World Honey Bee Day

World Honey Bee Day is the third Saturday in August

World Honey Bee Day was created in 2009 by American beekeepers who petitioned the USDA to recognize a day for honey bees. World Honey Bee Day is a holiday that celebrates honey bees and the beekeepers who work to keep up with them.

Honey bees provide us with products like honey and beeswax. Honey, of course, is an alternative to other sweeteners such as sugar or Stevia. Beeswax is perfect for candles, and it has also proven to be excellent for moisturizing the skin. Another useful production of honey bees is royal jelly, which is made by worker honey bees and full of vitamins and proteins, making it useful for conditions such as asthma, insomnia, and PMS. Of course, they are also responsible for pollinating flowers and crops. So without honey bees, not only would we miss out on these nutrients and benefits, but our ecosystem would also become imbalanced.

Ways to Celebrate World Honey Bee Day 

A fun way to celebrate World Honey Bee Day is by enjoying a tasty treat with honey, such as honey fruit cobbler. You can also use honey in place of sweetener for a naturally sweet cup of tea. If you’d like to see a honey bee up close but have no experience as a beekeeper, you could plant some wildflowers, or buy potted flowers from the store.

Don't Be Afraid

Many people are afraid of honey bees and their sting, but you should know a few facts about these helpful insects. While honey bee stings can be quite painful, they won’t sting unless provoked. Additionally, only female honey bees have stingers. So if you see them buzzing about, let them do their jobs and they won’t become aggravated.

Honey Bee or Bumblebee?

Honey bees are often confused with bumblebees, their more aggressive cousins. One difference is in body size and shape: honey bees are thinner and have less hair, while bumblebees are more round and fuzzy. Bumblebees are able to sting multiple times, but honey bees only have one sting. Honey bees are usually kept by beekeepers, while bumblebees live in the wild.

In recent years, researchers have been studying an alarming decrease in honey bee populations. Possible causes are the threat of Africanized honey bees and a phenomenon called colony collapse disorder, but humans have also endangered honey bees by using pesticides. Because of the crucial role honey bees have in pollinating crops, people can band together to brainstorm ways to reverse the dwindling numbers. So on World Honey Bee Day this year, remember to “bee” kind to these hard-working pollinators, because our planet would suffer without them.