Beekeeping is an incredibly beneficial hobby because it supports the bee population and helps produce more local honey. Whether you want to help your local bee communities or enjoy an intimate connection with nature and the environment, beekeeping is an excellent way to do your part.
Beekeeping is more than just caring for a bee colony; in fact, you can help everyone in your community by providing authentic bee products and teaching people about the importance of bees. Explore these six ways humans benefit from beekeeping and honey production to start supporting the bee population.
You’re Always Learning New Things
There’s nothing better than continuing to learn new things; it’s the best way to keep life interesting and your mind busy. Although plenty of hobbies teach you new skills, beekeeping requires you to become knowledgeable about bee behaviors and other factors, including:
- Bee communication
- Beekeeping best practices and skills
- Bee biology
- Behavioral tendencies
- Pests and diseases
- Swarming
- Harvesting honey and other bee products
- Hive inspections
This isn’t even a comprehensive list of everything you’ll need to know to become a successful beekeeper. Although you can learn a lot by doing your own research, you can also take beekeeping courses to hear different opinions and real-life experiences from other beekeepers. If this seems like a lot, don’t worry. Regardless of your current bee knowledge, you can become a beekeeper as long as you’re open to learning various viewpoints and practices.
Almost Anyone Can Keep Bees
Believe it or not, almost anyone can keep bees. While some hobbies are best suited to older or younger people, beekeeping is an excellent choice for people of all ages. With that said, older beekeepers should accompany younger ones to ensure safety.
In the past, beekeepers used to have to learn carpentry skills to build their own beehives; this limited the demographic of people who kept bees. Fortunately, you can now purchase beekeeping kits with everything you need to succeed. Additionally, beekeeping used to only be popular in rural areas. Now, urban beekeeping is becoming more popular, and people can build their apiaries almost anywhere.
Because beekeeping is becoming more popular, it’s also becoming more accessible. Whether you’re 8 or 80, you can start your journey toward becoming a bee expert.
You Can Improve Your Gardening Skills
It’s no secret that honeybees spend a lot of time foraging for pollen, nectar, and water while searching for nectar-rich trees and plants. With that in mind, make sure you have plenty of nectar-rich plants on your property so your bees don’t have to travel far. Because you need to grow successful plants for your bees, your gardening skills and knowledge are likely to increase.
Furthermore, you’ll learn to identify beneficial and harmful insects, which will help you manage your plants and bees. Many pesticides are harmful to bees and other beneficial insects; therefore, you’ll discover other solutions to protect your plants and beneficial insects. Pursuing beekeeping and gardening simultaneously is the ultimate way to stay in tune with the natural world around you.
You’ll Become a Part of Your Local Beekeeping Community
Having friends or a relatable group of people who enjoy the same things you do is highly important for a happy lifestyle and solid mental and emotional health. Beekeeping is a great way to meet new people. Whether you want to become a beekeeper or just support the bee population in other ways, your local community most likely has a group dedicated to helping bees that you can join.
It’s important to make connections with other beekeepers; otherwise, you may feel alone on your journey. Working together is the best way to spread the word about how important bees are to our lives, and your group may inspire more people in the area to keep bees or make their yards more bee-friendly.
Pro Tip
If your community doesn’t already have a beekeeping group, consider starting one with your friends and family. You can use social media to spread the word and gain more members.
Better Local Crops
You may or may not know that honeybees are the most prominent pollinators worldwide, and they’re single-handedly responsible for many of the crops we use to fuel our bodies every day. Believe it or not, many of the products you buy at the grocery store are the result of pollination by bees or other pollinators. Unfortunately, many pollinator populations are in danger, which can result in food shortages.
Crop yields rely heavily on pollination, so they may not produce as much without local bees around. Although it requires many people to become beekeepers, you can help local farms by keeping bees. Even if the crops are still producing food, the quality will be much better with bees and other pollinators there to help with the pollination process.
Honey Is the Greatest Superfood
Last but certainly not least, honey is one of the greatest benefits of beekeeping for humans. Bees make honey to feed their colony through the winter and usually make excess. As a result, beekeepers can extract the extra honey from the hive to eat or sell. You may use honey to sweeten your tea or coffee, but you may not know that it’s one of the best superfoods you can get your hands on. Believe it or not, it’s one of the only complete foods in the world, meaning it contains all of the vitamins and nutrients a human needs to survive.
Incorporating honey into your daily diet is an excellent way to combat health issues, strengthen your immune system, boost energy, and add a touch of sweetness to your day. Because this nectar is so sweet and delicious, it’s hard to believe it’s actually good for you. When you see raw natural honey for sale, you should consider buying a bottle—the bees and beekeeper worked hard to put it on the shelf, and it’s a staple to keep in your kitchen.
After learning six ways humans benefit from beekeeping and honey production, you may consider taking up beekeeping as your new hobby. While there is a ton to learn, you’ll enjoy every step of your beekeeping journey.