Help the Honey Bees

Did you know that human life could not exist without pollinators?  

Pollinators, including honey bees, bumble bees, ants, mosquitos and many more, pollinate so many things that we eat on a daily basis. Some of these things are

• apples
• mangos 
• kiwi 
• strawberries 
• coffee 
• onions 
• avocados 
• green beans 

 If we lose the honey bee, we will lose all these foods listed and more.

     You can do a few simple things to help save the honey bee!  Planting pollinator friendly flowers in your yard not only gives our honey bee friends some food, but also gives your home a little extra curb appeal!  
     If you're feeling a little ambitious, do some research, learn about beekeeping, and set up your own hives!  It's actually not as scary as you'd think.  Our bees at my house are pretty chill when we go to check on them and most of the time we don't even use a hive smoker.  The bees can take care of themselves for the most part.  All we really need to do is provide the hive boxes and comb frames, maybe treat them for mites (there is some debate about this), and make sure they have enough room to store all the honey they are making.  Then twice a year we invite a couple friends over and have a honey collecting party! We provide the beverages and we all spin our honey out of the comb and have a great time.  And of course they day is not done until we have all had our fill of fresh honey!

     There are a few perks to having your own bees.  If you have them in your yard or even in your neighborhood the flowers and fruit in your yard will increase noticeably!  We noticed the year after we got bees that our flowers came up exceptionally full all around our yard and even in the neighbors' yards!
     You can learn so much about pollination and what keeps our world spinning and your kids and/or family members will love learning about it too.
     And of course the obvious perk of all the honey you could ever need!  You could make every meal with honey in it for the rest of the year, or you could give it away as gifts, sell it at your local market, set up your own farm stand or just word of mouth like we do.

Here a couple links to help you get started!

beginningbeekeeping.com

thespruce.com

Good luck future bee keepers! And have fun!