So members of the NL Beekeeping Association are active getting ready for another season! It’s such an exciting time of year! The queen is starting to lay, there’s lots of new baby bees on the way and if we have a really good year, there might bee (excuse the pun!) some of that sweet, sweet, golden honey waiting for us at the end of our summer! And there’s nothing like it! You can try honey in the store, you can purchase raw unpasteurized honey from a local beekeeper but there is nothing like a taste of your very own honey from your very own beehive.
To get the bees up and going, they need a good source of pollen....and pollen is what they convert to what they call “bee bread” to feed all those tiny baby bees. I’m sure you’ve seen the posts, the news articles or heard it from your neighbours about not cutting the lawn- about keeping those beautiful, bountiful, bright yellow flowers that we have become accustomed to as a weed- the dandelion! And they are right! The dandelion is one of the most important sources of pollen for bees, especially at the beginning of the season. You might think, well there’s lots of flowers around that the bees can go to- but did you know, that just like you and I, we have preferences to what we prefer AND some foods are better for us that others. So it turns out that while the bees can get food elsewhere, it might not be available in a supply they need or maybe they just don’t like it.
The NL Beekeeping Association is promoting keeping your beautiful yellow flowers for the month or May....or June depending on where you live in NL....I’m in Labrador and the flowers just started blooming this past week. For your troubles, and perhaps the stress related to holding off on mowing your lawn, the association is willing to sweeten the deal. That’s right! There’s something in it for you!
All you have to do is take a photo of your unmowed lawn and post it on the NL Beekeeping Facebook Page during the month of May and you have the chance to win a lovely jar of NL honey and a package of pollinator friendly flower seeds! You get rewarded for not mowing your lawn and you save gas and your time by participating! It’s a win- win situation!
Its almost the end of May now.....but the weather is supposed to improve over the weekend- wonderful time to mow......but now you can sit back and enjoy the sunshine instead. Hold off on mowing and feed the bees instead.
For more information on this NL Beekeeping Association initiative visit:
https://www.nlbeekeeping.com/uploads/b/3158cd00-4de3-11ea-86de-419cfc25d7c1/2021-05-04%20No%20Mow%20May_MzA4Mz.pdf
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