This little bee is so important to our lives. Most do not even give it a thought as to where our food comes from. This bee is collecting pollen to take back to the hive. They pollinate fruit trees, and that is so much right there. We seem to be losing more and more bees everyday. WOW! As nature lovers, we need to be more diligent in protecting our bees from local pesticides, farming pesticides and what they spray on our roadsides.
Eugene sprayed the linden trees in the city and killed so many bees. They were everywhere, dead bees, every where you looked. I cried. Why did that have to happen in the first place? Negligence. Not asking questions. This coming year, I am getting my own bee hives. I want to do my part, plus have the honey that bees produce. Raw honey is so much better for us than sugar. You can infuse honey with many different herbs, creating some wonderful honey. Here in Eugene we have Glory Bee Foods. They have everything you need to have your own bees, classes, live bees, bee suits, beeswax molds, beeswax, honey jars/lids, hives and so much more. They also have ingredients and containers for making your own body products. If you live locally, it is easy to go to their storefront. If you don't live locally, you can order online.
ⁿRenowned entomologist Marla Spivak, puts it: Anyone who cares about the health of the planet, for now and for generations to come, needs to answer this wake-up call.…Fewer bees lead to lower availability and potentially higher prices of fruit and vegetables. Fewer bees mean no almonds, less coffee and less alfalfa hay available to feed dairy cows.…We need good, clean food, and so do our pollinators. If bees do not have enough to eat, we won’t have enough to eat. Dying bees scream a message to us that they cannot survive in our current agricultural and urban environments…
Here at our little farm, we have wonderful berries of all kinds. I am growing bee balm everywhere in my yard to give the bees a wonderful plant to feed from. The hummers favorite plant to eat from also. The butterfly bush is another plant in our gardens that attract the butterflies, the hummers and the bees. We allow the herbs to flower so the bees will have tons to pollinate in our gardens. We have chickens now so all our food waste goes to them whether it is from the house or garden, they don't care. They love to see us coming. I so enjoy their ability to be friendly and they talk to me and come running when I start talking to them. I think I digressed. This is about the bees.
The bees also like the myriad of medicinal plants and herbs planted all over the yard. If you are in need of any of the plants in my yard here in the Eugene, OR area, just let me know. Spring is when I see the most starts coming up and just call me if you are interested in any plant starts. I usually put on Craig's list that I am giving away medicinal plants and herbs. I am thinking about making use of the fact people will be at my home for me to talk about herbs to. I am thinking of giving away an eBook on the medicinal plants i am giving away. Plants like St. John's wort, soap wort, lemon balm, lady's mantle, marshmallow, mother wort, lovage, butterfly bushes in baby size, mints, strawberries and that is all I can remember for now.
ⁿFrom an article online