#SaveTheBees this Earth Day
Hello gorgeous green girls aka eco-friendly Queen #Bees of your home,
Do you know that one out of every three bites of food that we take is because of all the work that honey #bees do? Incredible, isn’t it? As we pick out shiny red tomatoes, the freshest of the seasonal produce and nutrient-dense grains to whip up a delicious meal for our families, we can pause for a moment and offer up thanks to the little #honeybees, without whom we wouldn’t have this abundant supply of food.
Even if we plant the seeds or the farmer grows the grains, it is the industrious honey bees that pollinate plants and help them thrive. It’s not just #honey that the bees provide us, but fresh food buzzing with nutrients and an environment abuzz with creatures of all kinds.
But what do we do in return? We swat the first #bee we see buzzing past. We destroy hives that we see on ledges or hedges around us. We’re quick to steal the honey they produce, but just as swift to kill entire colonies of bees.
Today, on our 50th #EarthDay, let’s do what Google is doing - celebrate one of the smallest, busiest creatures on the planet - the honey bee! In fact, let’s do more than celebrate - let’s create more bee-friendly conditions around our homes and help our eco systems thrive.
And no, it’s not too much of work. It doesn’t take much to make our surroundings and gardens #beefriendly. Here are some simple things we can do to create a safe and happy environment for honey bees:
Grow bee-friendly plants and herbs. Mint, marigold, poppies, zinnia, oregano, nasturtium, sunflowers, black-eyed Susans, borage, pansy and lavender are some of the herbs and flowers that honey bees enjoy. If you stay in an apartment and just have a small porch or a window sill, grow them in pots and grow bags. Check out this article about growing bee-friendly gardens.
Put out some water for the bees. After hours of foraging for nectar, bees look for water to quench their thirst with. Put out a shallow dish with pebbles and twigs breaking the surface of the water, so bees can land on them and drink with ease.
Stop using weed killers and pesticides. Ditch the harmful, chemical versions and use homemade natural pesticides instead. The chemical pesticides and insecticides also end up killing the helper insects.
Offer shelter to bees. You can buy an urban bee hive and learn about bee keeping to help more bees thrive. I love how the Mumbai Balcony Gardener has a profusion of plants and she keeps bees in her small apartment balcony.
Bee more informed. Get onto Dr. Google and research about bees and how they impact our environment and how to save bees. A lot of this fear about bees stems from ignorance. Just because an insect has a sting doesn’t mean its out to harm us! Let’s create awareness programs about saving bees and start with educating our kids about the impact bees have on the Earth. Read this interview with India's Bee Man and how he is spreading "bee awareness".
Buy local, raw honey. The processed honey that we get from stores, mellow and golden in their branded jars, are stripped out of nutrients and the healing properties of raw honey. One of the best ways to enjoy the benefits of honey and promote safe bee keeping practices is to buy raw honey from bee keepers in and around your locality, who practice ethical bee keeping and offer raw honey to their customers.
Hope this little post has given you a few ideas about how to #SaveTheBees.
Stay well and Bee-well.
Chandana :)
P.S. Share this post with your gorgeous green friends & help us spread the word about #ecofriendly + #simpleliving. Thanks.
#beefriendlygardens #savethebees #beeconservation #honeybees #rawhoney #buylocal #savetheearth #50thEarthDay
