World Bee Day: How We Can Support The Tiny Heroes Of Nature
It’s World Bee Day soon, a time in which we celebrate the tiniest heroes of our ecosystem and thank them for everything they do – which if you didn’t know, is a lot! In this article, we will be focusing on the importance of these tiny creatures, the difference between treating and not treating them, how we can help nurture and protect them and how here at Tea & Tonic, we support them in the production of our products.
Why Are Bees So Important? 🐝
Bees are an important and vital part of our ecosystem, essential for all animals and human beings to survive. Whilst small in stature, they are mighty in their power to maintain life. As you probably already know, trees are vital for filtering out our air, making it cleaner, and removing pollutants from the atmosphere. Bees pollinate the food we eat, and in which we need to survive, whilst also pollinating a lot of our trees, and flowers which of course, act as a home for a lot of our wildlife.
Without these tiny heroes of nature, we wouldn’t only lack the diversity of fresh produce we have now, but also the availability of it. Bees are responsible for a lot of our fruits, vegetables, and even some ingredients we use in our cooking daily, like garlic.
Did you know that almost ⅓ of the entire world’s food production is dependent on bees? That’s a lot of weight for these tiny bugs to carry! That’s why we must help and support these small creatures, allowing them to carry out their utmost important job and continue to feed into the ever-growing eco-chain.
The Difference Between Treated & Untreated Bees
In the beauty and the wellness industry, sometimes honey and a range of flowers, which of course are pollinated by bees, are used in many products. Through this, comes the job of ‘bee-keeping’ where people tend to beehives, in order to encourage this production. Some of these hives are treated with miticides, antibiotics, and other medications to prevent the bees from getting ill, and to stop them from getting mites.
However, there is also the option to have a treatment-free hive, which encourages the bees to build up a resistance to the mites, which means that a particular strain of bees will be able to survive even when faced with a heavy mite load. This is quite a controversial topic amongst beekeepers albeit one that many who are harnessing the ‘fruits’ from the bees are not necessarily aware of.
Everyday Ways To Support The Bees
So, how can you support the bees this World Bee Day? Firstly, focus on something they like – flowers of course! When thinking about your garden, try to choose bee-friendly plants. This will have loads of bees flooding your garden, keeping their part of the ecosystem going.
Also, try to let your grass grow that little longer. We know that in the summer, it can be second nature to keep the grass short and trimmed, but bees actually like it a bit overgrown. This gives them that much-needed shelter to hide from predators, and eat their feasts. Even if it’s just a section of your garden, possibly where you have planted the bee-friendly flowers, this is a great way to ensure the safety and nurture of the bees.
Now, we usually think that bees only come out in the summer. But, actually, bees love spring too! They love taking advantage of all the early blooms, so it’s important that whilst planning out what flowers you are going to plant, you think seasonally. Some flowers provide the nectar, which is carbohydrates in bee language, and pollen, which is protein, that bees need regularly. Try and get a balance to help the best support them.
Tea & Tonic Loves Bees! 🐝
Here at Tea & Tonic, we are fully aware of the massive impact bees have on the wellness and beauty industry. In some of our skincare products, such as our award-winning Bright Awakening Halen Môn Salt Body Scrub, we use Crambe Abyssinian, as one of our ingredients. Crambe Abyssinian is an oilseed crop and is known for its moisturising and anti-aging properties.
When we use this ingredient in our products, we ensure that they are grown as part of the Bee Friendly project / RHS Plants for Pollinators which helps local ecosystems by supporting a healthy Bee population. Other British-grown seed oils we use that support the RHS Plants for Pollinators project include Borage (Starflower) – this omega-rich oil is considered the lushest food source for bees and is found in our award-winning Saving Grace Rich Face Oil. Also, our skin-softening Camelina seed oil can be found in abundance in our High Spirits Shower Oil and Inviting Sleep Bath Oil. In addition, we love beeswax for its incredible skin-healing virtues and we only source from local beekeepers who we know and trust where we can directly identify the beehives where it’s created to ensure highly ethical and sustainable sources. Discover the benefits of our beautifully fresh beeswax in The Meadow’s Secret Cleansing Balm or our Muscle Tonic Relief Balm.
Across Tea & Tonic we are really passionate about the wildlife that surrounds us here in the Surrey Hills. Did you know our range of 100% natural skincare products, uses over 80% of ingredients that have been grown on UK farms? This allows us to be able to source with sustainability in mind, including the quality and freshness of our ingredients as well as considering the mileage and how long it takes for our products to get from point A to B.
We want to know what you do to support these tiny heroes of nature. Share what you do to help the ecosystem in your garden!
