After four years of rigorous lab testing and trials at our home apiary, we debuted the Everbee Protect™ Pilot Program in the summer of 2023! Collaborating with beekeepers across the US, we gained insights on the use of Everbee Protect™ treatment powder against Varroa mite in various conditions and climates.
The primary goal of the Everbee Protect™ Pilot Program is to gather data from beekeepers in diverse regions across the US, spanning coastal regions such as Oregon and Florida to the heartlands of Oklahoma and Missouri.
Running from May to November 2023, beekeepers applied Everbee Protect™ to their brood boxes bi-monthly, reporting observations and conducting monthly mite checks. Testing Everbee Protect™ in 26 hives, we accessed its efficacy in different environments with varying mite counts.
Witnessing a reduction in mite counts across the board, including one hive boasting a mite count of zero, shows that Everbee Protect™ can successfully dislodge a significant number of mites! Even in highly-infected hives, the treatment reduced the mite count to a manageable level.
Two beekeepers were so thrilled with the early-stage results that they extended their testing to additional hives later in the program. Additionally, reports indicated several deceased small hive beetles in the tray residue at the hive bottom, suggesting an extra benefit for beekeepers managing these pests.
Building on these promising results, we're thrilled to announce the 2024 Everebee Protect™ Pilot Program season. If you're a beekeeper or know someone who would love to participate, applications close on March 31st, 2024.
Milled to the size of pollen to ensure it does not interfere with the bees’ breathing, Everbee Protect™ is composed of two food-grade, certified organic ingredients—carnauba wax and lemongrass essential oil. The powder is a precise formulation of essential oil suspended in ground carnauba wax.
The beekeepers who participated in our Pilot Program are helping us fine-tune the treatment so that we can protect honey bees for generations to come. Your participation is a testament to the positive change we can achieve, together.
Apply for the 2024 Everbee Protect™ Pilot Program!
]]>Being green this Christmas doesn’t make you a party pooper. No one wants to celebrate with the eco-righteous cousin who makes family members feel ashamed for buying plastic toys wrapped in metallic paper.
That’s why the first step in our Eco-friendly Christmas Day Guide is radical acceptance of your loved ones’ non-eco ways…
Life is short and Christmas is just one day. If your family is not aligned with your eco-conscious lifestyle, accept their choice. Place your focus on how you can incite fun and connect with your family.
Gift your loved ones sustainable products like zero-waste vegan lip balm or buy from companies that plant a tree with each purchase like Everbee's One Tree Planted project. For a curious learner, gift a nature experience such as an urban beekeeping workshop.
Over the Christmas period, the USA alone generates approximately 5 million tons of waste. Here are some fun alternatives to store-bought wrapping paper:>
Evade the trap of commercial decorations by bringing nature indoors to create a festive, sustainable and seasonal vibe.
The cost of electricity goes beyond the utility bill. Electricity drains natural resources.
If you’ve been enjoying a real tree in your home over the holidays, consider chipping the tree.
Many communities offer free tree chipping services to provide mulch for municipal landscaping or at low cost to gardeners. You may want mulch for your own shrub beds and garden pathways.
Christmas is a time for slowing down, enjoying family and gratitude. This may be an opportune time to begin a family tradition of giving back to the earth. Check out these ideas:
A peaceful walk through nature on Christmas day will be remembered and valued more than the score of the football game. Plan your walk before the holiday meal while everyone still has energy.
Take your binoculars, a field guide to local birds, and a small writing pad for each participant as you walk through a course through your neighborhood, park or countryside. Try to identify and count every bird you see. At the end of the hike, list the species seen and number of birds per species.
For warmer winter climates, planting a small tree enriches the giver, offsets the ‘taking’ of a Christmas tree and acknowledges nature as the source of our well being.
Place seed bells, pine cones with peanut butter, and seed trays on any tree in your yard, preferably a tree in the open where cats can be seen easily by the birds. This is a great activity for kids, and provides a food source for birds during the winter.
We hope these ideas not only inspired you to make your Christmas day more earth-friendly, but more joy-filled for your whole family.
Here at Perpetual Pollen, we are passionate about saving the bees and leaving the earth better than how we found it, but that doesn’t mean we are perfect. It means we are getting better one day at a time.
Rather than feeling defeated by the hyper-consumerism of Christmas, we hope you will join us in embracing the holiday spirit of health, joy and peace.
Highly concentrated compounds derived from plants, essential oils have powerful benefits to your growing garden. They repel pests, fend off disease and attract our favorite pollinators like bees and butterflies.
Standard garden pest controls contain synthetic chemicals that are toxic to the health of humans and the planet. By using essential oils in your garden, you prevent harmful chemicals from infiltrating your garden and you create a safe environment to grow herbs or veggies for you and your loved ones.
Plants produce essential oils to protect themselves from a variety of microbes, fungi or bacteria that may threaten their survival. So why not leverage nature's intelligence and use essential oils to nurture your garden?
Rosemary works wonderfully to repel many pests and their larvae including flies, fleas, and mosquitoes, while attracting beautiful butterflies.
How to use it: Place a few drops on a pot or around plants to keep bugs from chewing the leaves of your plants.
Lucky for us, many annoying garden pests like aphids, flies, beetles and spiders despise peppermint!
How to use it: Place a few drops around the edge of your garden. To keep spiders and ants out of your house, place drops around the baseboards or cupboards.
Not only does the sweet herbal scent of basil repel pests, basil essential oil helps boost plant growth.
How to use it: Combine 10 drops of basil essential oil in a 4-ounce glass spray bottle of water to mist veggies such as tomatoes, beans, broccoli, peppers, and potatoes.
Tea tree is the best essential oil to combat fungus assaulting your plants.
How to use it: Make a spray mist of 10 drops of tea tree essential oil in a 4-ounce glass spray bottle of water to mist affected plants. Spray the stems more so than the leaves, as tea tree can cause the plants to be more sun-sensitive.
Another butterfly favorite, lavender essential oil also attracts bees.
How to use it: Add 1-2 drops on a cotton ball and place it in pots or in the garden to attract both beautiful and buzzy pollinators.
The clean and sweet aroma also draws in both bees and butterflies.
How to use it: You can make a blend of rosemary oil, lavender oil, orange oil in a spray bottle or combine a few drops of each on cotton balls.
Use lemongrass to control fleas, mosquitoes, ticks, chiggers and beetles.
How to use it: Place a few drops around the edge of your garden or on your plants’ pots.
The warm and earthy aroma of Cedarwood is great for repelling slugs, snails, roaches and moths.
How to use it: Place a few drops around your garden or on pots.
Cinnamon and clove are powerhouse essential oils for removing weeds.
How to use it: Fill a large glass pump spray bottle with distilled white vinegar, a squirt of Castile soap and 12 drops of cinnamon and/or clove essential oils. Shake, pump up and then spray (only) on the weeds
Water your plants with a nourishing garden tea. Use your choice of essential oil, adding 8 drops in two cups of hot water. Allow the tea to cool. Dilute this at the rate of 1/4 cup added to one gallon of water. Shake and water your garden as usual.
Whether you garden to relax, grow your own food, admire nature, or all of the above, using essential oils in your garden is a simple way to make a positive impact on your garden, your community, and our pollinators.
And bees aren’t the only ones enjoying the aromas. Watch your passion for gardening amplify with the scents of essential oils in the air!
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Join the club. According to a 2018 national survey, nearly 70% of Americans worry about climate change with around 51% feeling “helpless.”
Here at Perpetual Pollen, we felt this way when we started to learn about the dangers facing honey bees, leading to the creation of Everbee to save bees from their greatest threat.
What is eco-anxiety?
Defined as “the chronic fear of environmental doom”, eco-anxiety is a modern phenomenon fueled by our awareness of climate change and nonstop doomsday media headlines. Living in a society obsessed with data consumption, it can feel impossible to escape the stress of the climate crisis.
The Cost of Climate Worry
With the uncertainty of the planet’s future weighing heavy on our minds, it’s all too easy to live in a constant state of low-grade stress that interferes with our well being. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) recognizes climate change awareness as a growing threat to mental health.
Healthy Humans, Healthy Planet
We can’t change the earth if we don’t change ourselves in the process. The beauty of tending to our own well being is that we become a stronger resource for our families, communities, and our planet.
Below are ways to make positive changes in your life to avoid the eco-anxiety trap and remain a mighty force for climate justice.
1. Connect with Nature
You care about Mother Nature, so make it your job to celebrate her daily. Turn away from the screen and immerse yourself in nature.
Whether it’s a walk in the park, watching the sunset, planting herbs in your garden, or camping in the wilderness, find ways to breathe fresh air and feel the sunshine on your skin. You can bring nature indoors by adorning your space with plants, diffusing essential oils, or sprouting seeds in your kitchen.
Simply being with nature calms your nervous system, lightens your mood, and reminds you that nature is alive and resilient.
2. Take Small Steps
Being 100% sustainable is not possible, yet. Eco-influencers can make us feel inadequate for not having a zero-waste home, vegan lifestyle or sustainable wardrobe.
Everyone starts somewhere, so do what’s possible for you. Reflect on the changes you’ve already made, instead of comparing yourself to others.
3. Take your Power Back
The best antidote to feeling despair is taking action! It doesn’t matter how big or small, your actions make you better, inspire others, and build a healthier world.
Choose ways to make an impact that align with your lifestyle. Here are a few ideas:
4. Raise your Resilience
Being proactive about your wellness and anticipating problems in life will help build your reserve when tough days arise. Being prepared boosts your confidence in your ability to overcome stress and anxiety.
Here are some ways to boost self-resiliency:
5. Move your Body
Regular exercise reduces most types of anxiety. Don’t overthink it. Find something you enjoy and make it a non-negotiable part of your life. Maybe it’s walking, running, dancing, cycling, hiking, gardening, fitness classes, yoga, swimming… or something else!
6. Know When to Disengage
We are deeply influenced by our culture and social media, no matter how much we think we aren’t. Our cultural climate is polarizing and congested with information that may or may not be accurate, trustworthy or helpful.
If you start to feel overwhelmed in your quest to stay informed — pause, unplug, and breathe. “Knowing more” is not worth the stress, and not necessarily helping the planet either.
7. Find your People
Humans are wired for connection. We thrive in a supportive community of people with a shared purpose.
Be intentional when you join a new community. Take time to observe their dynamics to ensure you are joining a community that embraces positive ethos, rather than a group of people that just blame and complain.
Follow your curiosity. Are you passionate about empowering the next generation of climate justice leaders? Maybe sustainable fashion is your jam. Or, you might be obsessed with saving the bees like us!
8. Stand Behind Sustainable Brands
Amplify your impact and peace of mind by supporting brands that align with your values. Check out their transparency, sustainable practices and eco-partnerships to feel confident in their integrity.
Saving the Bees, Sustainably
Our commitment to saving the bees doesn’t leave much space for eco-anxiety. We focus on taking action by empowering anyone with a backyard to protect honey bees.
Join us in saving the bees!
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As communities continue to improve their recycling programs, it’s important to have a clear understanding of the various recycling symbols. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires recycled content to be clearly identified on any product and packaging. For example, just because your water bottle is recycled, doesn't mean the cap is too.
Let’s break down a few everyday emblems that are universal to most areas in the US.
Recyclable Symbol
The three chasing arrows, known as the recyclable symbol, indicates the item is capable of being recycled, or will be accepted in all recycling collection systems. However, it doesn't necessarily mean that the product contains reclaimed materials.
Recycled Symbol
When the arrows are enclosed in a circle, the item is made with recycled materials, but take care to note what is repurposed—the packaging, lid or cap, or product itself.
Compostable
The seedling icon means the item can be composted. More items may be compostable than you might think. In fact, it is preferable to compost biodegradable plastic, because it may not degrade properly in landfills that are deprived of oxygen.
This symbol is often used to mark products certified as compostable by the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI). Check BPI’s list of certified compostable products as some compostable products may not have the symbol.
Glass Recycles
This symbol encourages you to recycle glass containers in a bottle bank (remember to separate different coloured glass). Alternatively, use your glass household recycling collection service if your local council has one.
Plastic Resin Codes
These codes identify the type of plastic used. The number in the middle (ranging from one to seven) identifies the specific category and proper disposal method based on the Resin Identification Code scale.
Not all communities will accept each number, so check with your center before discarding. The higher the number, the less common the plastic, and more difficult to reuse.
Plastic Recycling Symbol #1: PET or PETE
PET or PETE (polyethylene terephthalate) is the most common plastic for single-use bottled beverages because it's inexpensive, lightweight and easy to recycle. It poses a low risk of leaching breakdown products.
PET is found in soft drinks, water, beer bottles; mouthwash bottles; peanut butter containers; salad dressing and vegetable oil containers.
Plastic Recycling Symbol #2: HDPE
HDPE (high density polyethylene) is a versatile plastic with many uses, especially when it comes to packaging. With a low risk of leaching, HDPE is found in milk jugs; juice bottles; bleach, detergent and other household cleaner bottles; shampoo bottles; some trash and shopping bags; motor oil bottles; butter and yogurt tubs; cereal box liners.
Plastic Recycling Symbol #3: PVC or V
PVC (polyvinyl chloride) and V (vinyl) is tough and weathers well, so it's commonly used for things like piping, windows, siding and wire jacketing. PVC is also cheap, so it's found in plenty of products and packaging. Because chlorine is part of PVC, it can result in the release of dangerous dioxins during manufacturing. Never burn PVC because it releases toxins.
Plastic Recycling Symbol #4: LDPE
LDPE (low density polyethylene) is a flexible plastic with many applications. Historically, it hasn't been accepted through most American recycling programs, but more communities are starting to accept it. LDPE is found in squeezable bottles; bread, frozen food, dry cleaning and shopping bags; tote bags and furniture.
Plastic Recycling Symbols #5: PP
With a high melting point, PP (polypropylene) is often chosen for containers that will hold hot liquid. Found in some yogurt containers, syrup and medicine bottles, caps, and straws, it's gradually becoming more accepted by recyclers.
Plastic Recycling Symbol #6: PS
PS (polystyrene) can be made into rigid or foam products such as disposable plates and cups, meat trays, egg cartons, carry-out containers, aspirin bottles, and compact disc cases. Most notably, it’s used in the trademark Styrofoam. PS contains possible carcinogens and that can leach into foods. Notoriously difficult to recycle, most places still don't accept it in foam because it's mostly air.
Plastic Recycling Symbol #7: Miscellaneous
A wide variety of plastic resins that don't fit into the previous categories are lumped into this one. Polycarbonate is a #7 plastic that has worried consumers after studies have shown it contains BPA, a known hormone disruptor. PLA (polylactic acid) — carbon neutral and made from plants — also falls into this category.
Items can include 3 and 5-gallon water bottles, bullet-proof materials, sunglasses, DVDs, iPod and computer cases, signs and displays, certain food containers, and nylon.
Best Practices for Recycling
Local Guidelines
When in doubt about whether to recycle, reuse or compost a particular item, be sure to contact your local sanitation department or visit Earth911.com for more information on what products can be recycled, and how to recycle them, in your area.Support Eco-conscious Brands
Here at Perpetual Pollen, we empower people to save their local bees, and we proudly align with like-minded organizations who take action towards a better world.
