World Bee Day

Did you know a single bee can produce 1 tablespoon of honey in its lifetime? ⁠

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World Bee Day is the 20th of May each year. The main purpose of World Bee Day is to spread awareness of the significance of bees and other pollinators for our survival. ⁠

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So most of us know we need bees and they are important to our ecosystem. But do we know why? Well, there are many reasons! 3 of the major reasons are below (info gathered from worldbeeday.org.au)... ⁠

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Food security: Bees are important to our livelihood as they help to pollinate most of the crops we eat and many that feed farm animals. ⁠

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Biodiversity: Some species of plant can only be pollinated by a particular species of bee. In the absence of pollination, the plant species cannot reproduce so if that bee species dies, so too will the plant.⁠

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Ecosystem health: Maintaining plant diversity supports other essential ecosystem services including helping to regulate climate, purify air and water, build soil and recycle nutrients.⁠

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Bee populations are under threat. Destruction of their natural habitat, intensive farming practices, and pests and diseases are just some of the complex reasons driving a decline in both the number and diversity of bees.⁠

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Without bees, Australia's ecosystem, biodiversity and food sources are at risk. Ok, so know we know how important they are, what can we do to help? ⁠Below are a few ideas!

• Plant bee friendly flowering plants and herbs. Make sure to purchase your seeds from an organic⁠ supplier to ensure they have not been cultivated or dipped in poisonous Neonicotinoids which are toxic to bees.⁠
• Provide drinking water for bees in your garden, a small container or dish with stones for landing on. ⁠
• If you can, become a bee keeper⁠ (the dream, although not always possible!)
• Build a native bee house for your garden⁠
• Buy local raw honey. Find out where 
• Donate to a charity supporting bees e.g. @wheenbeefoundation @beedayau ⁠

You can see more ideas here.