From improving your gardening to protecting some of nature’s most important creatures, there are many compelling reasons to become a beekeeper. For centuries, the hobby has entertained hundreds of thousands of people. It has sparked imaginations, created sources for food, and improved thousands of yards.
If you are considering this hobby, even just a little bit, it’s worth your time to explore the reasons people pick it up. Beekeeping is surprisingly attractive when a person reads all its virtues. Hopefully, after completing this article, you will know for sure whether it is right for you.
Pollinate Your Garden
Beekeepers tend to keep a garden alongside their hives. By allowing your honey bees easy access to pollen sources, you create opportunities to pollinate fruits and vegetables. This arrangement is beneficial for both you and the honey bees. You get to enjoy a better pollinated, more vivacious garden while the honey bees get their nutrients from nearby pollen sources.
Honey bees can pollinate plants within a two-mile radius of a hive. When you install a beehive, you are actually boosting pollination in your neighborhood and improving the fruit and vegetable production of gardens nearby.
Save the Honey Bees
Of all the disconcerting news stories about ecological troubles, perhaps the most frightening is the loss of honey bees. The mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is killing entire hives. There are also growing concerns about pesticide use. The parasitic Varroa mite may have killed up to 90 percent of feral honey bee colonies from the late ’80s to now.
Since so much of the world’s food supply depends on honey bees, these ongoing problems pose a serious risk to humankind. One of the most compelling reasons to become a beekeeper is the chance to safeguard a collection of bees by ensuring that your hive can lead a healthy, productive life. Beekeeping allows you to be part of the solution.
Honey
As perhaps the most obvious benefit of being a beekeeper, honey is a delicious and, compared to sugar, relatively healthy way to improve all kinds of foods. Scientists continue to discover its nutritional properties as well.
There is a high demand for honey, as the United States consumes more than we make. There should be a market in your town where your honey will find an audience. By selling your honey, you may make enough money to offset the minor costs of beekeeping. In fact, you might even earn a profit.
Beeswax
But honey is not the only product that honey bees produce. Beekeepers also get a nice collection of beeswax out of the deal. From this material, beekeepers can make candles, lip gloss, and even gummy bears. So be sure to hold onto the beeswax even after you’ve finished the honey. A person can get plenty of enjoyment out of beeswax.
Inexpensive
Though it is an extremely enjoyable hobby, beekeeping does not break the bank. In comparison to other hobbies, it only requires a modest investment. Just think of all the equipment you’d need to buy to take up sailing, woodworking, or even cooking. When it comes to beekeeping, you need the basic gear and your hives. With that, you’re good to go. Furthermore, you can earn back all the money you put into the hobby by selling honey and beeswax around your neighborhood.
There Is Always More To Learn
Beekeeping is an excellent hobby for someone who always wants to learn more, especially about science. Honey bees are fascinating creatures. The process by which they find a new home, relay their discoveries to other honey bees, and move together to the new location is complex and wholly intriguing. Thomas Seeley’s book Honeybee Democracy explores these topics and many more.
Another great book about honey bees is Jürgen Tautz’s The Buzz About Bees: Biology of a Superorganism. In the book, Tautz explores how honey bees operate so well together that the whole colony resembles an organism. Studies have shown honey bees’ abilities to detect explosives, drugs, and even cancer.
If you are an admirer of interesting facts and mind-blowing knowledge, beekeeping has a lot to offer.
Build a Connection With Nature
When you become a beekeeper, you will gain a stronger awareness of your environment almost immediately. Since beekeeping tasks are dependent on the weather, you will look at the sky more and think about its impact on your hives. Thinking about nature will help you get your mind off your distractions and frustrations.
You’ll follow what is in bloom so that you know where your bees are getting their pollen and nectar sources. As a concerned beekeeper, you’ll pay attention to the row crops in your area and what pesticides they contain. Your bees’ success depends on your awareness of the environment. Since it is important to the bees, it will be important to you.
Enjoy the Adrenaline
But beekeeping is not just about feeling calm and connected to nature. A great deal of excitement and adrenaline comes along with the hobby. It is impossible to imagine the feeling of thousands of excited honey bees swarming around you until you have experienced it firsthand.
Beekeepers get front-row seats to environmental phenomena to which most people never even get close. With thrills that make the heart race and a connection to nature that feeds the soul, beekeeping is a very special hobby for people who respect the extremes of life.
Fun for the Whole Family
If you have a family, beekeeping is a great way to get everyone involved. Children who are too young to manage bees can still wear protective suits and watch as you go about your beekeeping business. Older kids will love the opportunity to learn the tricks of this bizarre, interesting trade.
Furthermore, if you decide to make your honey collection into a company, this is an excellent opportunity to teach your children some business skills. Decisions about how much honey to collect, how many containers to purchase, at what price to set the honey, and much more can be a family activity.
Summation
Beekeeping is a time-honored tradition and an excellent hobby. People enjoy beekeeping for its environmental impact, connection to nature, and the adrenaline it elicits. If the hobby sparks an interest, take a look at bee nucs for sale online at The B Farm.
