Some people decide to become beekeepers solely for the honey, but my reason for being a beekeeper is more about the fact that beekeepers can help save the honey bee pollinators by caring for honey bees in our own backyards.
Once we started beekeeping nine years ago, my perspective on honey bees started to change. Beekeeping for me is no longer all about harvesting the honey (although that’s an added bonus!)
It’s about helping the pollinators and saving the honey bees, one little buzzing bee at a time.
Learning the Importance of Honey Bee Pollinators
It is amazing how my relationship with bees has changed now that we have honey bees.
Before, I would notice honey bees in my gardens. But I didn’t truly understand their importance and role in the world of pollinators or how important honey bees were in our environment.
Once I watched the movie “Queen of the Sun” a few years ago, my perspective on honey bees drastically changed.
I now feel so honored to have two bee hives of honey bees on our property. I feel proud to be a part of the movement to save the honey bees as a beekeeper.
In this list of 10 Ways to Save the Bees, we are doing 9 out of the 10 ideas! (The only one we haven’t done is #9)
The Joys of Being a Beekeeper and Helping to Save the Honey Bees
When I walk around our property in the spring and summer, I see honey bees everywhere: on the dandelions, the lilacs, the flower gardens, the wildflowers and the blossoming fruit trees.
When we sit on our back porch, the lilac bush nearby buzzes with the song of hundreds of honey bees. It makes my heart sing to hear this!
Standing in our little orchard or near the box elder trees we tap for syrup, you can hear an even louder chorus of honey bees buzzing as they flit from blossom to blossom.
I clearly remember a spring day early in our backyard beekeeping adventures. I went outside to harvest dandelion flowers to make an infused oil for homemade dandelion salve. There were honey bees buzzing around in the dandelions.
I started to feel a bit guilty about harvesting some dandelions since the bees were so active there. My husband pointed out that our property had no shortage of dandelions so it was likely not a problem for the bees.
Now I make sure we don’t harvest dandelions to make dandelion muffins , dandelion pancakes, dandelion rhubarb pie or dandelion syrup tea and jelly until there is an abundance of forage for the honey bees.
Before we started beekeeping, I never would have thought about that. Sure, I would have noticed the honey bees, but I wouldn’t have given a thought to harvesting some of their spring food source.
Raising the Next Generation of Beekeepers to Help Save the Honey Bees
When our kids were really young, every time time one of them saw or heard a honey bee they pointed it out and watched in awe as the bee collected pollen from the flower.
When we first started beekeeping, our oldest child was only two years old. Even when she was that little, she was dreaming of the day she was big enough to wear a bee keeping suit so she could go out to the bee hives and start her hands-on learning as a beekeeper.
Now our children both have little beekeeping suits and love to come out to the bee hives with me.
It’s so fun having them along, they’re like little beekeeper apprentices learning the art of backyard beekeeping and helping the pollinators, one honey bee at a time!
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