Bees & Dinosaurs & Mummies & You
That's a wild headline, one that initially made us chuckle. As part of our 2019 Advent calendar, we asked our friends at Nearbees if they'd be interested in contributing a short guest post and telling us and our readers a little about bees, or rather, honey bees. After all, they're the experts in the field. To our delight, they were very keen and sent us this wonderful article, which we're happy to publish on our blog . A big thank you to nearBees , and we hope you enjoy reading it!
"Bees & Dinos & Mummies & You
That's a wild headline, but it hits the nail on the head. Because (honey) bees are important. They have been for a long time and will continue to be so. But you've probably heard that things aren't going so well for bees at the moment. And perhaps you've wondered what you can do as an individual. Our nearBees team works every day on practical solutions that benefit bees, nature, and people.
Bee & Human: a (never)ending love story
Before we turn to the here and now, let's take a look at the beginnings of a very special love story. Bees have been around for quite a long time. Their origins are thought to date back to the first half of the Cretaceous period (roughly 100 million years ago, when the dinosaurs died out!). And for a long, really long time, humans have known how delicious and beneficial honey is. Even our ancestors in the Stone Age stole honey from wild bees to attract bears, among other things. The good old Egyptians were the first to keep bees specifically for honey production. Not just for eating, however, but also to embalm their deceased with it (along with wax and propolis). This makes them honey mummies, which sounds kind of cute...Never change a winning team
Humans and bees have been a winning team for about 6,000 years, and that's why it should stay that way for the next thousand. And that brings us back to the title at the beginning of this article. Things haven't been looking so rosy for our shared future for some time now: Bees, like all other living creatures, need a place to live and sufficient food. But through agricultural changes and ever-expanding cities, we are taking precisely that away from them. This is a really big problem. Because without bees, pollination stops; without pollination, nothing grows – and if nothing grows, things don't look good for us...
So what to do?
What's needed to prevent this from happening? How can you help?
You need...
- Many happy bees,
- Beekeeper,
- Honey and
- You.
These plants are real bee magnets:
- Bearded Iris: creates a loud buzzing in the garden – all day long!
- Heather: blooms in spring and can therefore be extremely useful for providing pollen all year round.
- Native wildflower mix : cornflower, poppy , marigold , borage - flowers love all of these!
- Autumn sneezeweed: blooms until October in a beautiful sunny yellow.
- Kitchen herbs: Rosemary , thyme , chives , oregano , and many more aren't just delicious for us humans. Kitchen herbs bloom throughout the year and attract busy bees.
- Nasturtium : super uncomplicated, lots of beautiful flowers and you can use the leaves for salads or the flowers to decorate dishes.
- Lavender : the scent of the purple flowers is not only captivating for us, but also attracts swarms of bees.
- Sunflowers: Sunflowers are rich in pollen and nectar and bloom until autumn.
- Bush basil: a robust herb that blooms for a long time and attracts bees.
- Hyssop: Also known as bee herb, this plant blooms beautifully, is easy to care for, and rich in pollen.
Oh yes, one more thing:
Of course, we've also brought something for the City Gardener Advent Calendar: You can win a €10 voucher for the nearBees online shop. This way, you can order honey directly from your region. So, open this door now and get into the draw.