From our recycled packaging and carbon neutral business model to our pure ingredients and partnerships with nature-friendly charities like One Tree Planted — we believe that sustainable business is the only way forward.
Together, our small choices make a big impact.
]]>A wide range of native garden plants encourage healthy insect communities including our favorite pollinators, the honey bees. A variety of Insects are key to a healthy garden. They break down organic matter, control pests, and keep birds well fed. When birds are thriving, they help fertilize the soil, reduce weeds, and spread the seeds of native plants.
As caretakers of our home garden, the gift of native plants is low maintenance care with high rewards. Not only do indigenous plants remain vibrant year-round, they are non-invasive and preserve biodiversity in your region.
Choosing Native Plants that Bees Love
Luckily, bees aren’t very hard to please when it comes to flowers. But we’ve got some tips to make your garden irresistible to bees.
Perennial plants live for three or more growing seasons, while annuals sprout, flower and expire all in the same year.
Perennials are less work than annuals because they grow back each year from roots that go dormant in the winter. Although they can bloom every year, perennials invest more energy into their roots. Annuals have a shorter lifespan, but they grow quickly and yield vivid colors that bloom all season long.
Below, you’ll find our top picks for bee-friendly plants native to the major regions of the US.
Common harebell: Although whimsical in appearance, the harebell is resilient. The bell shaped blue-violet flowers are an easy-to-grow perennial that blooms in mid-summer to early autumn.
Yarrow: With flat-topped clusters of white, With flat-topped clusters of white, fragrant flowers, yarrow grows to 3 feet tall and bloom nearly all summer. The essential oil is an unusual dark blue hue.
Showy Fleabane: Abundant daisy-like, bluish lavender blossoms with an impressively long summer bloom time, the showy fleabane is popular with pollinators. By autumn, the flowers mature into fluffy white seed heads.
Blanketflower: This long-blooming wildflower with a multitude of cheery flower heads blossoms from early summer until the frost comes. A magnet for native bees, the bristly hairs covering its foliage make it deer- and rabbit-resistant.
Lyreleaf Greeneyes: Daisy-like yellow flowers with an earthy chocolate scent, the lyreleaf greeneyes blooms from spring to when the first frost hits. The lime-green seedbeds are decorative but don’t last long, as songbirds avidly eat the papery seeds.
Soapweed Yucca: Beloved for its spiky, punk-rocker silhouette and dramatic flower stalks with waxy, fragrant blossoms, this long-lived shrub tolerates cold and drought and grows up to 6 feet tall. Its bell-shaped, downward-hanging flowers provide abundant nectar and pollen.
Hoary Vervain: Described as having a purple or lavender hue, hoary vervain is a welcome contrast to the many yellow and orange flowers common on the prairie.
Gray-Headed Coneflower: Tall and graceful, this prairie plant will sway in the breeze and intertwine with its neighbors, unlike some other prairie flowers. Blooming all summer, this perennial attracts many pollinators.
Spiderwort: Charming, versatile spring-blooming perennials, spiderwort displays grassy foliage and three-petaled flowers.
Flowering Spurge: Abundant white blossoms open in midsummer and last for several weeks. Flowering spurge is tame, but it does spread well and forms an open, airy mat in poor, dry soils where many other perennials struggle.
Pinxterbloom Azalea: Flower color varies from light to dark pink; blossoms open with a delicate, sweet fragrance after leaves start to unfurl in spring.
Woodland Iris: A blue-violet iris that flowers cover the grassy clumps of foliage in late spring. Several varieties are available and form fast-spreading (but non-aggressive) clumps within a few seasons.
Southern Magnolia: A large tree with impressive evergreen foliage, the deep, glossy green leaves with rusty red undersides and the autumn fruit make this tree a great ornamental specimen even when it’s not in flower.
Beautyberry: Recently en vogue among native-plant enthusiasts, it’s easy to grow, spreads well and provides a unique splash of bright purple fruit in autumn. An excellent wildlife food plant, because it attracts pollinators in spring and birds in autumn.
Carolina Jessamine: A vigorous flowering evergreen vine without being invasive, its twining stems need support to wrap around and climb. It’s perfect for a trellis, an arbor or against a wall face. One of the earliest spring bloomers, Carolina Jessamine displays a pop of yellow when other plants have yet to break their dormancy.
Pink Fairy Duster: A low-growing shrub that brings the desert landscape to life in winter with splashes of pink with blooms that resemble a small feather duster. Flowering lasts into spring and occasionally reoccurs in fall.
Yellow Bells: Tropical-looking, yellow-flowering shrub with large, trumpet-shaped flowers of yellow bells against bright green foliage. The blooms begin to appear soon after the last frost in spring and continue blooming nonstop until just before the first frost in the fall. The golden-yellow blooms are a favorite of hummingbirds and bees alike.
Santa Rita Prickly Pear: Some of the most iconic cacti, they have distinctive paddle-shaped leaves, vibrant flowers and tiny, bristly hairs. The colorful, purple-tinged gray-blue pads appear in response to drought and cold temperatures, while yellow flowers appear in spring.
Even with the best of intentions, your bee-friendly garden may experience a dearth period — an unavoidable nectar shortage during spring and summer that can threaten the survival of an entire bee colony.
What can we do?
A reliable food source all season long, Everbee is the first bee feeder to deliver essential nutrients to bees while removing their top threat, the Varroa mite. Once inside Everbee, the bees are dusted with our Protect™ powder to help them remove the dangerous parasite, leaving bees healthier with every visit.
Placed in your garden or backyard, Everbee is sure to make local honey bees the happiest in your ‘hood.
]]>A New Frontier
Venturing beyond conventional methods, our team has worked tirelessly to develop a simple and potent solution that aligns with nature. We developed a treatment powder that prompts honey bees to groom themselves and dislodge Varroa mites!
Our independent testing in the lab and at our home apiary demonstrated promising results, supporting our vision to protect the bees and the ecosystem they thrive in.
The Creation of a Bee-friendly Solution
Everbee Protect™ treatment powder is a precise blend and formulation of two food-grade ingredients: carnauba wax and lemongrass essential oil. Working with our chemist Steve Puelo at Koster Keunen, we were able to mill the wax particles to mimic the size of pollen to ensure it would not inhibit the bees’ breathing.
The Proof is in the Powder
It was a landmark moment in our bee-saving journey when we put our powder to the test and it passed with flying colors! Honey bees immediately groomed after being dusted with Everbee Protect™ and successfully detached Varroa mites.
Once we determined that our formulation was the safest and most effective way to deliver treatment to honey bees, we launched the first season of the Everbee Protect™ Pilot Program for beekeepers across the US to test our powder in different climates and conditions.
Ethical Sourcing and Sustainability
It goes without saying that sourcing our ingredients responsibly is not only critical to the safety of honey bees and mother earth, but essential in creating sustainable solutions to the mite problem.
When it came to lemongrass essential oil, we did our homework. The essential oils industry is not well regulated and brands can label their oils “pure” or “natural” without containing 100% essential oil.
For their purity and ethos, we are happy to partner with the Bulk Apothecary who provides our cruelty-free, USDA certified organic lemongrass essential oil harvested from India. From farming, distilling, brokering and filling -– every aspect of the supply chain is held to the highest quality standards.
Our second ingredient, carnauba wax, is a widely used hypoallergenic wax of the leaves of the carnauba palm. It can be found in everything from candy to dental floss. We searched for a transparent source with sustainable practices who shared our vision to save the honey bee population.
We chose Koster Keunen to source our USDA certified organic, non-GMO carnauba wax. Their initiative, We Are All One Hive, pledges to cultivate healthy ecosystems with a fair and safe supply chain based on three areas of sustainability: environmental, social and economic.
Beekeeping Initiatives Worldwide
An added benefit to partnering with Koster Keunen is their commitment to sustainable honey bee initiatives such as their collaboration with USAID to foster training, support, beehives and protective equipment across seven West African countries to support beekeeping initiatives. Their efforts will increase crop pollination, food production and financial stability across these regions. That’s a cause we are proud to stand by.
The Ripple Effect of Everbee Protect™
In our journey learning about honey bees, we are shown time and again that our actions matter. Every choice we make creates a ripple of events that echo into our future. With Everbee Protect™, your choice helps strengthen the honey bee population today, and for generations to come.
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As nature lights up with activity, animals release toxins they’ve accumulated over the colder months. Humans move in the same direction. A time of renewal and cleansing, we often feel inspired to purge the excess and create new space — whether that’s in our home environments, or in our bodies.
Spring weather can be fickle with changing warm-and-chilly days and the rise of pollen in the air. Our bodies are sensing these shifts as our strength wanes slightly, our digestion capacity changes, and we become a bit more active. This adjustment period can lead to common springtime annoyances like allergies, watery eyes, and sinus infections.
Lucky for us, we live in an extraordinary time — we can harness the benefits of both western and ancient science approaches to keeping well. The holistic science of Ayurveda teaches us that we can be free of spring allergies and irritations when we align our eating and behaviors to reflect the spring season.
The sister science of yoga, Ayurveda is a system of mind-body medicine that originated in India over 5,000 years ago. Ayurveda views the human body as an arrangement of the five elements that make up all living things – earth, water, fire, air, and ether. We are healthy when these elemental forces are in balance.
Our interconnected relationship to nature is at the heart of Ayurveda. When a shift happens in nature, we respond. The simplest example is when nature shuts down at night, we feel a tiredness that motivates us to sleep. When the sun rises, we feel more energized and awake.
The Ayurvedic system teaches us that self care is not a luxury, but a fundamental way of living, rooted in self-awareness and practice. Ayurveda honors our instinct to eat, move and live differently depending on each season.
During spring, the elements of water and earth come to the forefront, while the others take a backseat. The flow of water and the steadiness of earth create a foundation for new life to flourish. Affectionately referred to as “mud season”, we sow the seeds that we will grow and foster in the summer months.
In Sanskrit, the energy of spring is known as Kapha. “Ka” translates to water and “pha” means to flourish. As we adjust to the season, the influence of kapha in our bodies can impact everything in our daily lives from energy levels to sleep quality; from body weight to moods.
Getting outside, enjoying sunlight, and boosting our daily exercise during the spring helps us burn toxins from the body and adjust to the new season.
While winter is an ideal time for nourishing comfort foods, spring is the season for drier and lighter meals. The digestive fire has lost some strength in spring, meaning it has less capacity to break down the hardy soups and heavy desserts we enjoyed in fall and winter.
Ayurveda emphasizes the importance of kindling the digestive fire with warm food and drinks to counteract the kapha coldness impacting the body. Sipping on warm lemon water or ginger tea is a wonderful way to keep the digestive fire strong.
A fundamental principle of eating in Ayurveda is delighting your taste buds, instead of counting calories. This balanced approach to eating supports harmony in the elements, which leads to healthy organs, hormone levels, weight, immunity and much more.
Spring is the time to replace heavy, oily, sour and sweet foods with more pungent, bitter, astringent, dry and light foods.
Foods with a bitter taste |
Foods with a pungent taste |
Foods with a astringent taste |
Kale, chard, collards, dandelion, bitter gourd, broccoli rabe, turmeric, fenugreek, curry leaf |
Arugula, leek, radish, turnip, scallion, ginger, black pepper, cumin, bay leaf, mustard, hing, rosemary, basil |
Beans, lentils, spinach, watercress, parsley, winter squashes, pumpkin, artichoke, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, millet, amaranth, barley, quinoa, buckwheat |
When you hear the word “cleanse” or “detox” feelings of deprivation and dullness may come to mind. On the contrary, Ayurveda advises that you cleanse your body in spring with heightened flavor!
A very simple way to bring the bitter, pungent, and astringent tastes into your diet is to drink a spring detox tea to rid the body of the accumulated kapha and relieve imbalances like allergies, colds and coughs.
Sip on the tea about 30 minutes before lunch or dinner
Turmeric and ginger, both highly rich in antioxidants work synergistically to strengthen the digestive fire and increase metabolism. The combination of ginger-turmeric works like a high-powered scraper that chips away the residue and toxic build-up of winter.
Now is the time for spring greens, fresh juices, salads, and local garden veggies. Instead of sautéing foods, we can steam or bake so that they’re a little lighter and drier. This is also the season to reduce creamy foods like cheese, yogurt, and sour cream. If you eat animal protein, consume smaller quantities and emphasize plant-based meals.
Eating lighter (and slower) helps us digest and assimilate the nutrients we are consuming. Here are some tips to eating lighter:
Asparagus, artichoke, bell pepper, beets, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, chard, dandelion greens, green beans, garlic, kale, lettuce, leeks, onions, spinach, sprouts
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Apples, blueberries, apricots, cherries, cranberries, lemon, limes, peaches, pomegranates, prunes, raspberries, strawberries
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At the heart of Ayurveda is balance. When you embrace the season and the chapter you're experiencing in your own life, your food choices may feel more clear. As a holistic approach to health, Ayurveda does not solely focus on food. Honor your rest time, tend to your relationships and make time for whatever brings you joy.
Maybe saving the bees brings you joy! Celebrate spring by signing up for the wait list to get your own Everbee, the first bee feeder proven to help save the bees.
]]>Every element of our design considers the instincts of honey bees to ensure they are enticed to visit Everbee so they can receive vital nutrition and eliminate deadly Varroa mites.
Once we discovered the optimal powder formulation to help honey bees shed Varroa, we perfected a delicate delivery system that lightly dusts bees while inside Everbee, inciting them to groom themselves and remove Varroa mites!
But how does it work exactly? And more importantly, how do we make sure it’s safe for bees? Buckle up to learn some science!
Our bodies are incredible biocomputers that perform functions, such as breathing, that we barely think about. Though most mammals have lungs to breathe, have you ever wondered how honey bees do it?
Unlike us, honey bees don’t have lungs. Instead, their respiration happens through holes on their thorax and abdomen, called “spiracles.” You can see six spiracles on the left side of the diagram below.
It’s vital that the spiracles remain open and unblocked. If a bee’s spiracles are clogged, they will be unable to breathe and can die. Even worse, a study done in Greece shows that the size of a bee’s spiracles influences how susceptible it is to mite infestations.
A honey bee’s job is to collect pollen and bring it back to the hive. To this end, bee bodies have millions of tiny hairs on the sides of their bodies to carry the pollen with. But this isn’t the only function they serve. The hairs are crucial to bees’ ability to “self-groom.” Bees use their legs to comb through the hairs and remove small irritants that can be detrimental to their ability to function normally.
Unfortunately, Varroa mites use these hairs to attach to bees, feed on them, and infect hives when bees bring them home after a long day collecting pollen.
Inside Everbee, honey bees are ushered forward to receive a precise dose of our Protect™ powder, made of pulverized carnauba wax infused with essential oils and designed to mimic pollen so it sticks to the bee’s hairs the same way.
This powder stimulates a coated bee to groom itself — and this is key! Our 2020 study found that the powder treatments we formulated induced bee grooming resulting in 66.7% to 100% mite removal!
Remember our lesson on spiracles? Our challenge early on was to ensure our powder particles didn’t clog honey bee spiracles, helping to protect them from mites but not otherwise harming them.
In our early studies, we found that when the powder particles were below 90 microns in size, it was more likely to make the bees sluggish, otherwise irritate them, or result in death. Further research found that a reasonable particle size to create an effective powder that irritates mites but does not enter bee spiracles or harm bees is between 100-200 microns.
