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Give Bees A Chance, World Bee Day
Written By: Katie Wall | Issue: 2018/05 - May | Photograph By: Charles Johnson
World Bee Day − what is it? And why do the honey bees need to bee recognized?
Well, to be quite frank, where have you been? Bees are the pollinators of approximately one third of all the food we eat. Or thinking globally, honey bees are responsible for 90 percent of global nutrition or three quarters of the world’s food crop! Wonderful foods like berries(blue, black, cran, and raspberry), plums, watermelon, peaches, apples, cantalope, squash, soybeans, cherries, almonds, pumpkins, etc. Imagine a world without these foods. I am serious. Bees are important.
So how did we come to have World Bee Day?
“After over three years of efforts a resolution to declare 20 May World Bee Day was unanimously adopted within the Economic and Financial Committee (Second Committee) of the UN General Assembly in New York on 17 November. It is supported by all UN Member States, with 115 states being co-signatories or the so-called co-sponsors of the resolution, including the largest states such as the USA, Canada, China, Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, India and all EU Member States.” This right off the website worldbeeday.org
World Bee Day recognizes the importance of the honey bee. The beekeepers, commercial and hobbyist, are losing upwards of 40 percent of their bees each year. Between the overuse of pesticides, herbicides, lack of habitat, and the pests that bees now endure, it is a constant battle to keep a colony of bees through the winter.
There are some things we can all do to help the honey bees. For example, use only a licensed pesticide person. Or for DIY’ers: Do not spray on blooming plants. Spray in the late evening after the bees go home. Use less, not more. Spray liquids over dusting, it looks like pollen! Round up–type herbicides are not as harmful if used at half strength. Plant native and nectar-bearing plants.
Support your local beekeeper, buy local honey from them. Look for ‘certified’ NC honey. And by all means, come to a bee club meeting. We meet the first Thursday of the month in the Extension office at 193 Thomas Heights Road in Franklin. Like us on Facebook: maconcountybeekeepers. #worldbeeday; abfnet.org;
ncbeekeepers.org.
