Editor’s Note: What follows in an addendum to an the Editorial Page feature Why I Love Where I Live, published in the Tuesday Gazette.

Dr. Paul Goldstein did not get stung by a bee last summer. That’s unremarkable unless you account for the fact that he tried to catch every kind of bee on the Island, bagging some 10,000 samples.

A honeybee visits between 50 and 100 flowers during one collection flight from the hive. On its flight from blossom to blossom, honeybees transfer pollen from plant to plant, fertilizing the plants and enabling them to bear fruit.

But what if the fruits and vegetables we don’t even think twice about buying were no longer available? Due to a phenomenon called colony collapse disorder, disappearing bees means disappearing fruit is an increasing possibility.

Every morning since April 24, Paul Goldstein has set out 30 colored soufflé cups with soapy water in them, a technique called bee bowling.

Pollinators, start your engines!

I am hoping for a bounteous blueberry crop this year. Though only time will tell, we can get a hint as to what is to come by looking at the spring flowers that the blueberry bushes have started to produce.