We’ve now developed a double-filtration process that ensures powder particles always fall between 125 and 200 microns for maximum efficacy. This means bees can return to pollen collection as normal while successfully detaching deadly Varroa mites.
Happier bees create a happier planet. And an ecstatic team at Perpetual Pollen!
We’re betting you share our excitement. We hope you join us in helping honey bees get stronger with every visit to Everbee.
]]>The brilliant colors of flowers help target their areas of nectar, which honey bees perceive through ultraviolet light. Special pigments absorb UV light and paint a bullseye in the center of a flower, luring the bee to the tasty flower—akin to a neon sign insisting “land here!”
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So, how do bees and flowers find one other?
Bees and flowers have developed a strategy based on luminous visuals. The brilliant colors of flowers help target their areas of nectar, which honey bees perceive through ultraviolet light. Special pigments absorb UV light and paint a bullseye in the center of a flower, luring the bee to the tasty flower—akin to a neon sign insisting “land here!”
See like a bee.
Many of the bullseye patterns on flowers are invisible to humans because they are only perceptible through UV light. Bees can also see the colors blue, green, purple and violet—the latter two being their favorites. Although bees can barely distinguish the color red, they do visit red flowers because they can see the UV markings inside the flower.
Bees also have the ability to see color at rapid speed. Their color vision is the fastest in the animal kingdom—five times faster than humans. If we are driving on a highway past a field of flowers, we see a blur of color. But bees can distinguish individual flowers while traveling at a high rate of speed. That’s why honey bees have no problem pollinating moving flowers.
Curiously, bees have two sets of eyes adapted to perform different tasks simultaneously. The two large eyes at the side of their head (known as compound eyes) are used to identify shapes, colors and UV markings, while the three small eyes on the top of their head provide navigation and orientation while in flight.
Everbee’s ultraviolet effect
When we embarked on creating the first protective feeder to help save the honey bee, our initial research focused on testing with UV light to ensure that the design of Everbee frequently attracts honey bee traffic.
Everything about the entrance to Everbee is designed with honey bee vision in mind. Mimicking the ultraviolet, bullseye patterning of flowers, Everbee’s entry acts as a beacon to honey bees.
The visual talents of bees is just one group of adaptations bees have mastered to uphold their status as the undisputed heroes of the pollination world. Many ecosystems and creatures depend on bees to survive and thrive.
We are one of the many species who hinge on the health of honey bees. Without bees, 80% of the crops we consume wouldn’t exist! This may include some of your favorites like blueberries, apples, almonds, cucumbers, avocados, and pumpkins, just to name a few.
Although Perpetual Pollen is nowhere near the evolution of the honey bee, we’ve spent thousands of hours engineering Everbee to make a real impact on the health of honey bees for generations to come.
We hope you join us in creating a brighter future for our fuzzy pollinator friends.
]]>In pursuit of protein-rich pollen and delicious nectar to bolster their energy, the summer mission for bees is to find nectaring flowers.
When conditions are just right, honey bees relish in a season of nectar flow, also known as “honey flow.” You might assume that nectar is abundant during spring or summer in places where nectaring flowers are blossoming, right?
Not necessarily. A variety of factors can disrupt the flow of nectar—heavy rains, wind, high heat, or changes in flowering, to name a few.
Known as “dearth periods,” a nectar shortage during spring and summer seasons can prove deadly to an entire bee colony.
With the rise of climate change, monoculture farming and habitat loss amplifying these threats, it’s time for humans to find innovative ways to help hungry bees—this was our motivation to create the Everbee.
After three years of testing and 16 prototypes later, Everbee is the first solution of its kind to ensure hungry bees receive optimal nutrition regardless of weather or garden conditions. All that’s needed is a backyard. Learn about the Everbee.
Wind Interference
Sufficient wind can dry soil, resulting in less available water for plants, which needs to be allocated for life-sustaining purposes rather than making nectar.
With stronger winds, flowers bend and sway, making it more difficult for insects to land on them. What does this mean for honey bees? Mildly breezy days are fine for collecting both pollen and nectar, but nectar collection drops sharply as the wind becomes “gusty.”
Rainy Day Hazards
Honey bees dislike foraging in the rain. Raindrops can drench delicate wings and heavy rains can wash pollen from flowers and dampen the scent of nectar.
Unpredictable Flower Blooming
Even without harsh weather events, there is no guarantee that plants will provide sufficient nectar all season long. If a garden is full of spring bloomers and early-autumn flowers, the bees foraging in the height of summer may well find their options limited.
Bees in Crisis Mode
A hive that finds itself starving will have no choice but to find a hive with more resources and raid it in search of food—also called “nectar robbing.” A hive that has been invaded can be decimated quickly, especially if the scent of wax cells attracts more than just one invading swarm.
Nectar robbing is one of the ways that Varroa mite infestations spread, as bees that rob one hive may bring mites back into their own, previously mite-free hive.
Start a Bee-Friendly Garden
Attract bees with a pollinator garden by planting a variety of plants, choosing at least one or two that will bloom in spring, summer, and fall. If you live in an area with hot, dry summers, select drought-resistant plants to provide nectar all summer long.
Get your Everbee
Providing a nourishing food source for bees 24/7 and a precisely delivered treatment to remove deadly mites, bees will fly out of your Everbee healthy and happy.
Bees work together to solve problems and evolve. We can too.
]]>Many species of bees only live through the winter in their larval stage—that is, as babies, in the nest that their mother has made for them, whether that’s a hole in the ground or in a tree branch. Bumblebee queens make a nest for themselves and spend the winter there.
But what do honey bees do when they get cold? The short answer is surprisingly human: they shiver.
We’re getting ahead of ourselves—but isn’t finding commonalities between ourselves and these tiny, hard working creatures fun?—so let’s go back to those warm summer months.
Worker bees are busily collecting nectar and pollen outside the hive, building wax cells and making honey inside the hive, and taking care of the queen and all the baby bees. Because they aren’t able to work outside the hive in cold temperatures, they have to make enough honey to last them all winter long.
To understand what bees need for overwintering, it’s helpful to know exactly what it is that bees actually consume for nourishment. The diet of bees is comprised of two main building blocks: pollen and nectar. From those two ingredients they make honey and what is known as “bee bread.”
Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid created by flowers to attract pollinators. Bees, wasps, butterflies, and other pollinators use nectar for the nutrients it provides and, in return, pollinate plants through the adherence and release of pollen—in other words, when drinking nectar pollen from one flower sticks to their bodies and will fall off on other flowers as the pollinator flies around, thus pollinating the plants from which it gains its food. In biology, this is referred to as a “mutualistic” relationship, or one in which two species work together for mutual benefit.
Pollen is a protein-rich powder comprised of the microscopic reproductive cells of plants. Without getting too technical, most pollen contains two types of cells: vegetative and generative. When a grain of pollen is deposited on a flower’s pistil—these are the stem-like protrusions found in the center of the flower—the vegetative cells creates a pollen tube that extends down through the ovary of the flower. Meanwhile, the generative cells have split into what are essentially floral sperm cells, which travel down the tube and fertilize the flower.
Bees can ingest nectar in its natural state. Honey bees actually have two stomachs—one for storing nectar to bring back to the hive, and one for ingestion. During flight, if a bee has need of it, some of the nectar will transfer from its storage stomach to its ingestion stomach so it can eat right there in flight! The bee’s storage stomach combines nectar with special enzymes that change its chemical structure—this is what will eventually become honey, and those enzymes are what keeps honey from spoiling.
When honey bees return to the hive, they transfer nectar mouth to mouth until it is stored in the wax cells of honeycomb. At this point the nectar is still a very thin liquid. It is the evaporation that occurs from the fanning of hundreds of honey bee wings that turns this nectar into the thick, pourable liquid we know as honey. Honey is mixed with pollen to create bee bread, a substance rich in protein and sugars that baby bees eat.
In a sense, honey bees do nothing but prepare for winter. Honey bees have a natural hoarding instinct that encourages them to collect as much pollen and nectar as possible throughout blooming season. After all, weather can be unpredictable: there is no way to know how many too-cold-for-flying days there will be in any given winter, so bees have to prepare as much stored food as possible to last. This means hives will often have extra honey—a boon for beekeepers, since they can now harvest honey without harming the hive, especially if they monitor the hive throughout the winter to be sure their food supply is sufficient.
Every function of a worker bee during the spring and summer is vitally important for the upcoming winter. Foraging for pollen and nectar builds up food supply, much like harvesting from your own backyard garden. Inside the hive, wax comb is constructed and pollen and nectar deposited, sort of the bee version of canning tomatoes. Worker bees that are acting as “nurse” bees are feeding and caring for baby bees, some of which—the ones born at the very end of summer—will be doing the work of actually keeping the hive warm all winter long.
When discussing the lifespan of honey bees, most casual sources say a worker bee lives for a few weeks. That’s true—in the spring and summer. Bees born late in the season, however, will not only develop differently, they also tend to have a longer life span—up to five months! Scientists believe the longer life span may be because honey bees do less active work during the winter, but the differences in their bodies may also play a part.
Bees born at the end of the season develop more fat stores in preparation for winter, and also have larger glands for feeding larvae, which will keep baby bees healthy and able to begin working in the hive as they grow.
As the temperature begins to drop, around 55°F (about 12°C), honey bees begin the process of settling in for the winter. If you’ve ever heard the phrase “huddle together for warmth,” you already have a good understanding of how honey bee colonies survive the cold. The honey bees will form what is called a winter cluster—essentially a big ball of bees—all facing toward the center of the colony, using their collective mass to hold in heat.
However, not all the bees are able to join this cluster. Because winter is a time bees focus on the survival of their queen and existing larvae, no mating activity occurs, and thus no drones are needed. Indeed, drones—whose only role is to mate with the queen—would only consume needed resources. Most drones die naturally in the fall, but those that don’t are, shall we say, “encouraged” to leave the hive by worker bees.
What happens inside the hive? Unlike hibernating mammals, whose metabolic activities (including heart rate) slow during the winter to conserve energy, honey bees are active throughout the season. However, instead of engaging in the usual spring and summer business of cleaning, foraging, and making honey, all of their energy is focused on staying warm and making sure everyone has enough to eat. This is where all those canned tomatoes—that is, wax cells filled with honey and pollen—come into play. With enough food stored up, bees can break into those cells and be nourished all winter long.
It takes more than just forming a cuddle puddle to stay warm, though. Worker bees vibrate their bodies to generate heat—in other words, they shiver. Incidentally, this same mechanism can be used to kill small intruders such as wasps. A cluster of honey bees can surround a wasp and vibrate together until they have raised the temperature high enough to kill the wasp. Pretty handy.
The center of the winter cluster ranges 90-100°F (32°-37°C), keeping the queen toasty warm throughout the season. The temperature at the outside of the cluster is much cooler, around 50°F, which is the lowest temperature at which honey bees are still able to move around. Once the honey has been exhausted in one area of the hive, the entire winter cluster moves together as a single unit to a new spot in the hive where they can access fresh honey.
As soon as the exterior temperature rises above 50°F (10°C), worker bees can begin venturing outside the hive to dispose of accumulated waste—a super important function for any animals with so many individuals living together in a small space. Once temperatures are back above 55°F, the hive returns to business as usual: foraging, mating, and beginning the long process of preparing the hive for the next winter. And, if the hive has been industrious—and lucky—enough to have plenty of extra honey in the spring, the hive might swarm.
Swarming is the natural way that honey bees split one hive into two, which can only happen for a large and healthy hive. In preparation for a swarm, worker bees will have constructed special cells for the larvae of potential queen bees. These future queens are fed only royal jelly, which causes them to develop into mature queens. Before they hatch, the existing queen will leave the hive with many of the worker bees in a tight swarm seeking a new nest. They leave behind a contingent of worker bees, queens ready to hatch, and, if possible, a ready supply of honey to jumpstart the blooming season.
We’ve talked before about how interconnected everything is, and how protecting the environment serves health and justice initiatives. Friends of the Earth fights for both environmental wellness and economic justice. Supporting pollinators is just one of the many projects they are involved with.
The mission of the UM Bee Lab is to foster the health and conservation of bee species through education, research, and mentorship. Like other public universities, they are partially supported through federal funds, but they encourage private donations as well!
This foundation is geared toward educating and empowering people to take action on climate change. Specifically, their educational programs take children outside to connect with the earth as they learn, developing an eco-awareness that many people fear the younger generation is losing.
A bee sanctuary is a parcel of land set aside for the cultivation of bee-friendly plants and, often, research and advocacy efforts related to bee conservation. Typically, sanctuaries will choose local plants and refrain from pesticide use. They often offer community outreach and education programs, including “how to” courses, nature walks, and other events.
Spikenard Farm is a 41-acre sanctuary near Floyd, Virginia. In addition to in-person and online courses, they offer apprenticeships, open farm days, and school outreach programs.
Three Leaf Farm is located in Lafayette, Colorado, and includes a honeybee sanctuary as part of a larger farm. The farm actively manages their flora, including allowing the growth of “weeds” and choosing a mixture of native and nectar-rich, non-invasive non-native plants.
The New York Bee Sanctuary is actively seeking land on which to build their forthcoming sanctuary, intended to house more than sixty of New York state’s native bee species. Their plans are exciting and eco-friendly, including vermiculture (worm composting), solar power, classrooms, a medicinal herb garden, cabins for ecotourists, and more.
The Urban Beekeeping Laboratory and Bee Sanctuary in Boston is primarily focused on research efforts as well as fundraising for research. They collaborate with academic and industry laboratories worldwide, and have a team combining professional scientists, beekeepers, and research interns. In partnership with The Best Bees Company they also offer beekeeping sponsorship opportunities.
This is basically us right now.
Every idea, no matter how ridiculous, is being talked out. Every weird feeder concept and mite theory is being explored. Every stone turned over.
One of the cool things about being completely new to this field is that we don’t yet know to be embarrassed about our terrible ideas (OK, we’re a tiny bit embarrassed about the fake flower idea). So everything we think of, we research. And everything that seems remotely promising, we’ll test.
Last week Dick set us on the path of bee friendly essential oils. This week we started our dive.
There is a wealth of research on the efficacy and safety of essential oils for mite-control. And there is a good amount of data on essential oils as effective in killing varroa (if you remember from last week, Peter Kevan’s research was mostly focused on tracheal mites).
We feel good about this solution. But the next question is how to get the oils onto and into the bees when they visit BeeKeep. That involves creating something irresistible to the bees.
So we’re also looking up...bee recipes? If you had told any of us a year ago that we’d be reading peer-reviewed papers about larvae and looking up recipes to supplement honey bees’ diets, well...it’s still mind-blowing to us how far things have progressed in just the past couple months.
]]>Pollen-covered honey bees anyone? Teeny-tiny sweat bees? Round, floofy bumblebees? But there’s a new bee on the block that may just take top honors in the bee cuteness contest—actually, it’s a bee with a longer history in North America than the honey bee: the squash bee.
Native to the Americas, the squash bee is an oligolege, also known as a “pollen specialist,” which means, in ecological terms, that the species shows a marked preference for the pollen of a specific family of plants. In this case, that means (perhaps obviously) squashes—the plant genus Cucurbita! Summer squash (like zucchini or pattypan), winter squash (think butternut or pumpkin), and many types of gourds are entirely reliant on these native bees for pollination.
