10 Ways to Help Our Bees

Do you love bees?  Do you want to see them thrive?  Here are a few action items for you to “bee” a hero:

1. Donate to BGO:  We work hard every day for bees, and being a very small grassroots nonprofit, your generosity will go far in helping us achieve our mission.  Click here to donate. Learn more about our team, learn more about our projects that your dollars will support.

2. Plant flowers: Do you have a yard or garden (or even a window box, or planter)? What about access to a community or school garden? Even a few square feet can make a real difference! Check out this pollinator garden that Sarah came across in the middle of the 7th Ward in New Orleans! Our favorites are sunflowers, penstemon, cosmos, and phacelia. If you are a farmer, rancher, or own/manage a large swath of land - check out our bee pasture work.  

3. Put that spray bottle down: Even “organic” pesticides can kill bees dead.  Create a balanced system in your farm and garden to encourage beneficial insects, bacteria, and fungi, and let the biology do the heavy lifting for you. If you are having an issue in your farm or garden, build your soil and your ecological biodiversity! Check out our blog for write-ups on the work of John Kempf and Nicole Masters, leaders in the field of building resilience in systems large and small.

4. Buy local honey – but be sure you’re getting what you pay for: Watch out for labels that say “raw, local, pure, etc.”  There is no regulating body that defines and enforces these catch phrases, so find you beekeepers by reputation or at farmer’s markets, or find their honey at shops that sell locally produced goods.  Buy Bee Girl Honey from one of our partner retailers.   

5. Support farmers and ranchers that practice sustainable and regenerative agriculture: Vote with your fork!  Know where your food comes from!  You are the consumer, and you get to decide what kind of a world we get to live in with your food choices.  You don’t have to shop at a fancy-schmancy high-dollar food store, many farmer’s markets and CSA programs (Community Supported Agriculture) are less expensive than “cheap” national chains, and even accept EBT.  Not only are you helping your local farmers and community to become more productive, regenerative agricultural principals are congruent with good bee habitat practices. Are you curious to learn more about regenerative agriculture? Start here.       

6. Water your bees: Bees need just as much water as nectar and pollen in the hot seasons.  Keep a fresh bowl of water in your yard, or on your porch, and fill it with marbles, rocks, wood, moss, or float some wine corks to give bees a place to land while they drink.

7. Provide bee shelter: Beyond food and water, bees need somewhere to live.  You could become a beekeeper, or simply install a “native bee hotel” in your yard.  This could be anything from a store-bought hut, to a few raspberry canes tied up and left in a corner, to some bare dirt and dead leaves left alone. Check out these resources from the Xerces Society and the USDA to learn more.

8. Support good policy: Read beyond the headlines and go to draft language at your local, state, or the national level, and support policies that will help bees by sending letters and making phone calls to your lawmakers.  They want to hear from you! In addition to supporting pollinator-specific policy, please also support bills that will create initiatives that will support regenerative agriculture, soil health, and local food systems - these all ultimately support a system that will support bees.

9. Don’t be afraid: Bees only eat nectar and pollen, and they are not interested in fried chicken or BBQ sauce.  Some solitary bees like male wool carder bees and carpenter bees are territorial and can be aggressive, but no male bees have stingers!!  Just let them go about their business, pollinating flowers, and watch where you step when you’re barefoot in the yard.  As Sue Monk Kidd tells us in The Secret Life of Bees, “Don't be afraid, as no life-loving bee wants to sting you. Don't swat. Don't even think about swatting. If you feel angry, whistle. Anger agitates while whistling melts a bee's temper. Act like you know what you're doing, even if you don't. Above all, send the bees love. Every little thing wants to be loved.”

10. Share what you know: Bee-come an advocate for bees by sharing items 1 – 9 with your loved ones, and spend some time drafting your “All We Can Save Venn Diagram” to explore ways that you can joyfully help save our climate and our bees!