a modern complex being built in historic Blairstown, on what was a family-owned farm nonetheless. Others simply didn’t really care or didn’t have much of an initiative to do anything, good or bad. 

Eventually, after much deliberation, the school opened its doors in 1971 with a student body composed of four local townships. After a while, the townspeople grew to accept North Warren as being a crucial part of the town, and many local alumni in the area say their time here was some of the best in their lives. In closing, it was an interesting subject to look into, given that public opinion now isn’t really in North Warren’s favor and many people would rather just go to Blair (it’s pretty easy, just have your mom work there or be a multimillionaire).

Finding Motivation in the Final Stretch of School

By Grace Pereira

    The long wind-down, the repetitive school days, and the never-ending workload becomes increasingly daunting as the year progresses. With school more than halfway over and summer only a couple months away, motivation may become difficult to obtain. Here are some ways to stay motivated and hardworking throughout the last months:

1. Make a to-do list: write all of your assignments down, so you stay organized. You can manage your time and put the amount of work into perspective. When you check each item off, you will feel more accomplished

2. Find free time to do something you enjoy after the work is done.

3. Participate in class so that you can become more engaged in school, and so your time in school does not drone on without meaning

4. Complete your homework early so you can focus on fun things. Do it right after school so you aren’t waiting for the last minute. Motivate yourself with a rewarding activity after.

5. Get enough sleep and eat healthily, so your body can also feel good during this time.

6. Keep a daily journal of the positive experiences of each day. Instead of focusing on negativity, you can make your days more meaningful.

7. Make a playlist of your favorite music to listen to while you do your homework.

8. Know you are not alone. Share your feelings with a close friend, and form a study group so you all can stay on task.

Although it may be difficult, don’t give up now. You have to focus on the end goal! If you successfully get through school for a little while longer, you can successfully get to summer without stress.