Showing posts with label bees. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bees. Show all posts

August 14 - Honey Spas in Russia and Ukraine

  Posted on August 14, 2022     

This is an update of my post published on August 14, 2011:




As always, since the wrongful invasion of Ukraine by the Russian government under Vladimir Putin in February of this year (2022), I want to emphasize that talking about Russian people and Russian culture is difficult, right now - I stand emphatically with Ukraine! - but many of the Russian people are innocent of wrong doing and as against the war as most of the rest of the world is. Note that one of the many overlaps between Russian and Ukrainian culture is this holiday!!

Traditionally, "Honey Spas" is the day on which Russian people gather honey and have it blessed in the church, and then (of course) enjoy eating the honey!


Why this day? The story goes that on August 14, swallows fly away for the winter. Vacant swallow nests resemble honeycombs, and so this date also marks the beginning of the honey harvest.

It seems to me quite early to be talking about the end of summer, the beginning of fall, and the harvest season. Here in Southern California, it will probably be warm-to-hot until mid-October. Or later! However, much of Russia is at relatively high latitudes and far inland, away from the ocean's temperature-moderating effect.

At any rate, I love a good excuse to eat honey! Here is a recipe website.







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May 20 - World Bee Day

Posted on May 20, 2020


There's a lot of love going out to bees these days. Have you noticed?

Bees have been dying, and species of bees are endangered (and in some cases extinct). There's a weird colony collapse disorder - most of the worker bees in a honey bee colony suddenly disappearing - and there are so-called murder hornets, which attack and feed on bees. Sometimes so-called killer bees invade an area - and when that happens, loads of people end up wiping out all bees out of fear. 

All of that is dramatic and bad enough, but there are also huge problems with honey bees' habitats being paved over or built on, and climate change is of course giving bee species and other species problems.

But we all depend on the survival of bees. So much of our food depends on honey bees! Of course there is the honey itself, but many of the fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts we eat are pollinated by bees! 

Also, many plants in wild habitats also depend on bees to pollinate their flowers, grow their seeds, and start a new generation of plants. If bees suddenly disappeared, we would soon see plants dying, and the animals that depended on those plants would also die - and poof! Our biodiversity would soon be a lot less. We depend on biodiversity for medicines and also for healthy and constantly-adapting ecosystems. 

Bees are not the only pollinators; hummingbirds, bats, and butterflies are other examples of animals that pollinate plants. About 90% of all wild plants depend on animal pollination, and about 75% of the world's food crops do, too!

Yi-ikes!

Here is the U.N. website about World Bee Day. Hopefully you can dedicate some money or time to helping bees and thereby helping all of us!

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July 10 - Don't Step on a Bee Day


Posted on July 10, 2019



Two good reasons NOT to step on a bee:

(1) You don't want to be stung. Especially not on your foot.

(2) Bees are in trouble. And they are super-duper precious to the world and specifically to humans!

I guess I don't have to say anything more about #1. Right? Even if you're not allergic to bee stings (if you are, use your epipen and seek medical help immediately), they swell and they hurt! 

But, as to #2:

You probably know that bees make honey. People love honey! 


Also, consider beeswax, the natural wax created by honeybees. The bees use it to build honeycomb cells in which they store honey and raise their young. WE use it in a bunch of ways: to make candles, cosmetics, lip balm, lotions, medicines, paint, shoe polish, furniture polish, surfboard wax, rosin, and much more; to do resist-dye art forms like psanky (Eastern European Easter egg decorations) and batik (decorated cloth); to seal letters and formal decrees; to coat cheese and glaze or coat certain foods.


But most important for the world in general and humans in particular: 


Bees pollinate so many plants!

Scientists estimate that bees pollinate about 80% of the world's plants, including many food crops. We truly do need honeybees!! 

We don't know how many bees there are in the world.
An educated guess puts the number at something like
100 trillion. Until we build 100 trillion of the little robot
pollinators pictured above, we are going to need to take
good care of our bees!

Bee populations go up and down with environmental conditions, but recently we have had some major losses, probably due to a lot of factors combining into one big problem. Some of the factors putting pressure on bees include pesticides, loss of habitat, and climate change. There have been problems with pests and parasites such as a particular mite and a particular fungus, and once in a while a new virus comes along and wreaks havoc on bee populations.

Wild bees are in more danger than are domesticated honeybees. Here are some things we can do to help them. 

Big picture: if we try to fight climate change AND try to clean up our air, water, and food supply, we will make things better for bees, and for all of us.







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