Although pollen specialization is sometimes referred to as a “preference,” the truth is that squash bees actually don’t visit any other plants. In fact, they don’t even visit plants closely related to gourds, such as cucumbers or melons. Squash bees and plants in the Cucurbita family are an excellent example of what’s known as a symbiotic relationship, which is when two dissimilar biological organisms—in this case, a plant and an insect—ensure the other’s survival.
By all appearances, squash bees evolved specifically to pollinate squashes. The pollen granules of squash plants are particularly large, and squash bees have scopa (the pollen-carrying hairs on bees’ legs) especially suited to collecting these larger bits of pollen. Scientists have actually tested the pollination capability of squash bees and honey bees on squash plants and determined conclusively that squash bees are—unsurprisingly—more effective at pollinating squash plants.
All of this explains why squash bees are so cool, but why do we say they’re also the cutest? Squash bees are active in the cool morning hours—some of them even before dawn—and by noon, you can find them asleep in your squash blooms. That’s right—they sleep right there in the squash flowers! Too adorable.
Incidentally, squash bees are also considered an at-risk pollinator species, and scientists believe it may be partly due to pesticide use.
As always, we recommend drastically reducing or, if possible, entirely eliminating your use of pesticides in your own garden. If you must use pesticides, keep them away from the squash blossoms. Unlike other plants, which may have times of day when they are not visited by pollinators, squashes are both a food source and a snooze spot for these sweet little bees.
]]>Out of the twenty thousand species of bees known to exist, and the four thousand of these known to be native to the United States, not one species makes honey—or lives in hives. Apis mellifera, which we all know as the honey bee, is perhaps the best known and most recognizable bee species, yet it is not native to the United States.
In fact, most species of bees, around 90%, are not even social animals. That is, they don’t live in colonies at all, but are instead solitary. (Feel free to drop that factoid on the next relative who harasses you about when you’re getting married already. I’m just living that bee life, Aunt Brenda!) And although honey bees get all the major press, habitat loss is a crisis facing our native bee species—which are also super important for our pollination needs! In fact, habitat loss is a way bigger issue for native bees than for honey bees, which are largely managed by beekeepers on private property.
But there is, always, something you can do to help. First, let’s talk about how our native bee species do live.
Bumblebees tend to be round, plump, and very fuzzy looking, due to the long hairs that cover their bodies. These bees nest mainly underground in abandoned rodent burrows, but can also be found above ground in tall grasses or in holes in tree trunks. Bumblebees live in small social groups and derive sustenance from nectar, which adult bees bring back to their nest to feed the young. A bumblebee hive’s nest only survives one season, and in the spring when a queen hatches, she goes in search of a good spot to make a new nest.
Mason bees are solitary, and derive their name from the “masonry” materials, such as mud, they use to help construct their nests. These bees nest in any of a number of small holes or cracks in wood or stone, as well as occasionally in hollow twigs or plant stems and the abandoned nests of wood-boring insects. After mating, a female mason bee selects a nesting site and collects pollen and nectar to make a bed upon which to lay her egg. Once her first egg is laid, she creates a wall of mud and begins the process over again, until she has filled the nest with a row of cells in which her eggs are laid. She will seal the hole of her nest with more mud and, if possible, seek another nest to lay more eggs. Inside these cells, the larvae will consume the pollen and nectar they hatched upon, then make a cocoon in which they will pupate until the spring (or, in the case of some mason bees, the following spring!).
Carpenter bees are generally (but not always) solitary, and were named due to their habit of nesting in wood (or bamboo, or similar hard plant materials). To bore holes in their intended nesting spots, these bees vibrate their entire bodies while rubbing their mandibles (jaws) against the surface of the wood. Like mason bees, carpenter bees create individual cells for their eggs, which they also lay on a bed of pollen and nectar for their future larvae’s nourishment. They reuse some of the wood shavings to help create walls between their nest’s cells.
Leafcutter bees are solitary and nest in much the same way as mason bees, choosing hollow twigs or other natural fissures for their nests. Unlike mason bees, leafcutter bees line their nests with small circles cut neatly out of leaves. Some related species use instead a dry plant resin.
Sweat bees can be solitary or social—although the social species of sweat bees have a different and less complex form of hierarchy compared to honey bees. Most sweat bees nest in the ground, creating waterproof cells in which to lay their eggs on a bed of pollen.
Digger bees are solitary—although individual bees may choose to nest near each other in large groups—and primarily nest in the ground. They also construct waterproof cells for their eggs, but unlike other bee species these larvae do not spin cocoons.
Mining or miner bees, also known as chimney bees, are solitary bees that prefer to nest in the ground, especially in well-draining clay soils. Like many of the other bee species they create individual waterproof cells for their eggs and provide them with a bed of pollen to nourish them as they group. Like digger bees, mining bees may nest in large groups in the same area, but with each bee constructing their own individual nest.
Now that you understand the habitat needs of the native bee species in your area, you’re probably already thinking of ways you can help—or at least identifying the problems your native bees might face. Here are some ideas for how you can help protect native bee habitats:
Embrace decay. Frankly, we could all use a little more grace in our lives for aging, fragility, and death. In a culture so obsessed with youth and vitality, many of us forget that the declining half of the life cycle is just as important. Without death and decay, there would be no sustenance for new life to begin. So think twice before immediately consigning all your dead plant material to the yard waste bin. Dead trees and tree trunks, as well as dried-out raspberry canes or piles of leaves and sticks, all make excellent homes for a number of our native bees. When you prune back your plants in the fall and winter, don’t be quite so aggressive—leave something behind for the bees. Keep some of the twigs and leaves back to make a pile in a corner of your yard for bees that might like a protected place like that to build their nests. And, if it’s a little less picture-perfect, remind yourself that those dead plants are serving their purpose. It’s a beautiful thing.
Embrace imperfection. Speaking of things we could use grace for in our lives, can we talk about how so many of us are constantly striving for perfection? In our looks, in our work, in our brain function, and, often, in our yards. But what we think of as “perfect,” that is, something well manicured and free of all signs of decay, is simply not natural. What’s really perfect is when a patch of land is in harmony, with dead leaves composting naturally to fertilize the soil and insects of all kinds going about their insect business with plenty of food and shelter to sustain them. So forget that tinted bark, the precise lines of gravel. Use thin mulching materials like compost or shredded leaves, which allow nesting bees to burrow into and beneath them. And don’t mow or till so often—or at all, if you can tolerate that. Tilling in particular can be injurious to ground nesting bees, which require a stable underground environment to grow in.
Embrace the native, and the natural. We’ve said it before, and we’ll probably say it again: NATIVE PLANTS ROCK. Seriously, though, native plants will provide the best food and habitat for your native bees. After all, they evolved together! This is a good time to remind you to look beyond flowering plants. Sure, flowers are gorgeous and native grasses may seem “boring” to you. But native grasses genuinely provide some of the best habitat for native animals, and there is a beauty in that, too. Become familiar with your native grasses, and actively look for the beauty in them. Take a moment to appreciate the color and texture of the stalks, the differences between them. When is the last time you really looked at a blade of grass? And, please, stop using pesticides in your garden. Insects are not only completely normal, but actually desirable in a functional ecosystem. The healthiest gardens will have insects of all kinds, and if they become overly destructive, there are non-chemical ways to help manage your pest issues.
Finally, you may have seen commercial bee hotels or articles on how to build your own. You can absolutely buy or build one to encourage solitary nesting bees to make their homes near yours—including spraying special bee pheromones to let native bees in your neighborhood know to come on over. These types of artificial solutions do require a little maintenance, however, as repeated use of the same nests can encourage growth of fungus or mites that will damage your bees. If your bee hotel uses paper straws, bamboo, or other hollow plant stalks, you can simply discard (or compost!) and replace them each year. If your bee hotel features holes drilled into wood blocks, you can clean out the holes with a pipe cleaner or compressed air, and replace the wood blocks after a few years of use. Just be sure the bees have hatched before cleaning!
If you’re going to grow your own food, learning preservation techniques will serve you well—fresh tomato sauce or berries in the dead of winter can be the gift you give your future self. Here are some more options to handle your preservation needs.
]]>This is a time-honored tradition of backyard gardeners, and one well-loved by people who don’t have the room, time, or talent to grow their own produce. Having been the beneficiary of many a fresh Meyer lemon over the years (thank you, Jayne!) I know how satisfying such an exchange can be.
But it isn’t the only way to handle plants that yield more ripe produce that your family can consume before it spoils. Humans have been preserving food for literally thousands of years, and although many of our great-great-grandparents probably did the same, the advent of refrigeration and the tin can resulted in less of that knowledge being passed down to us. Yet, if you’re going to grow your own food, learning preservation techniques will serve you well—fresh tomato sauce or berries in the dead of winter can be the gift you give your future self.
Luckily for us, we also have more options to handle our preservation needs, and better tools with which to do it!
Freezing is the quickest and easiest method, which requires the least special equipment—although if you plan to freeze a lot of your produce, you’ll absolutely want to get a second freezer. Almost anything can be frozen, including prepared foods like breads, cookie dough, jams, sauces, and broths. The biggest dangers in freezing are freezer burn, and forgetting what you put in there in the first place.
Tip: Most herbs don’t freeze well, similarly to salad greens. If you’d like to freeze herbs, the best way is to use an ice cube tray. Chop or puree the herbs and pack them into the ice cube tray, then cover with water—or, even better, olive oil—before freezing.
Perhaps some of you may have “accidentally” dried woody herbs like thyme and rosemary by, er, forgetting to return your herbs to the fridge after cooking dinner. Actually, air-drying is a perfectly valid technique, and you can loosely bundle herbs and hang them upside-down in your kitchen to dry them. However, most fruits and vegetables contain far too much water to air-dry without spoiling. Enter one of those niche small appliances your hippie aunt might still have in the back of her cabinet: the food dehydrator. (If you’re handy, you can also build your own.) Vegetables and fruits can also be dried in your oven once properly prepared, but may not be the best option for those of us trying not to heat up our kitchens in the dog days of summer.
Tip: For lots more tips and ideas on dehydrating foods, check out these two pages.
This is the method nearly everyone pictures when thinking about preserving fruits and veggies from their backyard gardens. It is also the method that requires the most accuracy, as improper canning can lead to food poisoning and botulism toxicity—but no need to be intimidated! There are tons of resources out there to help you can safely, no matter what you’re trying to preserve. Canning needs little special equipment, depending on what you plan to can. High-acid fruits and pickles can be canned using the hot-water method, but if you plan to can any vegetables you’ll need a pressure canner. Note: Do not use a pressure cooker to can under pressure. They will not tell you the temperature your jars reach, which is necessary for food safety purposes.
Tip: This is a great resource for everything canning!
Technically, all of these methods will still require further processing for preservation using one of the above methods. But they still bear mentioning, as doing a little extra work when prepping your fruits and vegetables for the freezer, canner, or dehydrator can yield so much value for your future self!
Pickling: You can pickle more than cucumbers! Try green beans, beets, summer squash, lemons, and even cherries!
Jamming: Think beyond the classic—and delicious—strawberry jam to preserving watermelon, tomatoes, and onions in a sweet, sharp, and oh so spreadable way. And, while not technically a jam, we think everyone should become familiar with the Italian condiment mostarda, which definitely belongs on your next cheese plate.
Baking: Change up the ubiquitous zucchini bread with a dose of chocolate. Prepare your own pumpkin or butternut squash puree for pie baking or easy pasta sauces. Preserve the flavors of summer with this tasty bread. Prep and freeze mini pies that can be baked off whenever you feel the need of a little something sweet. Breads, purees, cookies, pie and cookie doughs, and some types of cake all freeze really well. And, of course, there’s always ice cream!
]]>If you read our post on sustainability then you’re probably excited to get started with some sustainable gardening practices into what you do at home.
And if you're truly interested in being one with nature, we suggest incorporating the principles of permaculture.
]]>And if you're truly interested in being one with nature, we suggest incorporating the principles of permaculture.
Permaculture is a portmanteau of “permanent agriculture,” a phrase coined in the 1920s by geographer J. Russell Smith, one of the pioneers of agroforestry—a specific land management practice that calls for growing trees and other crops together. Smith promoted the idea that intercropping trees with other food crops had a variety of benefits: improving soil quality, increasing crop yields, reducing soil erosion, and providing variety in the number of products farmers would be able to produce (and sell).
In the 1970s, science educators Bill Mollison and David Holmgren introduced the term permaculture as an agricultural design philosophy that described “working with, rather than against nature; of protracted and thoughtful observation rather than protracted and thoughtless labor.” Mollison and Holmgren had studied both Western industrialized agriculture and various Indigenous methods, and determined that most industrialized practices were not only unsustainable but actually injurious to people and to the planet.
Permaculture was suggested as a way of bringing the Western industrialized world back to the Indigenous practices foundational to human life.
For one thing, it’s sustainable! Actually, permaculture was designed from the outset to be sustainable in every way. It is less about modifying existing systems to be sustainable, and more about developing a set of principles and guidelines rooting everything we do, agriculturally, to be sustainable from the ground floor. For those of us who believe deeply in the interconnectedness of everything, permaculture is the “how.” How we honor and learn from the connections we observe in the natural world, and how we sustain ourselves while maintaining balance.
By familiarizing ourselves with the principles of permaculture! There are twelve of them—presented visually as a flower—and each principle is a world of ideas on its own. Here are some of our suggestions, categorized by permaculture principle.
The starting point for any successful plan is observation. So, simply, begin by looking around you. Get to know some of the native plants and animals in your community. If you can, observe how they interact with each other. You can best plan a garden in harmony with your natural environment if you know what that environment is. Observation can also help you set priorities. Have you noticed certain pollinators in your neighborhood? You might choose to research what plants those pollinators prefer, and plant those in your own garden to increase their food supply.
This principle takes on even more importance in a time of noticeably declining resources. What abundance can you harness for later use? For example, preserving and canning produce harvested from your garden stores the energy (nutrition) for the winter, when your garden may not be as productive. Or, particularly if you grow some plants indoors, you might consider getting your own solar panel and solar generator—which is essentially a battery that allows you to store the energy your solar panel captures. You could harness the sun’s rays with the solar panel, and use the generator to power grow lights—or your laptop.
Although it may seem obvious, this principle is actually far deeper than it appears. Obtaining a yield is not just about growing plants that yield tangible produce for harvest—although that definitely counts! This principle of permaculture is about organizing your gardening activities to benefit your life, as rewarding ourselves is one of the surest ways to ensure we will stick with something. Here are a few more ideas:
Contrary to the culture in the United States particularly, acknowledging the interconnectedness of everything means not doing whatever we want, whenever we want. What we do impacts others, and being thoughtful with our own behavior benefits everyone. Many of the actions implied by this principle take place largely outside the garden—for example, reducing consumption of non-sustainable consumables like plastic or energy usage in our homes. However, there are ways to bring self-regulation to our yards. Consider using a manual (push-style) mower instead of a powered mower—or a rechargeable electric mower (another good use for your solar panel!). Self-regulation also, however, includes living our life in balance and harmony. This means not neglecting yourself! Take breaks while working and allow your garden to refresh you, mind, body, and soul.
