Roger and Hayley Mason from Settler Bee Hives. Photo: Sabine Bannard.
While you were distracted by toilet paper, a real battle to save the world has been raging, and here’s how you can help without leaving home.
The world’s bee population is in rapid decline, and homeowners can help to turn this around.
Hayley Mason of Settler Hives, a beekeeper in Toowoomba, said planting a bee-friendly garden would help to stop the decline in bee colonies.
“Not so long ago (2006) the world officially renamed an abnormal phenomenon of disappearing bees calling it the Global Colony Collapse Disorder,” she said.
“There was a major rise, especially in North America and Europe, of worker bees in colonies just disappearing, leaving behind a queen. The number of disappearances and losses was alarming enough to tip the balance of major farming produce concerns globally. One in every three bites of food we eat is pollinated by bees.
She said by feeding bees people were ultimately helping to feed themselves.
“We can’t bring bees back to life, but we can keep more fromgettingkilled,she said
Ms Mason said creating a bee-friendly garden is simple. “All you need is a spot with half a day of sun (about six hours) and some good soil in a pot if you don’t have a patch of land. Last year we dug up our lawn in the front garden, which meant less mowing, and more bees and butterflies.
“Planting seeds is a cheaper way to have more (bee-friendly flowers) in the garden and is a very satisfying process.”
From the time of planting, it can takes as little as three months for flowers to bloom.
Ms Mason set up Settler Hives with her husband Roger. While they have their own beehives, the business also sells flowers, herbs, and garden green seeds sourced from the best seed houses in the world.
“The business idea of feeding the bees stemmed from our realisation of how hard the honey bees have got
“We noticed this more when we started to manage our first couple of beehives, while we were living on a blueberry farm in a barn in Canada.
“Here in Australia the impact of the drought, bushfires and the long list of diseases that bees are up against all have an impact on the health of a beehive.
Ms Mason said by planting more flowers and not just the typical drought-resistant succulents, one could enjoy the satisfaction of the fresh blooms, for themselves and for the bees.
“It’s also helping to shape a positive culture of getting outside,” she said.
“We have always focused on what’s most important to us – being together, being in nature, freedom and experiences. So we are constantly making changes to our lives to fit these desires. Now we just keep bees, we feed them”.
Hayley Mason from Settler Hives says by feeding bees people are ultimately helping to feed themselves. Photo: Sabine Bannard.
KEEP IN MIND
Bees need a variety of flowers to visit to keep maximum nutritional diet just like us. They’ll visit just one variety of flower per foraging trip at a time and usually it’s what is in the largest volume of bloom. But they do very much benefit out of your own home vegetable patch (like cucumbers, tomatoes, strawberries). A variety of flowers they will be most attracted to include lavender, cosmos, salvia, poppies, Queen Anne’s lace, sunflowers and alyssum.
HOW TO PROTECT BEES
1. Think about their little stripes and tiny pollen ‘pants’ next time you eat some of the following; strawberries, kiwifruit, potatoes, cashews, mustard, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, papaya, watermelon, coconut, coffee beans, cucumber, carrot, pumpkin, limes, lemons, buckwheat … we could go on. 2. Savour every last drop of honey including that fingernail worth left on the spoon you were about to rinse down the kitchen sink. That is the amount one honey bee makes in its entire lifetime. Incredible – the power of a working colony huh. 3. Eat honey that you know came from a beekeeper within a 50km radius of you. You’ll benefit from the surrounding pollens great for allergies and packed with nutrients. Source: Settler Hives
