Why and How to Get Involved
Now You Can Help Bees – and Your Community
“If you have bees, you’ve made sure that your neighbors within a three to five mile radius will have fruit in their orchard and vegetables in their garden. Keeping bees is not just about honey and pollinating your property, it’s really a service to the community.” – Thomas Mani
Why Care For The Honey Bees
Honey bees pollinate over 130 plants for our nutritional benefit. One third of the food we eat depends on bee pollination.
The decline of the honey bee population in the US is caused by many factors.
Most importantly: Habitats of pollinating insects like the honey bee are disappearing. Modern, industrialized agriculture renders massive area of monoculture inhabitable for honey bees and other pollinators. Because bees cannot live there all year long they have to be brought in by migratory commercial beekeepers for the short blooming period where pollination has to take place. As industrialized agriculture is not the solution for producing healthy food, commercial beekeeping is not the solution for sustainable beekeeping in our communities.
We, as communities in rural, suburban or urban areas need to take on the task to keep honey bees around us and provide an inhabitable environment for honey bees. We need more stationary bee hives in our diverse, less polluted rural, suburban or even urban environment.
How You Can Help
There are many ways you can participate. Choose your level of participation based on how much time, energy and money you have to invest.
Install hives on your property and tend them yourself. If you choose to go this route, Bee4Ever Apiary can provide consulting services. These include advice, assistance if you encounter a problem and help with special tasks like moving hives or extracting honey. Important note: be realistic about how much time you have.
“ Having bees is time-consuming so if you choose to manage them yourself, there is a lot of time you need to spend during spring, summer and fall to manage the hives. Don’t be surprised by how much time it takes. That’s why the service Thomas provides is imperative for people who work full time.” – Megan Lane, client
Install hives on your property and let Bee4ever Apiary tend them for you. This option works best for people with limited time. contracting services include installation and ongoing maintenance and extraction.
“I was traveling and I was so busy that I didn’t have time to deal with the maintenance part of the bees. Thomas is so knowledgeable. I’ve used his service in many different ways.”- Margo Mansfield, client
- Sponsor a Hive This is a great option for businesses who want to support a hive or hives. Learn about the three ways to sponsor a hive
- Plant Bee-Friendly Plants. Click here for a list of 142 bee friendly plants.
- Other activities Make your lawn more bee friendly by allowing dandelions, clover and other weeds grow. Even better: create a small bee habitat by maintaining a wildflower patch. The products and methods that you use in your garden matter. Avoid pesticides, especially insecticides of the neonicotionoid family. Last but not least: If you know a beekeeper in your neighborhood, support him or her. Buy their honey instead of going to the stores that may sell honey from all over the world adulterated with ingredients like corn syrup, molasses and may have up to 25% water content. Every beekeeper is happy to have a little income that helps covering the expenses.