We have already discussed renewable energy, but there are other resources out there that are naturally sustainable. One of the most obvious examples of this is rainwater catchment, but there are plenty of other possibilities. Take a cue from farmers and learn how to harvest and save seeds for next year’s plantings. If you have the room, consider animal husbandry to help “close the loop.” For example, goats and sheep can help “mow” your grass, and provide milk, meat, and companionship. Chickens provide eggs as well as manure high in nitrogen to your compost pile. Speaking of which, a compost pile is perhaps the ultimate example of renewable resources! Many of us are familiar with composting as a basic concept, but did you know that there is more to composting than a basic pile? Engaging the help of worms or microorganisms can increase the amount you are able to compost (more on this below).
Bokashi composting bin by Pfctdayelise, 2008.
As with Principle 4, much of the work of this principle takes place outside the garden: reusable bags, refillable water bottles, choosing to repair instead of junk old items, etc. Recycling has gotten perhaps the lion’s share of the attention on ecological issues, but actually, recycling is probably the least important leg of the Reduce-Reuse-Recycle triad. Even many items that are supposed to be recyclable often end up in the landfill, or may require more energy to recycle than we realize. One of the most exciting things you can do at home (okay, it’s exciting if you always wanted to compost but aren’t a vegetarian and are thinking, but what about meat and bread and assorted leftovers?) is learning about bokashi composting.
Bokashi is a Japanese method of composting that ferments (in other words, changes the chemical composition of) foods that can then be added to a traditional compost pile and be broken down completely to be used as any other compost. Typically, you cannot compost meat and dairy because they can introduce pathogens to your compost pile, as well as attracting pests such as insects and rodents. Trust me when I say you do not want to deal with that. Bokashi fermentation is a process of mixing food scraps with the same microorganisms found in soil along with a mixture of bran and molasses to feed the microorganisms. When done properly, food scraps treated in this manner will be completely fermented in ten days and ready to add to a traditional compost bin or pile to break down completely.
This principle goes back to the first one: start with observation. Recognizing the patterns in the natural world around you—as well as the world you create for yourself—can help you design a garden space, and a life, that is more harmonious. Observing the behavior of honeybees, for example, led to the design of a more humane hive more than one hundred years ago—one that is still the basis for most modern hives. For your own garden, this might look like making a plan for your entire yard before getting into the specific details of which plants you want to cultivate. Or, it might look like considering the pattern of your personal schedule and choosing plants whose care will fit into your schedule (such as hardy, drought-tolerant varieties if you’re very busy or frequently forget to water). It might also look like analyzing how you manage your household and eliminating inefficiencies in order to make more free time for yourself, to spend in your garden!
Having specific zones for different plants might be visually appealing for some of us (I mean, just look at this beauty) but when it comes to permaculture that is not always the optimal strategy. As we’ve said, permaculture is about interconnectedness. That means the most advantageous state of the natural world is, typically, integrated. This principle is the perfect one for your pollinator garden project, the best ones of which integrate various types of plants to provide a holistic habitat and nutrition for pollinators. Sharing your garden space—opening fences with your neighbors, literally, if they are open to it—can ease the way for pollinators as well as providing opportunities for emotional and social connection with those you are physically closest to. Simply working in the garden integrates your physical, mental, and emotional experiences as well.
Probably we have all heard the idea that small changes are more easily made, that it’s easier to stick to new habits when we start small. That is the heart of this principle. It is neither possible nor desirable to reorient your entire life toward sustainability over the course of a single weekend. This principle encourages us to lean into patience and acceptance, leaning into the rhythms of the natural world. To incorporate this principle in your own garden, plant a tree. Make a multi-year plan for your garden. Use the extra time to observe the changes you make and refine your vision.
This is another opportunity to use the lessons we’ve learned about pollinator gardens and biodiversity. Instead of rehashing that, we wanted to offer a new thought on garden diversity: learn to value all of the creatures in your garden, including those you don’t particularly love. We appreciate predatory insects like the ladybug and mantises—but we aren’t serving them if we use pesticides to rid our plants of the bugs they eat! The last thing you want is to banish these beneficial insects from your garden, only to have an infestation of bugs that eat all your vegetables. Grow a little more than you need, and keep pesticides out of your garden. Trust that the interconnectedness of everything will leave you with enough cucumbers for your salad.
Many of us either ignore the boundaries of our spaces or curate them to be appealing to our neighbors. We encourage you to think beyond that. Use the edges of your personal space to do more than present another stereotypical suburban lawn. Consider growing vegetables in your front yard—and post a sign encouraging your neighbors to pluck off a snap pea or three to munch on while on their evening walk. Or, choose particularly attractive native flowers to increase the beauty of your neighborhood. Believe me, the folks who walk their dogs in your neighborhood notice and appreciate it!
This may be one of the most important principles in this time of changing climate. Observe where we are going—as a species, as a society—and use your garden to forge a better path there. Don’t think you can do much in your own yard? Think again.
Planting a tree provides shade, oxygen, and habitat for decades to come. Using your garden’s yield to feed the hungry makes real change in your community. Responding to changes in the climate by switching up what you plant can increase yields. Researching natural ways to defend your home against natural disasters might lead you to plants that can help prevent destruction—such as fire-resistant landscaping or plants capable of tolerating standing water and flooded areas.
We hope this post has convinced you that incorporating permaculture into your own garden—and your life—is not only beneficial, but genuinely doable. Saving this planet and the species on it is a job for all of us, and it starts, yes, right in your own backyard.
]]>Interest in mitigating the human impact on our natural world has skyrocketed in since the mid-1960s, with a significant bump in the early 90s—which, as we’ve mentioned before, was the heyday of concern about the hole in the ozone layer, acid rain, and saving both the rainforest and the oceans.
Sustainability is, and should be, about determining the actions we can take to be more in sync with the natural world: not just what impacts the earth least but taking a proactive role to protect the planet and its resources.
You might notice that this post is more serious than some others. We’re passionate about the environment—you need to be if you want to save the bees—and we want you to see sustainability as more than just a buzzword.
Sustainability as a concept didn’t start with Europeans. Indigenous peoples have had intelligent and creative ideas about natural resource management long before industrialized societies recognized these traditional methods.
The most prevalent definition of sustainability today comes from the 1987 United Nations Brundtland Report, which defines it as “design, construction, operations and maintenance practices that meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” In other words, sustainability isn’t merely about resources, but about considering the interplay between ecological, economic, and social factors. (This is also known as the systems theory of sustainability, which just means that any complex topic should be considered in the context of all the many factors that influence it.)
These three dimensions of sustainability illustrate how interconnected everything is. The ecological side of sustainability is the one you are probably most familiar with: resource management, land use, biodiversity, consumption, energy, pollution of our atmosphere and our oceans, toxic substances, and waste. Much of what we talk about when we talk about sustainability fits into one of these categories. But scientists and theorists, like those that work for the UN, are increasingly encouraging us to think about the economic and social implications of sustainability.
The economic dimension asks us to understand that approximately half of the world’s economy is directly dependent on the health of the planet. Economic sustainability initiatives also think about things like so-called “green jobs,” how to support economic growth without sacrificing the environment, and how to structure economics to support natural resources. Finally, the social dimension of sustainability considers things like the relationship of poverty to the natural world, the environmental impacts of population growth and density, the psychological impact of development and nature on humans, and the intersection between the earth and peace, war, justice, and society.
But this planet we live on is the home that we all share, and humanity’s dependence upon it creates an inherent fragility that has potential impacts on nearly every aspect of human life.
Every one of these factors have an entire field of study dedicated to it, scientists and researchers and experts who specialize in it, and reams of papers, studies, and books published on it. Some are increasingly making the argument that it is corporations and businesses, rather than individual consumers, who have the greatest ability to impact the environment through green initiatives. With all of these factors to consider, it is so easy for each of us to feel overwhelmed or disheartened.
But we try to remember that governments and corporations aren’t soulless automatons—they are simply groups of people working together to achieve specific goals. The more individuals change, the more governments and corporations will change. And it’s like they say: every little bit really does help.
For example, gardening at home reduces the demands on massive-scale agriculture, which (like any major industry) is generally focused more on profits than sustainability. Simply growing some of your own food in your backyard encourages the ag industry to do things a little differently—imagine that snowballing into radical change and you’ll see the value of making even small changes.
Now that you’ve got a crash course on sustainability under your belt, let’s talk about why you might want to choose sustainable gardening as your “small change” for next season.
Turns out, there isn’t a consensus on what exactly falls under the umbrella of sustainable gardening. Still, there are a few principles that are generally agreed upon: use of native plants; use of freely available, renewable resources to support growth; growing at least some of the food you consume; respecting and replenishing soil.
We’ve talked about biodiversity before, but it bears repeating: biodiversity is essential for combating climate change and for the future of the surviving species on the planet. In simple terms, biodiversity is the key to adaptability. Complex systems in nature manage change better—perhaps because something that impacts one part of the system can be addressed by other parts of the system. Or, put a different way, a complex system is more than the sum of its parts—but it needs all of those parts to function. Sustainable gardening serves biodiversity with its emphasis on native plants, which provide natural habitat and nourishment to thousands of native animal species. Plus, reduction in the use of fertilizer and pesticides keep the native environment in balance.
Cost shouldn’t be the be-all, end-all of assessing sustainability’s value to our environment, but let’s be honest: most of us are at least somewhat careful with our budgets. What if you could save some cash in one of the areas that hits many of us hardest each month, our grocery bill? Fresh produce is shockingly expensive in the United States, and though most of us can’t hope to do much about why that’s the case, we can grow some of our favorites at home. Some folks prefer to grow what’s most expensive at the grocery store, whereas others grow what they know they’ll eat plenty of—and that’s a solid strategy, because have you seen the way zucchini and cucumber plants overproduce in a good year?
Of course, growing your own food can be done in less sustainable ways, too. To get the most bang from your buck, focus on native plants and the other basic principles of sustainability above. Native plants and responsible gardening—that is, paying attention to the quality of your soil and how various plants impact the chemical composition of soil—require less fertilizer, less pesticides, and often less water. Can you say cha-ching? Collecting rainwater, if that’s legal in your area, and reducing the need for grow lights will reduce your water and electricity bills.
Okay, that’s a pretty general statement. But there’s few systems that sustainable gardening doesn’t impact—and, more importantly, improve. Any form of gardening will help reduce air pollution, but sustainable gardening goes beyond the benefits of basic plant biology. For example, did you know that soil absorbs carbon? (We didn’t until we researched for this post!) It turns out that soil absorbs about one-quarter of our fossil fuel emissions per year—which is pretty significant. Responsible management of soil impacts how much carbon the soil is able to absorb and retain. Learning how to optimize your soil for carbon retention is something concrete we can all do to address climate change. Sustainable gardening also helps preserve our water systems by reducing the amount of fertilizer and other chemicals that leach into our watersheds.
Specifically, sustainable gardening gives you the benefits of interaction with nature without the potentially harmful side effects of traditional gardening—in this case, exposure to the chemicals in fertilizers and pesticides. Being in nature all by itself has proven to be one of the many factors that can have a positive impact on mental health. Gardening, like hiking or playing outdoor sports, combines the purely psychological benefits of fresh air and sunshine with the physical benefits that come from moving our bodies—incidentally, physical movement has also been shown to have psychological benefits. Mental health has also been linked to feeling a strong sense of purpose, feeling as if we are making a difference, and in feeling connected to nature. Actively working toward reducing the impact of climate change might just give you all three.
One of the most surprising benefits of sustainable gardening—for your writer, at least—was reduction in noise pollution (*insert head exploding emoji here* amirite?). Gardening sustainably means less reliance on noisy machines like lawnmowers, electric clippers, and *shudder* leaf-blowers, the bane of those who like to sleep in on weekends. But also, plants are natural noise buffers. Interestingly, different types of foliage absorb or deflect different types of sound waves—and a diverse mix of plants (think different heights, widths, and foliage densities) will help block the most sound.
There are numerous other benefits of sustainable gardening and, if engaged in as a community it could provide massive localized benefits (remember our snowball analogy…). The Sustainable Sites Initiative’s Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks for sustainable agriculture—which is an excellent source if you really want a deep dive on this topic—lists several research-based local benefits of sustainable gardening. For example, did you know that regulating climate can be done on the micro level with thoughtful gardening practices? Or, consider this: most of us now live in areas that are increasingly impacted by severe weather, such as fires, droughts, hurricanes, and flooding. Creating and maintaining sustainable native landscape systems can help provide natural defenses against extreme weather events.
Finally, making sustainable gardening a community project can bring your community benefits that go beyond biology. Sustainable gardening initiatives will increase the beauty of your community, can ease economic stressors, and may even strengthen your community’s identity. Now that we understand there are social and economic benefits to sustainability, it seems clear that getting your friends, family, and neighbors on board and working together to save the planet can do more than that. It could give us back that sense of connection that so many of us are missing. It could give us not only a planet to live on, but the sorts of communities that make life so fulfilling. Sustainable gardening could be a stepping stone to bringing us back from the brink—in all the ways that matter.
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Google search “cute animal videos” and you get over two billion results. That’s more than Rihanna. That’s even more than chocolate. (Okay, okay, go ahead and look, but be sure to come back!) And they’re not just for kids—everyone goes wild for adorable animals playing, eating, or literally just existing.
Not surprisingly, there are quite a lot of videos featuring animals grooming each other. I say it’s not surprising because I know one of the few things that has always instantly grabbed the attention of any room full of people is two cats grooming each other. It’s adorable. Just imagine: there have been over one million views of this video of two horses grooming each other.
Humans are intensely curious creatures, and we love to learn all about the things we find interesting—or adorable. As you can imagine, those of us who want to save the bees want to know everything there is about the species. Point being, it turns out that it’s not just mammals and birds that engage in social grooming behaviors. Bees do, too! Actually, most social animals do.
For many animals, especially primates but also birds, horses, and cows, grooming serves social purposes such as emotional bonding and comfort. The jury is still out on whether bees experience emotions the way mammals do, but as we found out, bee grooming behavior is an absolutely essential part of hive health.
Beehives are as close to a closed system as you’ll find in nature. Only some occupants leave the hive daily, and only those bees (and the pollen they carry back) are supposed to enter. Hives are densely populated, with tens of thousands of bees living together in a single hive. The health of the entire hive depends on as few contaminants as possible getting inside. Typically bees protect their hive with resins they carry back from plant sources, which are naturally antimicrobial—good for defending against bacteria, viruses, and fungi.
Honey bees groom themselves for a reason that has little to do with cleanliness, though: they’re tiny. As it turns out, many insects spend quite a lot of time grooming, and it makes sense when you think about it. To an insect, specks of dust, dirt, and pollen are much more than tiny irritants we humans may not even notice. Not only are the particulates much larger in comparison, insect bodies are often highly sensitive—contaminants that put barely a spot on our skin could prevent a bee from seeing or smelling, or even detecting their physical position in space.
