No Bees, No Almonds - No Bees, No Pumpkin Pie!

Photo from National Geographic

One of my favorite sites to learn about Bees is Opal's site of course!  Over the years we have heard so much about the population of Honey Bees diminishing.  This past week I have received 4 different emails from different non-bee-specific sites with different findings and articles having to do with bees!

Earlier in the week one of the emails concentrated on Almonds.  Saying if there were no bees - there would be no almonds.  The other was from the Center for Food Safety saying that if there were no bees there would be no pumpkin pie.  When you clicked on their campaign link it goes into more depth about just how much we NEED honeybees!  Things like No Cranberries, No Pumpkins, No Green Beans...just about EVERY fruit and veggie we consume is because of BEES!  So if the Center for Food Safety's campaign was timely for Thanksgiving it sure does make me think...this Thanksgiving I will include being THANKFUL for Honey Bees this year.  Not that I wasn't to begin with but when  you have the info right in front of you it sure does put things into prospective. 

Another site I came across was The Business Insider.  This site went into even more saying all fruits, veggies, nuts, and seeds rely on bees!  Nearly 1/3 of the world's crops depend on them!  Where are they going?  Why are they dieing?  Well, various reasons!  Pesticides, Disease, Parasites, Poor Weather, Environmental Conditions, etc.  What can we do about it?  Well, I for one, will continue to follow Bee Keepers Blogs like Opal.  I will also be looking into local and regional people in our area to try and support them in some way.  I, personally, don't eat (much) honey...I prefer Agave but that doesn't mean that vegetarians, vegans, and every day people that are meat eaters or otherwise shouldn't support your local bees!  After all...you benefit and are fed because of what Bees do for you!

This Thanksgiving...one of the MANY things I am thankful for is Bees!