BEE Kind to BEES
Poster by Artist Hannah Rosengren. Click Image to Purchase.
My story today about Bees started with my sister, Lauri, sending me the wonderful poster above. We are beginning a Booneville Butterfly & Bee Sanctuary, so we can call it the BB&B Sanctuary. I have lots of flowers on my front porch and have just started getting them out into the yard. I had so many Marigolds last year, it was very beautiful and they are so easy to grow. They are edible, too, and I put them in everything! Each year (2.5 now) I have been here in this quiet little country "town" there seem to be less Butterflies and Bees. The sad part is there are fields that surround us and they do toxic spray chemicals on them. Our land is left natural and I have been cultivating more and more appreciation and understanding for the native plants and flowers. I am beginning to understand how to use them in my everyday life. Those that some call weeds.This year (2014) I am thinking of ways to help the Butterflies and Bees make a comeback. Looking for ways to create friendly helpful safe areas for them.
One way is by including more B&B flowers and plants. The poster above is an easy reference. When deciding which flowers and plants to include in seeding some of our property for the sanctuary, we started reading. I already had the book:
Attracting Native Pollinators:
Protecting North America’s Bees and Butterflies
Included in the book:
Pollinators and Pollination explains the value of pollinators, and includes informative chapters on the natural history and habitat needs of bees, butterflies, flies, beetles, and wasps.
Taking Action provides comprehensive information on ways to help pollinators and on creating nest sites and safe foraging areas. It includes guidance on conserving pollinators in all kinds of landscapes: gardens, natural areas, farms, recreation land, even ecoroofs.
Bees of North America provides help with identifying the more abundant and important bee species, and supplies detailed profiles of more than thirty commonly encountered genera.
Creating a Pollinator-Friendly Landscape shows how various kinds of land, including urban gardens, suburban parks, and farms, can be enhanced to support diverse pollinator populations. Sample planting designs and fifty pages of illustrated plant lists facilitate selection of the best plants for any region.
Be Careful of Invasive Species
One of the first things I read was a reminder to be aware of the kinds of plants and flowers you plant so you avoid propagating those species that are considered "invasive." There are lots of websites that will inform you more about your local area species and what kinds of plants that are native and more desirable. The invasive species propagate so intently they crowd out the natives and take over, like KUDZU. It is actually a wonderful edible plant, yet it takes over and smothers out many of the natural plants in any area it spreads through.
Plant a BEE Friendly Garden
Bees love Daisies, Zinnias & Sunflowers.
They love almost all BLUE – PURPLE & YELLOW Flowers.
SAGE, OREGANO, LAVENDAR, MINTS
Bee & Butterfly Friendly Edible Flowers
Last Year I grew Pineapple Sage for the first time. The Butterflies and Bees loved it and so did I. I tried to keep it alive this winter, though it got so cold so fast I am unsure if it will come back. It is in a big pot and I hope it does. It was a very talkative and loving plant. I plan to plant 2 of them in the back area, one of each side of the back stairs…. The little red trumpet looking flowers are sweet and edible and do taste and smell delicately like Pineapple. I liked them in salads and on everything. I had many edible flowers last year! I had so many Marigolds of so many colors, shapes and sizes I was in Heaven on Earth and just loved eating them in every way every day. I found out you can eat Begonia flowers… they are slightly sour and tasty like Clover! I had Johnny JumpUps or Violas and they are edible, too. These all attracted the B&Bs and Hummingbirds, too.
Build Thing to Help the BEES
I've been looking at ideas for making Bee friendly Boxes to help them out and give them places to nest. Besides they look really interesting and I might have fun making them. I like creating interesting artistic things and even better if I can use natural materials.
Here are a few ideas from simple to very complex to very artistic:
More Ideas and info.
I like the Bamboo one.
Here is a Bee Hotel, very artistic version!
Build a Mason BEE BOX.
Another Mason Bee Box
This is made from Wooden Pallets along with a BEE Box.
