Sorry, I posted the wrong version of my bee story earlier. Here’s an update.

“If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live.” Albert Einstein

Thanks to my friend in Croatia, Robyn Vulinovich for posting this quote on Facebook.  It is a frightening reality. We all know the bee situation has been getting grimmer by the year due to the widespread use of pesticides in industrial farming, but what can we do about it?

   It’s simple really.  Avoid using chemical pesticides and herbicides – where possible garden organically, practice companion planting (more on that soon), use garlic sprays instead of chemicals and put up with a few imperfections on your fruit and veges as they did in the olden days! Naturally, this doesn’t stop the industrial scale spraying which is where the big problem lies, but if we all become aware and do our little bit to provide natural food sources, it all helps. Plant flowering plants wherever you can to provide food for bees in your garden.  Don’t deadhead until you absolutely must … I know the floppy old lambs ears are irritating, but the bees continue to feed on them for weeks and weeks.  If you are interested in keeping bees in your garden, and the thought of your own homemade honey sounds appealing, we will soon have a hive set up at The Potting Shed to show you the components required and we can order them in for you.

Here’s a link that will help you understand what’s involved. Meantime, next time you see bees in your garden, be aware of the huge problem that faces them worldwide, read up on it and go out and buy lots of honey!  Use it in place of refined sugar and smother it on your toast each morning to help keep the Australian bee industry strong.