How Pollination is Important for Bees' Health, Honey, and Their Environment
There would not be such a thing as delicious, raw local honey if not for pollination. Pollination is an important and valuable part of a honey bee’s life cycle, and sets the bees on a track to preserving their colony, or home, as well as making enormous contributions to the environment.
The term pollination refers to the function of pollen among flowers. Pollen is the main source of energy and protein for honey bees, and as the bees transfer pollen from one plant to another, this gives the plants the sources they need to produce the healthiest crops, including fruits, vegetables, and legumes. Bees thrive inside and outside of their hives, especially in areas that are flower-heavy. When the bees swarm across a field of flowers, they collect nectar and pollen, which is beneficial to them developing larvae in the hive, for reproduction of their own species as well as the reproduction of flowers and other plants.
Flowers are made up of more than just the pretty colored petals we see every spring. On every flower there are:
sepals (which open and fold back, making an opening for the budding petals) .
Filaments, which are stalk-like structures that support the pollen-producing anthers.
Pollen grains, which contain genetic material of a male that is transported into the female structures known as stigmas.
Then, there are ovules (female structure at the base of a plant, that becomes fertilized) and nectaries which produce nectar for animal visitors like bees to collect.
One of the most common flowers for bees to pollinate is the "Bee Balm", which are hot pink in color and bloom in the spring. Others include the Asters, with daisy-like purple petals, Goldenrods, and the famous Sunflower.
Bees are known to be foragers, or harvesters and gatherers. Because bees are foragers, they collect food and nutrients for the colony and the flowers they pollinate. The bees' hairy fuzz-like texture helps them attract pollen and finding a space to pollinate. Honey bees, or worker bees, may also take their collected quantities of nectar and pollen back to the hive and pour it into the honeycomb, thus beginning the honey making process.
Pollination is important so that bees can remain alive and healthy, even when humans are afraid of them. Bees bring so much to our world that sometimes, humans forget to consider all of the good things bees bring us. So, before freaking out if one is flying around, let them bee. Without the process of pollination, there would be no way for bees to make raw honey like Beezy Beez Raw Local Honey. Pollination is the job the bees get done, keeping them "beezy" while helping the world around them.
At Beezy Beez, we make our specialty- New York Raw Honey, an unprocessed and all natural honey that lets nature do all of the talking. By visiting http://www.newyorkrawhoney.com/ you can learn all about how we preserve nature through our craft of honey making. While browsing, please consider buying a jar of our delicious Beezy Beez to try fro yourself and the whole family.