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Originally published in the Daily News of Newburyport. Reposted with thanks to ACES - The Alliance of Climate and Environmental Stewards for their support in bringing this piece to print.
Editor's note: This is one in a series of educational columns fostering environmental stewardship and leadership coordinated by ACES - The Alliance of Climate and Environmental Stewards.
It's in the air. Listen to the little buzz of bees on the dandelions. It's the low-key hum of those tiny and beautiful creatures as they collect the raw material for sweet honey.
Bees, and all of the products that they produce, were essential to our early modern ancestors. Sugarcane was too expensive a sweetener for most people. But honey was widely available and central to cooking, lighting (as candles) and brewing of mead.
In the Bible, the "land of milk and honey" were the words used to describe the wonders of the promised land of the Old Testament. Author A.A. Milne understood the attraction in his beloved character, Winnie-the-Pooh, who just loved his honey. And yes, they say it was even enjoyed by King Arthur and Queen Guinevere of legend.
Nowadays, the production of honey locally is a microindustry and a hobby, with hives and their keepers in our community backyards and farms. We know several committed environmentalists who host hives along the Merrimack River in Amesbury, across from Lowell's Boat Shop, and at Maple Crest Farm in West Newbury near the Indian Hill Reservoir.
"Growing strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, sunflowers and other crops, I quickly learned of the value of keeping bees to pollinate my crops and to enable crops to grow. I now have five beehives, and I'm so impressed every time I inspect the crops," Maple Crest farmer John Elwell said. "This season, 2,500 new strawberry plants are being set in the ground and the bees will love them for their nectar and we will love them for their summer sweetness. Come and visit us with your children and maybe we can organize a view of the hives."
Even on the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston, there are hives set among the pathways, discreetly out of sight above and next to some of the ventilation structures. Bees in parks are a wonderful addition if nearby habitats are available.
According to BeekeeperCorner.com, beekeeping has seen a remarkable resurgence of interest in recent years, becoming a popular way to build community connections, foster friendships, and develop valuable skills.
There are over 20,000 known species of bees. Some species are social insects, living in highly hierarchical colonies, including honey bees, bumblebees and stingless bees, but over 90% of bee species are solitary. The next time you see some bees around flowers, look closely to see their size and shape and colors. Like bird watching, you can keep a personal record of all the species you have seen in the wild.
While honeybees are familiar and valuable for agriculture, they are not native to North America. In some settings, high densities of managed honeybee hives can compete with native pollinators for limited floral resources and may contribute to the spread of disease. Supporting native bees and other wild pollinators through habitat and plant diversity is one of the most effective ways to strengthen local ecosystems.
We need to monitor and protect biodiversity because it is a leading indicator of the health of our planet. That's why it's so important to monitor and protect habitat for all the pollinators, not just the ones that make wax and honey or flutter like butterflies.
Wild bees, flies and other pollinators are important, too, not just the ones that we cultivate. Planting a diversified, native collection of pollinator friendly plants will aid in that effort.
ACES Ally Pollinator PowerWorks is focused on supporting wild bees and other pollinators like butterflies and can show you how it's done with their comprehensive Native Pollinator Garden Planner at pollinatorpowerworks.org.
Bees have been creatures of myth and poetry since the dawn of recorded civilization. According to writer Robert Grinnell, Shakespeare used bee imagery to reflect on human character and morality, equating bee colonies as a social mirror for human civilization, regarding political order, hierarchy and division of labor.
So, coming up on planting season as we are, the busy bees of our region, our people, can be helping our real bees thrive. Maybe by not mowing a narrow margin or corner of their lawns this year. Maybe by planting a pollinator garden using native perennials. You can help protect our regional biodiversity.
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