Plants and pollinators (like bees) have a mutualistic relationship. Pollinators benefit by feeding on nectar and pollen provided by flowers. In return they transfer pollen as they move from flower to flower, leading to fertilization, successful seed development, and fruit production.
Most flowering plants rely on pollinators for reproduction. Bees, birds, butterflies, moths, hover flies, wasps, hummingbirds, and certain bats are just a few of the many pollinators in our environments. Unfortunately, pollinators worldwide are declining due to habitat loss and other factors. This decline affects flowering plants and humans alike, as we depend on pollinators for food and ecosystem health.
Bees are some of the best pollinators and are essential for crop production with foods like coffee, tomatoes, and cocoa being dependent on them.
Having beehives in your garden can significantly increase overall pollination resulting in healthier yields and more abundant harvests. Becoming a beekeeper, whether it is for the pollination of your fruit trees, or to enjoy the sweet reward of honey, or for the mental health benefits, one cannot help but become more aware of the wider world around us. Holding a frame of honeybees for the first time often induces a sense of wonder and awe. The gentle honeybee continues about her work with efficiency and diligence, paying no mind to the large human hovering above.
Beekeeping encourages mindfulness and a heightened sense of awareness. Spending time with bees, weather it is observing in the environment or tending to backyard hives can be a calming experience, reducing oneβs stress, anxiety, and depression.
Gardening like Beekeeping offers us an opportunity to slow down and to connect with the natural world around us. The feeling of excitement and joy when we observe a seeds that has just sprouted and begins to emerge from the soil. Or when we observe a newly hatched bee emerging from itβs hexagonal cell. The beginning of life taking form right there at our fingertips. To step into the garden is to become immersed in the natural world, listening to the birdsong going on around us induces feelings of calm and relaxation. We become engrossed in our tending of the land or the bees and slip into a state of flow and detachment from all that is not in the present moment before us. We are offered countless opportunities for learning and growth. The honeybee can become a gateway into another world, one where we are all connected and what affects one affects all.
The relationship between bee and garden is a mutually beneficial one and when we encourage the growth of one, we inadvertently encourage the growth of the other.