Honey Bees
Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities
—His eternal power and divine nature—
have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made
so that people are without excuse.
Romans 1:20
Few things fill up my bucket like being out in creation, particularly on a sunny day, which is why I LOVE raising honey bees. These teeny tiny creatures are fascinating. Apart from making sticky sweet golden honey they are completely vital to the health of our planet. Just google the honey bee and you can find 101 amazing facts about them.
A few of my favorite things about bees...
Honey bees are the only insect to produce food for man. And the only creature to create food that includes all the substances necessary to sustain life.
A honey bee’s sense of smell is insane! From miles away the bee can differentiate between hundreds of different varieties of flowers.
The honey bee buzz? It’s their wings. They can fly up to 15mph.
The hive is completely run by female worker bees. Drawing out comb, raising baby bees, making honey, guarding the hive...all females. In fact the male bee (drone) only has one job, mating. Once the queen has mated the drones are driven from the hive. So interesting!
Beeswax. The shape of honeycomb. The smell of honeycomb. It is so unique and just so lovely!
My number one reason for raising bees? Pollination power of course! The honey bee visits 50-100 plants in a single trip. The garden is my happy place and the honeybees keep it thriving!
Naturally it is extremely important to me that I teach my children the difference between bees and other winged creatures and the importance of caring for our bees. Bees have a bad wrap because of their distant relatives; wasps and hornets. Both wasps and hornets are more aggressive than bees and can both sting and bite. Wasps will often sting multiple times while the honey bee can only sting once. Wasps not only attack mammals they also commonly attack other insects and honey bee hives as well. Honey bees on the other hand are not so easily provoked. They will sting if swatted at but generally only attack if they feel they feel a threat to their hive.
I've taught my kids that the bees are foraging for nectar and good pollen to make themselves and us honey for winter. They are just stopping by to see if you are a flower. We have a saying in our house to help keep calm when a bee lands on us. “Just ignore the honey bee and he will ignore me.” It’s not rocket science but it works for my kids. Quincy calmly made the 2 hour trek to help me pick up our bees this spring. He sat beside the bees and chatted with them about their new home.
Of course I encourage any one with an interest to give raising honey bees a shot! The intricacies of these fascinating creatures are just a snapshot into the heart of our creator. You can't help but feel awe toward Him and these creatures as you learn to "keep" them. So I had to encourage my tinkering, farm-loving, always learning little brother to try.
I'm almost certain that he'll be teaching me by next spring! He is always learning. Really, I consider myself a novice here in South Dakota but I did learn a lot in my three years keeping bees in Washington. The delicate life of a honey bee is so complex I don't know that I will ever consider myself a master beekeeper. But I want to keep learning and so we've installed our first two SD hives.
If you have an interest or just want to see the bees in action just stop by the farm or give me a shout!
And remember to bee kind to the honey bees!