Celebrating Honey and Bee Aware Month
September is Bee Aware Month and we have been celebrating bee’s, their caretakers – the invaluable, caring beekeepers and of course HONEY!
What better country to visit, to taste and discover the multiple variations of honey, but New Zealand of course- read our most popular blog on our website ‘6 Types of Honey from New Zealand’ from our infamous Manuka to Kamahi and our Wildflower honey’s and their distinctive tastes.
Bee Aware Month is an initiative by Apiculture NZ and is a full month dedicated to promotional work dedicated to “Bee Health” and educating the public on how they themselves can help protect NZ’s healthy bee population. Although New Zealand’s bee population is generally fairly healthy we do have more threats to be aware of than ever before including bio-security, disease, bugs and pesticide. Bees of course are needed for pollination so that we can consume the delicious fruits and food that we so love including Avocado’s, Strawberries, Kiwifruit, Apples, Nuts, Coffee and even Chocolate!
And there are 3 easy ways that YOU can help!
BEE FOOD – plant bee friendly gardens. Visit your local garden centre and ask them to suggest some plants for you
HYDRATION – Bee’s need to drink water too in order to survive! Provide fresh, clean water for the bees. And put pebbles and / or twigs in the water so that they have somewhere to rest while they drink (and don’t drown).
SAFE SPRAYING – don’t spray your garden with harmful pesticides. Do you actually need to spray? But if you do, don’t spray when the plants are in flower or bees are present. Best time of the day to spray is at sunrise or dusk when the bees are in their hives and the flowers are still closed and sleeping.
So go on, try out some of the recipes on the blog, go plant some bee friendly plants in the garden, join us on a tour sampling this precious liquid gold and celebrate our bees!