Most humans consider water a vital part of their own grooming routines. Most insects aren’t able to use water that way, due to, well, a lot of sciency reasons that are better explained here (seriously, check this out because it is fascinating and goes way beyond bees). The short answer is surface tension. Water molecules are strongly attracted to each other, so molecules on the surface of a body of water will be physically drawn downward toward the water molecules below. This creates a force known as surface tension. When certain winged insects land on water, their body may break the surface, but their wings—being extremely light—won’t. Instead, the wings will become “stuck” to the surface of the water, as they are drawn downward through the power of surface tension, and the insect will be unable to fly away. Some very tiny insects can even get caught inside a water droplet and drown.
Instead of using water, honey bees use friction. Honey bees have literally millions of tiny hairs on their bodies, which are useful for carrying large amounts of pollen back to their hives—efficiency! These hairs are also used for self-grooming, as bees will use their legs to “comb” their eye area.
At this point you might be thinking, “if bees don’t groom for the sake of cleanliness, how exactly is it essential to hive health?” Enter that pest we love to hate: the varroa mite. By now you’re probably familiar with varroa destructor, the parasitic mite that can destroy a honey bee hive from the inside out. You may remember that varroa mites infest hives by hitching a ride on the backs of bees returning home.
An individual bee does have some ability to fight off a mite using its mandibles (jaws) and its legs—if the mite is located in the right place. But just like that one spot in the middle of our back so many of us can’t reach (the reason backscratchers—and spouses—were invented), often the varroa mite attaches somewhere a bee can’t get to itself. Evolution to the rescue, perhaps literally! Scientists have been studying social bee grooming since 1945, when the “grooming invitation dance” was identified by bee biologist Mykola H. Hadak. One Cornell University study suggests that the dance, and social grooming, likely grew from the natural motions of self-grooming behavior. If you think about it, this is actually very relatable. How many times have you watched someone struggle to do something and then just offered to do it yourself?
So-called allogroomers (that is, bees that groom other bees) are so important to the health of the hive that they’ve actually evolved to take on the role. One study found that allogroomer bees have more robust immune systems, probably to help them ward off infection from greater exposure to viruses and bacteria through grooming behaviors. And as for their efficacy against the varroa mite? An Argentinian study found that bees which were naturally mite resistant engage in more frequent grooming behaviors. The scientists behind that study concluded that the best way to develop natural mite resistance in honey bee populations was to work alongside natural selection to select for those bees that naturally groom each other more.
That’s something only beekeepers can do, of course. But there are other possibilities. That Cornell study also found that grooming invitation dances could be prompted by “puffing” a bit of chalk dust onto the bees. Those of us serious about saving the bees might, at this point, be thinking, “Wouldn’t it be nice if there was something safe and easy we humans could do to encourage this awesome behavior for the health of our local honey bees?”
Well . . . stay tuned.
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First off, we are huge fans of your work and incredible art helping humans to better understand the world of bees. Could you tell us a little bit about your work and mission?
Thank you for following along and being a fan of what I do. I am the owner of Shadow Horse Studios, LLC., and its subsidiaries, The Apiary Artist and Creative Beeings. I have been a full-time artist and educator since 2002. My mission is to promote pollinator awareness and appreciation through art, photography, beekeeping, and educational outreach. Pollinator and habitat conservation is heavily emphasized throughout the work I do.
The Apiary Artist is mainly a social media presence to showcase images of pollinators through photography, my beekeeping adventures, and more recently, some of my fine art and illustration. My Creative Beeings platform is where I’ve been quietly pouring my heart and soul into developing for the past 3 years. It is an educational platform that unites interdisciplinary art lessons with pollinator awareness, spotlighting conservation art and artists, and artivizzm (that’s artivism with a buzz)!
I have been creating empowering educational curriculums complete with units and lessons that foster a strong awareness for our world’s pollinators and the valuable ecosystems they inhabit. These will be available for all educators and pollinator advocates to use in their programs. I hold a Master of Art Teaching from the Maryland Institute College of Art and a BFA in illustration from the Hartford Art School. I have lots of years of experience with teaching and curriculum development for pre-K-12 and college level. I’ve worked as a public and private art educator for many years in addition to running my own studio art business.
I have been piloting art education curriculums with units and lessons focused on pollinators and conservationism with both in-person and online courses for students of various ages. The COVID quarantine year really allowed me to explore online Zoom classes and get a handle on creating virtual lessons. The ultimate goal is for Creative Beeings to serve as a place for students to learn, a resource tool for educators, a place for community collaborations, and as a place to showcase pollinator and conservation artists from around the world. Currently the Creative Beeings IG profile is a placeholder where I’ve been showcasing work by pollinator artists from around the world. That’s about to evolve really soon along with its own website!
How did you first get started working with bees?
I have always loved honeybees and have always wanted a few hives of my own. I apprenticed for a few years, starting in 2012, then took additional courses through my local beekeepers association in 2016. Now, a little over six years later, I keep anywhere between 14 to 20 colonies, but have been scaling back some to prepare for an eagerly anticipated move back to New England.
My approach to beekeeping may be quite different than what would be expected. My bees are an educational resource; I do not keep bees for honey, pollen, or propolis. Those things are merely an added sweet bonus and I only extract if the bees have enough to spare some. I never supplement my healthy established colonies with syrup. I leave 65 to 85 lbs of honey in my colonies for winter.
Honeybees are the bees most people are familiar with and because I have observation hives, I am able to bring bees with me to supplement the educational experience—they are the gateway bee to introducing people to native bees and other pollinators. People are, more often than not, shocked to learn that honeybees are not native to North America, but in light of that, they still respect the important role honeybees play in agriculture and pollination.
Between your art, photography, beekeeping, and bee rescue, where do you spend most of your time?
Most of my time is spent in my studio, as I do still work in a freelance capacity with my main studio business. My goal is to be able to shift over into focusing entirely on my own fine art pursuits within the next few years. I am working on two bodies of fine artwork that emphasize pollinators and nature. I am also designing and further developing curriculum and lessons, piloting them with students of various ages. It’s been quite a process and labor of love, but I am proud of the journey it’s taken me on and the successes I have had. I am eager for Creative Beeings to go live once it is truly ready!
Managing my hives in my apiary is my stress relief. It is there that I often find myself brainstorming some of my best ideas for artwork, lessons, writings, and even stories I plan to illustrate for children’s books. Gardening is another hobby I utilize for my own stress management. I carry my camera with me at all times in the apiary and the gardens to capture and document any and every little insect that I can. A lot of what I capture during these ventures are the photographic images that make their way onto my social media feeds.
Rescuing honeybees is something I do only when I have the time and the space. If I am out of both, I recommend other local beekeepers who also rescue honeybee colonies. Last year during quarantine I did more bee rescues than I have ever done. Some people called that year “Swarmeggeddon,” but I personally believe the uptick in rescues was due to so many people being at home to take notice of swarms arriving or established colonies living in their structures. The outcome of last year’s rescues has me at my limit with the amount of colonies I manage in my bee yard. I did not do any rescues this year, though I did have two swarms move into some old empty hives, but they did that of their own accord with no help from me. Now they’re part of the family.
Most people are vaguely aware of the bee problem where many colonies are collapsing. From your experience and education, what are the main causes of colony collapse?
Colony collapse disorder is an issue that still baffles those who study it. There are a lot of factors that may be contributing to CCD. We know very well that colonies with high mite counts are susceptible to many maladies due to their weakened state. A heavy mite infestation can be a vector for many viruses and there is no doubt in my mind that mites do play a role in some of the CCD cases.
I also believe stress on colonies is a huge and often overlooked contributor to CCD. More and more studies are being done on the environmental stressors—such as little to no forage or low quality forage options, the continual loss of habitat and valuable ecosystems to commercial and residential development, and chemical dependency in the lawn care and agriculture—that play a dangerous role in all this. Without proper food and with continual exposure to pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, and the like, our bees are suffering.
How large of a role do varroa mites play in your local beekeeping community?
Varroa mites and small hive beetles are equally devastating in my particular area among the local beekeepers. We live in an area of Loudoun County, Virginia, that has a very unique weather pattern. Where I am, in the Furnace Mountain region, our summer and autumn climate is hot, wet, and very humid. Small hive beetles and varroa mites can thrive if you are not proactive about dealing with them from the get-go.
Since there are many beekeepers all around me, it’s crucial that we all do our part to care for our bees and maintain their health as they all share the same foraging range and can easily transmit diseases among each other.
What are the largest challenges you face on a daily basis with your work: beekeeping, bee rescue, and art?
I am often left speechless with the overall lackadaisical and, worse, anthropocentric attitudes many people still have in regards to the natural world and the creatures we share it with. This is what I consider to be my greatest challenge. It is my hope that by reaching the younger generations through art and education, I can help empower them to make the right choices, choices that will enable them to make positive and impactful changes for our world.
Art and photography are highly visual and human beings are visual creatures. Visually communicating through imagery is a powerful means and the very act of creating artwork allows for deeply inspired and meaningful connections with our inner voices to further generate the dialogue that needs to happen for pollinator awareness and conservation on a broad scale.
Beekeeping has its own set of challenges, but overall, it was the gateway into the very direction I have taken with my life. Honeybees are a valuable tool when discussing bees and other pollinators. Since we are directly managing honeybees we can see firsthand the consequential impact chemicals and loss of habitat have on pollinators. What we directly witness in our honeybee colonies we can assume is happening at a greater level to our native pollinator species. Many beekeepers turn into environmental advocates and supporters of pollinators because of this. Honeybees are the perfect indicator species for what their wild cousins and insect friends are struggling with in terms of habitat loss and destruction as well as chemical use.
What do you believe is the key to saving the bees?
Because my focus is not just honeybees, I firmly believe the best way to saving all pollinators, whether bees, moths, butterflies, beetles, flies, etc., is protecting valuable ecosystems from development, requiring neighborhoods and businesses to have pollinator and wildlife patches, and even giving them incentives to do so. Lessening, or if possible, entirely eliminating our dependency on chemicals in landscape and agricultural care. The monoculture agriculture currently practiced is an outdated system and the focus should be on more sustainable agriculture practices such as permaculture.
What can individuals do to help save the bees?
Individuals can start right now by planting pollinator-friendly native plants that are indigenous to the area in which they live. I encourage people to join their local wildlife societies and associations, as well as local native plant societies. Most areas even have pollinator groups and there are of course many beekeeping groups and associations across the nation.
How can communities help support local beekeepers like yourself?
The best way you can support your local beekeepers is by shopping local and being actively aware of the challenges they are facing in regards to managing their hives. For me, personally, because I do not consider myself a honey producer, the best way to support a beekeeper like me is simply to say no to pesticide treatments on your gardens and lawns and plant pollinator-friendly plants—the more native plants you have, the better for all pollinators. Start by creating habitat in your landscape. Support for beekeepers and our pollinator species can start right in our own backyards.
We saw that you’re working with the Planet Bee Foundation. Can you tell us a little about what they do?
The Planet Bee Foundation is a wonderful non-profit organization that is dedicated to creating a green-minded generation by spotlighting the struggling bee to foster environmental literacy and stewardship, empowering individuals to take action. I proudly and fully stand by and support their initiative, as we share a common mission.
If you could send one message to the entire world about bees, what would it be?
I want people to know that the power to make a difference is within them. Every small action taken to save bees and other pollinators is, in fact, a hugely beneficial one, whether they realize it or not. Simply devoting some time to plant for pollinators and wildlife starts with a single native plant. You can do this if you have a small yard or a large one, and you can do this with patio plants on an urban balcony.
It can begin with a conversation about pollinator awareness and grows from there—it’s really that simple, just start somewhere!
We love that. How can people learn more about your work and art?
Simply following along on my journey across my social media platforms is a good place to start. The Apiary Artist is a relatively young platform and is continually growing and expanding. I will be showcasing a lot more of my artwork through my social media platforms as I continue onwards. I readily answer messages and emails and will be announcing the Creative Beeings art lessons available for fall!
Anything else you'd like our readers to know?
I cannot emphasize enough that if you are interested in saving bees, every small action taken to do so is a hugely beneficial one! Don’t be afraid to simply jump in and start somewhere.
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Over the past few years, we’ve had the pleasure to meet some amazing bee people. Conservationists, scientists, beekeepers — their passion and knowledge have made every day a joy.
A few weeks ago, Perpetual Pollen’s own Carissa and Joe sat down for an amazing conversation with “bee foster parent” Paul Hekimian, one of the directors of urban beekeeping collective, HoneyLove.
HoneyLove is a Los Angeles–based nonprofit dedicated to educating their community about bees and promoting urban beekeeping — the natural way. Started after co-founders Rob and Chelsea McFarland found bees in their own backyard and decided to rescue them, HoneyLove engages in advocacy efforts in addition to education. Their efforts resulted in the official legalization of beekeeping in Los Angeles.
According to Paul, the rules for urban beekeeping are few, and simple. “They’re called worker bees for a reason,” he says. Honey bees have been doing their thing for hundreds of years, and although they now enjoy the care and protection of humans, Hekimian encourages us to think of bees not as a project, but as a partner in pollination. HoneyLove suggests that prospective urban beekeepers work primarily with feral bees, which are already better adapted to deal with local pests, and promotes a treatment-free method to limit introducing disruptive chemicals into the hive.
Many beekeepers end up using pesticides in their hives in an attempt to address threats like varroa mite infestations. The varroa mite is a parasite that targets the honey bee, hitching a ride to the hive. It infests the entire hive rapidly, feeding on both adult bees and bee larvae, severely weakening the bees. Varroa mites are also carriers for dozens of viruses and pathogens, and are widely considered one of the biggest contributors to the declining honey bee population.
Hekimian says that he and the other beekeepers at HoneyLove don’t have much of a problem with the varroa mite, however, and attributes that in part to focuses on feral bees, which have a greater natural resistance to the parasite.
Just like their beekeeping philosophy, HoneyLove’s mission is simple: Teach people that bees are safe and friendly. Cultivate that “aha” moment when someone realizes that humanity and beekind are inextricably linked.
Give people the tools to help.
We’re doing our best, Paul.
Take a look at the interview video for more on the varroa mite, the differences between cultivated and feral bees, and a few simple things anyone can do to help save the bees.
The crisis facing pollinators is, sadly, only one issue among many facing our planet today. Use this list as a jumping-off point to explore some of the most amazing organizations working for a better tomorrow.
]]>Many of us tend to compartmentalize, or hyperfocus on one issue we feel capable of making a difference in—and that’s great! We should find those issues that we’re passionate about and get started making change right away.
But we have to remember: there’s no point in saving the bees if they don’t have a planet to pollinate. And we are capable of saving both. Use this list as a jumping-off point to explore some of the most amazing organizations working for a better tomorrow.
Earth Guardians understands that the earth, or what's left of it, will be left to young people. They trains youths around the world to become leaders in the fight for climate justice.
Originally formed in Hawaii in 1992, youths working with Earth Guardians have engaged in direct political advocacy on various topics from sustainable agriculture to waste reduction. In addition to leadership seminars, Earth Guardians engage in strikes, protests, and rallies. They have intergenerational, youth-led groups in over sixty countries and welcome the involvement of community members.
Most of us are familiar with fast fashion, even if we aren’t familiar with the term—cheap, trendy clothes produced in mass quantities (think H&M, Old Navy, Urban Outfitters). But did you know that fast fashion has an enormous impact on the environment? Fashion Revolution is working to change the fashion industry for the better, addressing everything from working conditions to resource conservation to wastefulness.
