My husband and I purchased some farmland a few years ago. We decided to use the land for trails, raising chickens, gardening and building bee colonies. Our family is enjoying this land and all the different things we can do with it. I recently heard about the decline of the bee population and how important their work is to the environment. This gave me the idea that it might be fun and interesting to have our own honey bees.
A great book that we used to get started was The Backyard Beekeeper. This book provides information ranging from everything beekeeping to making your own beeswax candles! It is full of many interesting facts about these amazing insects!
The first year our bees produced over 100 pounds of honey and we are on schedule to produce at least that much again this year. I get so excited when I can use the honey my bees produce in recipes, one of my favorites is this pear and pancetta appetizer. Anyway, I would love to share with you some really interesting fun facts about bees:
1.) Did you know that bees are the only insect in the world that make food that people can eat? It is helpful for allergies, healing salve for cuts and burns, can be used as a cough suppressant and promotes relaxation and restful sleep.
2.) A colony of bees contain between 20,000 and 60,000 bees but only ONE queen bee!
3.) A bee’s wings beat 190 times a SECOND and 11,400 times in a minute!
4.) The queen bee can lay over 1,200 eggs a day!
5.) Bee’s communicate by smells called pheromones and by performing a special dance.
6.) In a colony each bee has a job; some of them are guards who will kill other bees if they try to enter their colony.
7.) It takes around 1,000 bees to make a pound of honey and they have to visit approximately 4 million flowers.
8.) Depending on the flowers used to make the honey it will taste different. (Last year our adjacent farm produced beans and this year it is producing corn. There is a distinct difference in the taste of the honey year over year.)
9.) One of the coolest things about honey is it contains all of the substances needed to sustain life! It has enzymes, water, minerals and vitamins.
10.) One bee will only make 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey during its entire life span.
11.) Honey has natural preservatives so it will not go bad.
I have to admit I have become a bee “nerd” because there are so many interesting and fascinating facts about them. Unfortunately, climate change, habitat fragmentation (parasites and diseases) and industrial agricultural practices (bee harming chemicals) all affect the declining population of bees. After the first season of owning bees, they were destroyed by a parasite, so we purchased another colony and started over this year. I’m hoping that we don’t have the same issue again this winter. Either way, I am happy that we are able to help the environment and also produce some healthy honey for our friends and family.
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