Bee Aware of National Honey Bee Day

Bee keeping is fun, rewarding and great for the environment. National Honey Bee Day is a fantastic time to honour bees and beekeepers, who are doing their part for plant and animal life on this planet. This August 18th, it’s time to get on board and bee aware of all that these little pollinators do for us. The buzz is that taking care of bees is important for our future on Earth – so if you are not yet on the bee bandwagon – this awareness day is the perfect time to get on board.   

Bees are an important pollinator – helping plants to form fruits and to reproduce – there is a reason why they call it ‘the birds and the bees’… Anyway, National Honey Bee Day is the perfect time to learn more about these helpful creatures, and to do your bit to help protect them from the dramatic decline in numbers that they are currently experiencing.  

What Could I Do For National Honey Bee Day?  

You may be wondering how you can get involved. The good news is that there are plenty of ways that you can do your bit for honey bees. Here are just a few suggestions for activities or actions that you could consider this August: 

Become a Bee Keeper 

Considering keeping honey bees? If you want to learn more about beekeeping, your local beekeeping association could be a good place to start.   

Sponsor a Hive  

If you cannot keep your own bees, how about sponsoring a hive? As a business or an individual, you could help others to keep our honey bee population healthy.   

Buy Some Healthy, Ethical Raw Honey 

Buying some raw honey is another way to help keep beekeepers doing the good work that they do. If you care about honey bees then buying some ethical raw honey is a good place to start doing some good. Bonus – it is healthy and tastes great too!  

Advocate for the Bees  

You could also do your bit for bees this National Bee Day by getting involved in the political side of protecting our bees. You could sign a petition calling for tighter regulations on the harmful pesticides and herbicides that kill bees, ask the council to plant areas of wild flowers, or send an email to your MP to ask them what they are doing to protect our pollinators.  

Make Your Garden More Bee-Friendly  

Large or small, you can make your garden into a haven for bees. Creating a more bee-friendly garden is easier than you might imagine ! Click here to find out more on how to make your garden more bee-friendly. Make sure that you garden organically and don’t use any polluting chemicals that harm honey bees and other pollinators. This National Bee Day you could also:  

• Forgo mowing the lawn – leave wildflowers to flourish. 
• Plant or sow some cottage garden flowers that bees will love. (Try to provide blooms that will provide nectar for bees all year round.) 
• Make sure there is a water source for bees in your garden. (A garden pond with a shallow, pebble beach area at one side is ideal – the pebbles in shallow water will allow bees to get water safely.) 
• Buy or make a ‘bee hotel’ for solitary bees to make their home. 

These are just some of the things you could do this National Bee Day to help protect the bees. How will you bee helping?