Most of their active goals focus on education and awareness, but they also strive to encourage greater governmental oversight and pressuring the tastemakers of the fashion industry as a whole to become more conscious and ethical.
If you’ve read our other posts on the importance of pollinators, you already know why protecting native plants is good for the environment. In the early 2000s the word “locavore” was coined to describe a person who eats primarily foods produced locally to them, in the midst of a wave of enthusiasm for reducing the carbon footprint our diets create—which is wonderful, but only part of the solution. Modern agriculture is often destructive to the environment, even when emissions are saved by transporting the food itself only a short distance. Science has proven that we already have the answers—or, at least, our indigenous communities do.
Their traditional wisdom from hundreds or thousands of years of living in balance with their local environment informs foodways that are environmentally friendly—and, often, more nutrient-dense than many standard diets. NATIFS is drawing on that work and helping foster that knowledge in the United States.
Many millennials got their introduction to environmental awareness in childhood—and in those days, it was all about saving the rainforest. Although that goal was far from reached, there’s an argument to be made that this particular era of action essentially birthed the modern conservation movement.
One of the organizations that began during that time is still active, and one you’re probably familiar with if you pay more than glancing attention to the paper towels you buy: Rainforest Alliance. In fact, Rainforest Alliance’s certification programs go beyond paper products to coffee, flowers, produce, soap, etc. Beyond certification and advocacy efforts, Rainforest Alliance also provides training in supply chain management and landscape management globally.
Late 20th century conservation efforts weren’t limited to the rainforest; everyone got an earful about “greenhouse gases,” particularly those linked to fossil fuels (e.g., coal and natural gas). Renewable energy has been around for some time—actually, renewable energy is the oldest form of energy used by humans (think fire or steam)—but some forms, like solar, haven’t become affordable or widespread until the last few decades. Today it’s possible to affordably purchase an individual solar panel that can power your laptop, but that’s a drop in the bucket compared to the energy used by people worldwide—especially in highly developed countries. 350 is an “international movement of ordinary people” working to replace fossil fuels with 100% renewable energy.
The last of the “big three” conservation topics of the late 20th century is the oceans. Millennials and Gen Xers still religiously chop up their plastic soda rings—if they come across cans packed that way, which is far rarer these days—which only goes to show the power awareness campaigns can have. For another example, see the Great Plastic Straw Debate in recent years, and the rise of stainless steel, glass, bamboo, and silicone straws. Oceana, founded by a group of charitable foundations, goes beyond basic advocacy to engaging in legal battles for the protection of our ocean. They tackle multiple facets of ocean conservation, from overfishing to pollution and plastic trash.
The oldest extant conservation organization is American Forests, founded nearly 150 years ago to advocate for healthy tree populations across the United States. Like many organizations, they take a multi-pronged approach to address their mission, which in the face of growing climate pressures includes reforestation, solutions for managing forest fires, and employment opportunities in the forestry industry for underserved populations.
Many people have heard of World Wildlife Fund, but may not know what they actually do. Amazingly, they do a little bit of everything. They have programs and resources to help protect endangered species, oceans, forests, and freshwater resources, and address food scarcity and climate change. They work with scientists, organizations, individuals, corporations, and governments around the globe to achieve major conservation goals.
Another idea exciting conservationists is regenerative agriculture. For those who aren’t familiar with the term, it refers to a group of agriculture practices centered around conservation and rehabilitation (for example, of soil). Biodynamic farming or viticulture is a similar concept you may also have heard of.
Regeneration International is exactly what it sounds like: an international organization focused on promoting regenerative agriculture practices—rejuvenating soil health, ensuring a clean water system, recycling farm waste, composting, and reducing and capturing greenhouse emissions.
We wanted to come full circle here, because, well, the youth really are our future. Climate change is of the utmost concern to Gen Z, which is rapidly becoming known as one of the most educated, aware, and active generations in living history. But as passionate as they may be, their greatest tool is education.
Alliance for Climate Education covers a lot of the same ground as Earth Guardians, but whereas the latter organization is focused more on direct action, ACE brings education to the forefront, partnering with educators across the country and culminating in a fantastic set of climate change educational resources aimed at the next generation.
This is just a few of the groups working hard every day to make sure the pollinators, and the people, have a healthy planet to enjoy.
Before planting, do some research on what is native to your area. Native plants are good for bees and bee-friendly gardens because pollinators have evolved with native plants. As a result, the plants and the bees have both adapted to the climate, seasons, and soils.
Knowing a climate or region’s native plants means that bees know when plants will flower and when they will have nectar and pollen, an important food source for bees. Bees plan their spring emergence based on the weather and when plants are in bloom. With more severe weather, this is getting harder for bees to determine, so native plants are your best bet for attracting more bees. Additionally, non-native plants may not create enough nectar or pollen to sustain pollinators or may be inedible.
Pesticides are a huge threat to bees and other pollinators. Unfortunately, the United States still allows many chemicals that are banned in other parts of the world like the European Union. While you may use pesticides in your garden to deter other unwanted pests, these chemicals can’t discern a slug from honey bees and eliminate all insects from your garden.
Here are a few ways you can keep pests out of your garden naturally.
Be sure to remove decaying plants or fruit right away, keep your compost bin away from your bee garden and if plants appear to be struggling, relocate or remove them. While it’s important to have your compost bin away from flowers, you can use its rich soil, or mulch, to top-dress your plant beds to encourage healthy plant growth.
This one isn’t a sure bet for deterring slugs and snails, but worth a try – some gardeners swear by this easy trick, but different things work for different gardens. You’ll need to give it a shot in your own space to see if it works for you. Copper tape can be fixed around your pots or plant beds to keep out slugs and snails, supposedly creating an unpleasant chemical reaction on their skin, causing them to avoid it.
Using a natural fertilizer like seaweed fertilizer is a great way to nourish plants and promote development. Unlike other fertilizers, seaweed fertilizer has naturally occurring growth stimulants. It’s packed with minerals, complex carbohydrates, and nutrients that will give your plants a much-needed boost and improve crop yield. Plus, it’s a natural deterrent of slugs and snails due to its salt content and crispy edges once dry.
Depending on the size and severity of the pests in your garden, a natural spray may be effective. You can make your own at home; for example, if you have problems with mites, try a spicy pepper spray.
Simply mix two teaspoons of hot pepper sauce with a few drops of biodegradable dish soap and a quart of water and let it sit overnight. The following day, add it to a spray bottle and apply it to your plants.
Other natural options include a neem oil spray, simple soap spray, or even garlic spray to rid your garden of pesky unwelcome insects.
When planting your bee garden, include plants bees love like lavender, sunflowers, and chives. It’s also important to plant flowers that bloom at different times of the year. This way, bees will thrive and visit your garden for food more than just once a year or season.
Having a wide variety of plants in your garden is a great way to promote bee visits to your garden, so why not add some fruits and veggies to your plant beds? This way you not only encourage bees to visit your garden, but you also get delicious food out of it.
Most people don’t enjoy the weeding process of gardening, and now you have an excuse to skip it – plus, the bees will thank you. Bees love certain weeds and wildflowers like dandelions, so let them grow and attract more bees to your garden. Other weeds to consider leaving in the ground are creeping thyme, wild geranium, and bee balm.
Bees are a key part of our ecosystem, so it’s more important than ever to support their population. By planting bee gardens in our homes we create a little haven for this threatened species.
Find out more about the importance of our tiny friends.
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The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation (named for the first butterfly species known to go extinct in North America due to humans) is an international non-profit dedicated to conservation efforts for the bees and beyond.
This many-pronged organization engages not only in raising awareness and political advocacy, but also in incredible community science projects, research, and education. Their FAQ page has a wealth of resources, from where to buy native milkweed seeds, to links to other conservation resources.
Started in 2014 and based in the UK, the World Bee Project uses artificial intelligence and smart sensors to provide data on thousands of bee hives around the globe.
The World Bee Project draws on the same sensor technology individual beekeepers use to monitor their own hives, expanding the reach of this technology and, vitally, providing an AI-driven analysis of all this data in one location.
But it’s not just a cool tech trick. This analysis allows researchers to see real-time data about bees, including the impacts of agriculture, pesticide, disease, and parasites. Technology used by the World Bee Project also helps scientists learn more about bee behavior and communication.
And the more we know about bees and other beneficial insects, the more we can do to save them.
Launched in 2009 by a Cuban-American immigrant, The Bee Conservancy has the dual aim of saving the bees and empowering underserved communities—especially those in urban environments and food deserts—to grow their own food and increase green space in their neighborhoods.
The Bee Conservancy’s two main projects are both rooted in direct action and education. Their Sponsor-a-Hive project grants honeybee hives and custom-built native bee homes to communities across the U.S. and Canada, along with educational materials aimed at encouraging bee stewardship.
Their Bee Sanctuaries are hives and native-bee homes placed in semi-public areas like zoos, urban farms, and roof gardens. The sanctuaries are maintained by the Conservancy’s own beekeepers with the goal of public observation and education, as well as increasing and protecting the native bee population.
There are a ton of wonderful, bee friendly habitat projects, but The Bee & Butterfly Habitat Fund was founded specifically to increase the efficiency and efficacy of habitat regeneration.
Their basic goal is to provide increased access to high-quality nutrition resources for pollinators, which they achieve through partnerships with farms and ranches. The Habitat Fund offers free or discounted seed mixes to stewards of private, public, and corporate lands, along with educational materials to promote the creation and management of pollinator habitat.
In return, landowners allow the Habitat Fund to monitor these plantings to test the efficacy of their program and refine their strategies. Their NextGen “Seed a Legacy” habitat projects use seed mixtures that are optimized for pollinators, offering plants that appeal to a variety of different species as well as flowers that bloom throughout the growing season. By focusing on ease and efficiency, The Bee & Butterfly Habitat Fund makes it simple for landowners to support pollinators.
Bees for Development is a global project aiming to address the dual concerns of biodiversity and poverty by empowering people in impoverished communities to keep bees. Beekeeping can offer a reliable income to people without other resources, and increased stewardship of native pollinators can combat decreasing pollinator populations globally. Bees for Development is special in part because they work with local partners in the communities they serve. As they put it, “We use local skills, local materials, and local bees.”
One organization seemingly doing it all in our neighbor to the north is Pollinator Partnership Canada.
In addition to nationwide and local advocacy projects, they offer special curriculum kits to schools and develop regional planting guides to support pollinators. Their signature initiative is called Bee City Canada, which developed a set of guidelines for creating pollinator habitats that can be used by cities, schools, and First Nations communities who wish to participate. Eligible communities and habitat projects can be recognized as a Bee Partner, Bee City, Bee School, or Bee Campus—since 2015, more than 100 such projects or cities have been granted this designation.
An excellent example of how focusing on a single region can help harness the energy of pollinator protectors is the People and Pollinators Action Network of Colorado.
One thing we hear over and over in pollinator conservation communities is how important it is to focus on local, native species and habitat loss. Every community has its own specific native pollinators, its own particular geography, and its own economic and ecological challenges. By choosing to focus on a single region—city, county, or state—an organization can narrow its focus and potentially become much more efficient. People and Pollinators Action Network works at all levels across Colorado, from individual homeowners to the Colorado Department of Transportation, to increase pollinator habitat.
Two of the United Nations programs have been involved with pollinator protection efforts: the United Nations Development Program, and the United Nations Environment Program. UNEP announced a five-year initiative in 2008 aimed at developing and disseminating “best practices” for maintaining and protecting pollinators.
They have ongoing research projects dedicated to monitoring the status of pollinators worldwide. UNDP is the United Nations program dedicated to ending poverty and protecting the planet, and considers pollinator protection an important part of several of their Sustainable Development Goals—particularly eradicating hunger, providing employment, and increasing biodiversity. UNDP works with communities worldwide on sustainable agriculture and pollinator protection efforts.
Teaching the next generation to love and care for the natural world is crucial if we’re going to save it. The Bee Girl focuses particularly on educating little ones on the importance of bees and their conservation.
This organization is notable for going beyond the “nuts and bolts” of conservation to bringing the beauty and magic of bees and the natural world into the forefront of what they do.
Proof that just one passionate person can make a difference: Me & the Bees Lemonade founder Mikaila.
After having been stung by a bee, a young girl learns all about bees and their importance to our communities. With the encouragement of her family—and an old family recipe for lemonade—she participates in a children’s business competition, and the rest is history. Mikaila’s determination to help save the bees led her to donate a percentage of her profits to organizations starting back when her lemonade was sold at a stand—instead of bottled and sold in stores across Texas.
Now she has launched The Healthy Hive Foundation to increase her impact for bees and their habitats.
]]>Bees and their hives produce honeycomb, honey, bee pollen, and propolis. Honeycomb is made up of hexagonal cells made of beeswax, and used by honey bees to store raw honey, pollen, and larvae.
When you see raw honey at a farmers’ market or health store, it means it hasn’t been pasteurized or filtered. You can enjoy a whole piece of honeycomb as a delicious treat, eating the waxy cells and honey within it, or other bee products on their own. Try them on top of yogurt, toast, or with cheese.
Beehive honey is packed with antioxidants and trace nutrients. Raw honey, as opposed to processed honey, is the most beneficial with protein, vitamins, minerals, and enzymes like glucose oxidase. That’s what gives raw, beehive honey its antimicrobial and antibacterial properties. You likely won’t find these benefits in widely produced commercial honey as the heating and filtering process removes them. So look for raw honey if your aim is to pack more nutrients into your diet.
But while raw honey may be filled with great things, it’s still composed of 95-99% sugar! So you should consume it in moderation.
Honey includes a number of compounds that act as antioxidants in the body. We hear about superfoods like blueberries and pomegranate having high antioxidants, but what is it that antioxidants really do?
Antioxidants reduce oxidative stress in the body by balancing free radicals, which are produced in the metabolic process. An increase in free radicals and oxidative stress can be caused by diet, lifestyle, and even environmental factors like pollution.
By consuming foods high in antioxidants, we can reduce free radicals and therefore oxidative stress that is linked to chronic disease.
Beehive honey also contains vitamins and minerals like calcium, magnesium, potassium, and zinc.
Nothing says “superfood” like the ability to kill bacteria. Honey has been shown to fight off E. Coli and Salmonella and certain types, like Manuka honey from New Zealand, are said to kill staph and digestive bacteria.
Honey has also been shown to soothe sore throats and improve sleep quality better than certain leading cough suppressants and antihistamines.
A study at the University of Memphis demonstrated that honey was comparable, or better than glucose or sugar water in maintaining athletes’ endurance. The studies were funded by the National Honey Board, an “industry-funded agriculture promotion group.”
This one requires more research, but we say it can’t hurt to add some honey to your tea.
Consider adding honey to your diet just like you would other powerhouse foods such as blueberries, broccoli, nuts, and dark green veggies. Incorporating a mix of all of these foods is good for your overall health and can help your body fend off disease.
If you’re adding honey to your diet, remember that you may lose some of the benefits if you heat or cook it into a recipe. Try no-bake desserts like these honey-sweetened peanut butter bars or a honey mustard salad dressing.
Or, make an amazing honey ginger lemonade or even a classic cocktail made with honey syrup.
