If I had a bit of land, I think I’d want to have an apiary. Just a small one, nothing commercial size. I’d want to surround my hypothetical property with a decent variety of flowering trees, bushes, herbs, and plants. Build a lovely little bee friendly kingdom.
However, I live in a the suburbs and I’m sure my neighbors wouldn’t appreciate the gentled constant hum of the buzz buzz buzz.
A few days ago , while we were at our community pool, I noticed a single bee floating in the middle of the pool. EEEK, it was in the deep end and wasn’t wearing any swimmies! I asked the kiddo to rescue that little friend, who was clearly stranded and in need of assistance.
NOTE TO SELF: Sometimes, you have to stop and take notice of the little things that happen in life. Appreciate them for what they are.
and sure I’m talking about BEES,
and this is not a bee…
but dragonflies are pretty awesome to look at.
I’m happy that the kiddo didn’t even think twice or flinch when I asked her to get the bee out of the water. She just scooped up the bee and let the water drain away from her hands. The bee was clearly grateful and didn’t want to leave the safe haven of those helpful fingers.
Once safely on the concrete, the show began: preening, cleaning and drying off. That little be began to shake off all the microscopic water droplets, getting ready to take flight once again. That dance of shake shake – shake shake, shake it, lasted about 5 minutes. I watched the entire time. Wings were intact and dry, however that fuzzy little body needed to loose some water weight!
Since I was so entertained with this little pollen and nectar collector, I’ve decided that there’s a small thing I could do at home. See, bees need not just flowers, but water! Those little lovelies get thirsty.
FUN FACT: Male bees are not collectors. That’s right, that vastly important job is left to the lady bees. Honey bees are basically an army of sweet ladies, taking time to enjoy flowers. Well not exactly, but in my magical bee kingdom, they would!
What happens, unfortunately, is that bees sometimes get themselves into situations where they’re trying to quench their thirst and in the process, get too much water on their bodies, making it nearly impossible to get out of the water and fly away.
I was simply overjoyed when it was time for take off. <3 🙂
Those little worker bees only live for about 6-7 weeks, but play such an important role in the world. of course there has to be a way to help make things a bit easier for them, help them out. You know the saying, “help me to help you to help me…”
This summer, as a super simple yet fun homeschool project, we’ll be planting some bee friendly plants to attract them to our yard. Hopefully we’ll have some visitors who will enjoy the flowers, and stop at our BEE BAR! That’s right, we’re going to create a simple watering oasis for those hard workers! It’s pretty simple and fairly inexpensive.
You’ll need just a few items, some of which you may already have on hand:
- A shallow vessel: maybe a cake pan or a terra cotta plant saucer, a shallow dish. something that has a side wall about an inch high.
- Objects: things like rocks, pebbles, gravel or marbles.
- H2O: PLAIN WATER, (not sugar water!)
- Embellishments: and little items to make it unique
In a matter of minutes you can make a BEE BAR and have it outside ready for business! Place the objects into the shallow vessel, then fit the vessel with water just to the point where the objects meet halfway with the water line. Set this outside, preferably away from the back door, and you’re ready for business!
“BEE sure to fill your BEE BAR daily, possibly twice a day during the hot summer months!” ~thatgirljen 🙂
Isn’t this a SWEET idea?
and I know, this is not a BEE,
but butterflies can also benefit
from a visit to the BEE BAR!
Want to learn more about bees, what to plant to attract them to your yard and help the bee population to continue their valiant effort of making honey? Check out this site for more info.