I love this photo of the Bee Laying Eggs in the Glass Bee Box:
Once you get the idea, your imagination can go wild! Have some fun with your kids or grandkids or inner kid! Stuudying the Bees, what they do for us, and how we might help them is a great way to help us all learn to respect and learn from them. It can BEE so simple to help out our friends! We really need them for our survival, so helping them helps us THRIVE!
If anyone has created anything like this,
send me a picture I can post and share what you have done!
Consious Bee Keeping
This photo is just as I saw it in Nature! I had to laugh… it still makes me happy to see them!
PhotoStory by Saleena Kí at Laulima
This looks like a very interesting perspective on Bee Keeping
We will soon have organic wildland honey for sale – all thanks to this book! This is the only book you need to start keeping bees for free, naturally, and without any stings or hassle whatsoever! We did just that and now have "free-range" bees living in amazing maintenance-free horizontal hives. You'll learn how to attract local bee swarms; have bees healthy, happy, and productive without any medicines or gimmickry; build simple hives that mimic how bees live in nature; harvest fabulous honey without robbing the bees; and much more. Exceptionally well illustrated (including dozens of detailed color photographs). You can now reverse the global bee decline right in your backyard! And this book shows you how!
Keeping Bees With a Smile by Fedor Lazutin
Natural Bee Keeping & Antifragility
Here is an interesting article for perspective: About Natural Bee Keeping and Antifragility that caught my attention. Even if you are not a Bee Keeper, the concept of Antifragility is a very interesting concept.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b9/Beehives_old_style_Serbia.jpg/640px-Beehives_old_style_Serbia.jpg
Where Did ALL the BEES Go?
Honey bees are the angels of agriculture, but they're disappearing at a startling rate in a mysterious phenomenon dubbed Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Since 2007, North American honey bees are literally disappearing without a trace. There are no massive dead bee bodies appearing in or around the hives—the bees are simply GONE, bewildering beekeepers and scientists alike. Dr. Mercola
Here is a very interesting perspective on Bees
and where they have gone… it is another possibility…
I like the idea that reality may bee different than we know now, I like that they may bee alive somewhere, I like that they may come back when we clean up the Environment enough to bee healthy for them again…
It’s funny, something happened to me that may be what they are talking about: I was on the porch last weekend. All day, it was warm and sunny and I was freshening up the plants and repotting and trimming and anticipating Spring… I walked over to set a plant on the shelf that had its new dirt and pot and suddenly a BEE sort of appeared out of nowhere. He was right in my face and we stared at each other in amazement. I ask him what he was doing here and where he came from? Since it had been so cold and was getting cold again? He shook himself, buzzed about then took off. I told him to be careful… and that I was so glad to see him or her!
BEE Stories
Did you see the film
Queen of the Sun follows inspiring characters from all around the globe, many of whom are beekeeping keeping bees using natural and biodynamic methods.
I loved the BEE Movie! It is a profound and amazing thought provoking piece.
Well done and funny and fun to watch. You can read more about my experience with my House Fairies at the
More Bee Stories
Disappearing Honeybees – Ellen Page
Save a BEE Save the WORLD!
I love BEES!
We NEED BEEs.
BEEs NEED our help.
What Would The Produce Section
Look Like Without Pollinators
BEEs are Really Amazing Beings
Bees can sense flowers' electric fields
Researchers in England have discovered that bees and plants are able to communicate via electric signals. Plants are typically charged negatively and emit weak electric fields; bees, on the other hand, obtain a positive charge as they move through the air. As a bee approaches a charged flower, a small electric force builds up that can transmit important information, the researchers found… Read more…
I hope this inspires you to do something positive to help the Butterflies & Bees which will help you and ALL of humanity and other Life, too. Maybee the Bees are gently nudging us from another dimension to clean up our act here so they can return! Whatever you do to help, I am grateful. Thank you!
BEE Wise, BEE Happy,
Saleena Kí
©2014 Joan Ov'Art, all rights reserved