If you’re a lover of beehive honey and all the benefits it offers, you should know that we’re not guaranteed its supply. As climate change, sprawling agriculture, and the use of harmful pesticides continue to increase and become status-quo, we’re seeing the honey bee population decline. The bees that pollinate our food crops, ensure a balanced ecosystem and of course, create delicious honey are under serious threat with 40% of the bee population disappearing in just the span of one winter from 2018-2019.
Even if you don’t love honey, reversing these statistics is vital to life as we know it. For more information on how you can support the honey bee population, read our blog, “How to Save the Bees in 2021.”
A lot of our fears come from things we don’t fully understand. If you have ever looked at an insect in your garden and wondered about its level of emotion or cognitive ability, you’re not alone.
We know that many animals have feelings or the ability to feel on some level – so what about bees? While honey bees don’t have the same range of feelings as humans, research suggests that honey bees do experience some level of emotions and optimism.
Here are a few reasons to put down your fly swatter and strive to save the bees instead of shoo-ing them away.
Looking to better understand bees, a team of researchers sought to determine if bees can experience positive emotions. “There’s no reason to believe they can’t feel something,” says Clint J. Perry, cognitive neuroethologist at Queen Mary University. Their research demonstrates that bees can experience a sensation similar to optimism.
The experiment included an environment with two bee-sized doors, one with sweetened water and one with plain water. They recorded how long it took the bees to enter a door. Half of the bees entered the door with sweet water and were rewarded with more sweetened water. Another door was offered, and the bees who received the additional sweet water were more likely to “optimistically” fly to the new door.
While this doesn’t immediately determine a honey bee’s level of emotion, the research does show that they possess a level of feeling that we can relate to. Plus, there is more cognitive work going on inside a bee’s sesame-seed-sized brain than we may have thought.
Just because you have an insect that resembles a bee buzzing around doesn’t mean you’ll get stung. First, not all bees can sting and most bees are non-aggressive.
Honey bees often get lumped together with other insects like wasps, which are aggressive and carnivores. Honey bees are omnivores and only female honey bees have stingers. They are unable to sting humans multiple times, however, they can sting other insects more than once. This is because our skin is thick, and once stung, the barbs of their stingers get stuck and without their stinger, they die.
Next time you fear a nearby bee, consider just how much they work they do for us humans. Did you know that bees are directly responsible for one-third of all the foods we eat? They also pollinate 100 important crops like coffee, mangoes, blueberries, and forage for livestock. This means that bees are an integral part of our agriculture industry and our food security. Without them, we would miss many of our favorite foods and face grave economic and social consequences.
Not only do honey bees pollinate the crops we rely on for global agriculture and our food supply, but they also create their own superfoods.
Of course, you know they produce honey and you may have enjoyed bee pollen on an acai bowl, which is thought to provide energy and have anti-aging abilities. They also make propolis, a glue-like substance made from bee’s saliva and beeswax that is thought to have antiviral properties.
While you may not see them working away often or firsthand, these tiny insects are busy being super-effective pollinators and contributing valuable resources to our ecosystem.
The world’s bee population is rapidly declining as a result of climate change. In 2019, the honey bee population fell by as much as 30 percent.
Honey bees are facing several threats including more severe weather, lack of habitat to pollinate, and a deadly external parasite called the Varroa mite. Becoming more common with rising temperatures, the Varroa destructor causes malformed bees and can be detrimental to a hive.
Luckily, we can help. Start by planting a bee-friendly garden, educate your friends and family on the importance of bees, buy organic and encourage your community to stop using pesticides. You can also use Perpetual Pollen’s Everbee solution in your yard to combat honey bees' biggest threat, the Varroa mite. It’s the first science-back consumer product to help save the bees and launches soon.
We know the thought of getting stung is never fun, but there’s so much more to the honey bee than its ability to sting. If you’re ever feeling wary of a bee buzzing in your garden think about how they’re optimistic, just like us. Give them space, don’t swat at them, and say thanks for all that they do for our planet.
]]>Bees are the most common pollinators, meaning they spread pollen when they travel between flowers. This process is essential to growing some of our favorite foods, like cucumbers and pumpkins.
If you’re seeing fewer bees in your garden year after year, you’re not alone. Honey bee populations have been collapsing at an alarming rate in the past few years. Scientists don’t know exactly why the collapse was so sudden, but they do know the parasitic mite Varroa destructor and pesticides are two of the biggest reasons.
Scientists and farmers alike are scared by the drastic collapse of honey bee populations. Not only are bees essential to create honey, but they are also responsible for growing some of our most important (and beloved) foods, like almonds, avocados, and blueberries.
When bees go between flowers to feed on nectar, they also transfer pollen from plant to plant. This process, called pollination, is essential to growing robust, healthy foods in our gardens.
Some common garden plants – like cucumbers, zucchini, and pumpkins– need pollination to grow fruit. They have male and female plants, and in order to reproduce (or grow fruit), these plants need bees to transfer pollen from the male flower to the female flower. Cucumbers may still grow even when it’s only partially pollinated. But partial pollination stunts growth, so your fruit may be smaller than expected. Full pollination, on the other hand, produces larger fruits. When bees move from flower to flower, they simultaneously feed on nectar and pollinate your plants. Bees and humans both rely on the plants, and each other, to survive.
Other plants – like tomatoes and peppers – are self-pollinating. Each flower has male and female reproductive parts, so they can grow fruit without pollination. But with bees, these plants grow more fruits and increase your yield.
Bees and other pollinators transfer pollen between flowers in your garden in a process called cross-pollination. Cross-pollination creates greater genetic diversity and improves the quality of seeds. This means that your future plants will have greater disease resistance and higher productivity.
Creating a bee-friendly garden can help you eliminate pesticides. If you grow tomatoes, peppers, or potatoes, you’ve probably dealt with hornworms. Hornworms are a common garden pest species that feed on the foliage and fruits of various plants.
Hornworms are tough to spot. Make sure to look out for spotty and chewed leaves, white cocoons, or wilted leaves to see if your garden is infested. There are various options to eliminate hornworms, from handpicking to insecticide. But if you’re like us, insecticides and pesticides are a no-go for our garden.
The solution? Bees!
Pollinators fly around, hunt, and help to control harmful garden pests. Not only do you get rid of pests, but you eliminate the use of harmful pesticides and insecticides. That’s an obvious win-win for us.
Bees and other pollinators contribute so much to our lives. From more robust gardens to our daily cup of coffee, bees are essential to our food ecosystem. Despite their incredible work, bee populations are currently in decline.
With everything bees do for us, it’s our turn to give back.
We may not be able to solve the bee problem, but our individual choices still matter. As homesteaders, we can choose bee-friendly flowers, group the same plants together, and eliminate the use of pesticides.
Honeybees are dying at an increasing rate. In 2019 alone, around 40 percent of the honey bee population collapsed.
There are many reasons that contribute to colony collapse, including climate change, decreasing crop diversity, habitat loss, and viruses. Extreme weather and rising temperatures make it harder for bees to navigate ecosystems.
Rising temperatures also give rise to parasite populations, including the Varroa destructor. As its name implies, Varroa destructors infest honey bee hives and kill worker bees. Without worker bees, honey bee hives make less honey, and the entire colony can collapse and die within just a few seasons.
The bee problem is pressing. Fortunately, you can take action to save the bees right in your backyard.
Choose the right flowers and plants for your garden and backyard. Planting bee-friendly flowers is not only beautiful, but it helps bees thrive. Choose flowers like lavenders, sunflowers, chives, and zinnias for your garden. Not only are these flowers vibrant and colorful additions to your backyard garden, but they also attract bees and promote cross-pollination.
If you have a lawn, skip mowing and let the grass grow. Dandelions, milkweed, clovers, and other flowering weeds are actually beneficial for the ecosystem. When you skip mowing the lawn, you create more food sources for bees and do your part to save the bees.
Finally, don’t use pesticides, herbicides, or other chemicals in your garden. Neonicotinoids, the most popular class of pesticides, are a leading suspect in the disappearing bee population. These same chemicals are found in pesticides and insecticides at home garden centers and nurseries.
When you eliminate pesticides, you create a healthier garden both for yourself and pollinators. Organic gardens also promise healthier, more natural foods. When you stop using pesticides, you know exactly what is in the food you eat. It also stops chemicals from making their way into our water and soil resources.
You can also use Perpetual Pollen’s Everbee solution in your yard to combat the honey bee’s most existential threat, the Varroa mite. It’s the first science-back consumer product to help save the bees and launches soon.
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Most people learn the basics of pollination in school, but have you considered just how important pollinators are to our ecosystem?
There are lots of pollinators in our ecosystem including bees, bats, hummingbirds, and butterflies. They carry pollen on their bodies as they travel from plant to plant, allowing for the transfer of genetic material that is key to the reproduction of most flowering plants.
An estimated 78-94% of flowering plants are pollinated by insects and animals. These plants make up much of the food we eat and contribute to clean air, prevent soil erosion, support other wildlife, and protect from severe weather.
Honey bees gather pollen with combs of bristles called pollen baskets on their legs. As they visit plants, they collect pollen and pass it between plants. As a result, the plants are fertilized and pollination has occurred. While all pollinators are a valuable part of a healthy ecosystem, bees carry the biggest responsibility.
Here’s why:
Bees are considered the most effective pollinators because they visit so many flowers and spend much of their life collecting pollen. They also focus on one type of flower at a time, so that plant gets cross-pollinated. Some flowers require cross-pollination for fertilization, making the bee’s work invaluable for ensuring vibrant seeds grow from that plant.
More than 100 important crops are pollinated by honey bees, including fruits and vegetables, seeds, coffee, and forage for livestock. This means that 1 in 3 bites of food rely on bees and they contribute 15 billion dollars to the global economy.
Many of our favorite foods like vanilla, avocados, and strawberries would not survive without pollination. Without bees to pollinate crops, the world would face widespread food insecurity.
As the Earth’s climate changes, the honey bee population falls. Extreme weather, shrinking habitats, and increased risk of disease have made Earth less hospitable to one of our most vital creatures. In 2019, the honey bee population fell by as much as 30 percent.
Bees are also plagued by an external parasite called the Varroa mite, which has become more prominent with rising temperatures. These mites are deadly to a hive and are one of the honey bee’s most concerning threats.
As climate change continues, we can expect to see the honey bee population continue to decline and as a result, changes to our ecosystem. Luckily, steps to reverse climate change will also help save the bees.
While it can feel overwhelming to help save the bees, there are lots of everyday measures you can adopt right in your own home that help the population and our overall ecosystem.
A great place to start is by planting a garden or planter boxes to add green space and a location for bees to land and pollinate. Remember: don’t use pesticides as they not only kill the insects you don’t want in your garden but the good ones too.
Honey bees thrive when they can pollinate many flowers across the growing season. Be sure to plant flowers with overlapping blooms.
Additionally, don’t forget to buy local and organic when at the grocery store. Buying local results in fewer climate-change-causing emissions used and organic means another step of your consumption didn’t involve pesticides.
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Imagine that a small city has been built in the center of a vast valley where butterflies used to freely live, scavenge, and reproduce. The lack of green space in this city means there is little food or shelter for these butterflies, so rather than crossing the valley the butterflies all stay on their own side of the valley. Now, instead of one large population of butterflies, there are two small populations. And because there is no pathway for the butterflies to reach one another, there is little or no exchange between the two groups.
The genetic diversity of each group has been reduced.
First envisioned by Sarah Bergmann, pollinator pathways corridors of pesticide-free land, filled with native plants, that provide safe, beautiful paths between two larger pollinator habitats (such as meadows, parks, or farmland).
These corridors provide a way for pollinator populations to meet, increasing the diversity of all populations and, over time, helping grow them back to healthy levels.
Plus, pollinator pathways offer additional sources of food and shelter, both vital and rare in urban areas.
This may require a little research, and is a great way to get to know your local community!
Pollinators require spaces to forage, and spaces to nest. Good foraging spots will have a variety of plants—flowers, shrubs, and trees—offering pollen and nectar at different times throughout the growing season. Nesting sites may include dead trees, well-shaded ground, and tall, grassy areas.
Wander around your community and take note of places where you see pollinators congregating—a vacant lot or undeveloped meadow behind a local park, a wildlife preserve or state or county park, or even large patches of land abutting private property may be ideal pollinator habitats.
The key to a useful pollinator pathway is making sure that each “stop” on your path is within easy flying distance for your native pollinators. This can vary quite widely. Consider that a bumblebee may travel as little as 300 feet for food, whereas some honey bees may travel up to 4 miles away from their hives.
This would be a great time to talk to a local ecologist or biologist in your area, as they may already know everything you’ll need to know about your local pollinator populations.
Once you have identified your local pollinators, it's time to figure out your local native plants. you can figure out what they like to eat—and where they like to nest, and to rest.
In general, native plants will be the best options to provide pollinators in your community with optimal nutrition. You aren’t restricted to native plants, but if you want to branch out, be sure to choose non-invasive, drought-friendly species.
Try to include a variety of plants on your list, including flowers of various shapes as well as shrubs, and plants that flower in the spring, in the summer, and in the fall.
The Pollinator Partnership has a searchable database of pollinators and the plants they love, and there's even a downloadable app.
This is probably going to be the toughest part of your project, but now that so many are aware of the dangers of decreasing pollinator populations, some of the hard work has already been done for you.
Before you actually plant anything, you’ll need to know where you are legally able to plant. While we might personally support guerrilla seed-bombing, it’s important to remember that if someone doesn’t know about your pollinator pathway project, they might inadvertently mow down your nice new butterfly oasis!
Besides, getting support from your community is the best way to make your pollinator pathway successful, permanent, and hopefully, just the first of many.
For this step, you might need to get in touch with your local city or county government. Try contacting your local Parks Department to see if they have existing programs you could collaborate with. There might also be local conservation groups or Scout troops involved in increasing pollinator habitats that you could work with. Research local laws about public land in your area and see if you are able to plant on any publicly owned lands.
See if you can figure out who owns a specific lot or farm and get in touch to ask them if they’ll grant permission for you to include some of their land in your pollinator pathway. They might even offer to help! Depending on the pollinator habitats you’d like to connect, this could be an amazing neighborhood project. Go ahead and get to know your neighbors! Teach them about pollinator pathways and ask which of them might be willing to create a pollinator garden in their yard.
Once you have a pathway mapped out—and permission for creating pollinator pit stops in the locations you chose—you can plan out what you’d like in each spot. At some spots, all you may need to do is maintenance. If you’ve located a spot that already has pollinator-friendly plants, you might be able to get permission to fence off a portion of it so that it stays unmowed, or to install a sign letting others know that the land is part of a pollinator pathway.
You can check on spots like this occasionally, if you’ve gotten permission to do so, to remove any invasive plants that may have started to grow.
If you need help paying for native plants, fencing, or signs, start with your community. See if your city, county, or state offers grants for small projects like yours that would help with your expenses. Ask local nurseries or hardware stores if they would be willing to donate plants or other materials. Some neighbors who can’t or don’t want to put pollinator-friendly gardens in their own yards might donate some money to help you purchase plants.
And don’t discount the power of crowdfunding—post about your project in local Facebook groups and you might find more offers of help and financing than you expect.
When you have gathered all the plants and other materials you need, you can start planting and getting your pollinator pathway going.
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