Today is World Bee Day, let’s come together to honor the tiny heroes that keep our world blooming! Bees are more than just honey-makers, they are critical to our ecosystems, our food supply, and the health of our planet. 
Image by Tamara from Spiceworks (AI-Generated)
Why Are Bees So Important?
According to the UN, Bees help to pollinate more than 75% of the world’s crops, from fruits and veggies to nuts and even coffee. Without them, food production would be incredibly costly and so much about our environment would be very different.
Bees are considered a super organism, which means the entire hive functions as one interconnected unit. Each bee plays a unique role, and together, their teamwork ensures the health and success of the whole bee colony. This remarkable collective behavior makes bee communities some of the most fascinating in nature. Hey, that reminds me of the collaborative spirit that makes the Spiceworks Community hive thrive!
3 Fascinating Bee Facts
3 Simple Ways You Can Help Bees
“Within the past decade, beekeepers across the globe have observed massive declines in managed honey bee populations”, as outlined by Penn State researchers. Here are a few simple things you can do to support bees.
-
Build a Bee Puddle: Create a small, shallow area with water and pebbles in your outdoor space to give bees a safe place to drink.
-
Plant Bee-Friendly Flowers: Increase your green space by planting native flowers, herbs, and shrubs that bloom at different times of the year. Those in the US can find a list of native plants for their region, here.
-
Avoid Pesticides: Choose natural alternatives in your garden to keep bees safe and healthy. Also, consider leaving some weeds in your yard that may have early flowers ahead of spring blooms.
What do you love most about bees?
- Their teamwork and hive coordination
- Their role in pollinating our food
- The delicious honey they make
- Their beautiful, buzzing presence in the garden
- Their fascinating dances and communication
- Something else? Share more with a reply!
Let’s celebrate World Bee Day together and share your connection to bees, anecdotes, and favorite un-bee-lievable facts! 
18 Spice ups
ajason
(aJason)
2
There have been times when a bumble bee will get stuck on our enclosed porch. For some reason, when they get there they always seem to be attracted to the corner opposite our exterior door. I do not consider bees to be pests. Our son is allergic to bee stings, so it could be a dangerous situation to have a bee so close to the family, especially him. The last time one got stuck, I grabbed a small bucket and thin piece of cardboard. I was able to get the bucket over the bee and slide the cardboard under the bucket, trapping the bee. It wasn’t happy about it, but I was able to transport it alive to our back yard and release it without hurting it or me.
7 Spice ups
I recently read a book about celtic customs.
when in the olden days on a farm someone, e.g. the farmer’s wife died, it was custom for the farmer to go to the beehives and tell them.
in some rural areas in the alps and eastern Europe this is still practiced.
e.g. in Austria the farmer would go to the beehives and tell them “die Bäurin ham’s aussi trogn”
(they carried her out)
there are also very nice references to bees in many Terry Pratchett books, mostly in context with witches.
8 Spice ups
First time I ever got stung by a bee was a few years ago. I thought it would hurt more but it wasn’t that bad. It was clearly my fault as I walked into a bunch of bees fascinated by the bees.
7 Spice ups
If you’re ever in London, this installation at Kew Gardens is well worth a visit:
The Hive | Kew
7 Spice ups
Just think of all the necessary and wonderful things that exist because of bees. Flowers, vegetation, honey
5 Spice ups
Growing up, we used to run around barefooted between neighboring houses. Never failed, one of us would run through a clover patch and step on a very surprised bee and get stung…nearly a daily occurrence. As we got older, we didn’t stop running barefoot but noticed we got stung less and less every year. Not because we got any better or smarter, but because the bees weren’t around as often…didn’t think anything of it until fast forward nearly 20 years and I haven’t seen very many bees on our wild flowers this year. I’m worried about the future we’re leaving for the next generation 
6 Spice ups
i know they actually do things for the environment, i know they keep pests down and act as pollinators…but i hate them with all of my being (insert Anakin talking about killing sand people)… I got stung by about 20-30 of them one year i was cutting the lawn as kid…ever since, i have a massive phobia of flying insects and will freak out when one buzzes near my head. bumble bees tho, those are just tiny bulldogs and i can accept them…
9 Spice ups
I live less than a block away from a landscaper that has a small apiary. They pollinate my pepper plants.
4 Spice ups
2ndSon
(2ndSon)
11
I once heard a story (may or may not be true, so take it with a grain of salt [maybe two]) about a man who had a pretty decently-sized gash that apparently couldn’t just be stiched back up (because of its size and positioning or something), so the doctor told him to put honey on it for a while and the wound sealed itself. I’ve never tried it, but with all the other crazy stuff that honey can do I wouldn’t be surprised.
Also, I believe it was on SpiceWorks, but one day I was reading an article about how bees may have an influence on weather patterns. The next day, there was an article that someone had figured out how to make a synthetic queen bee that could control bees’ behaviors. It seemed very suspicious…
3 Spice ups
I cannot say that I ever saw a Bee do a fascinating dance lol!
Funny enough, I just made a pollinator garden to attract butterflies and 2 of the 3 things I did makes the 3 simple ways you can help list.
4 Spice ups
Orgon knows how important bees are
4 Spice ups
I think I recently heard about this, it’s called “telling the bees”. So neat!
At the last school I worked on, I helped build a pollinator garden, and learned most of these facts from our librarian who had worked hard to build a bee hive at our school. It was always so neat to walk near the hive and hear the bees buzzing.
This place looks so neat, thanks for sharing!
Stepping on and getting stung on your foot sounds so painful! It’s definitely alarming! I feel the same way about fireflies, I almost never see them anymore!
I think bees are magnificent, but I realize I’m lucky in not being allergic. I typically just respect them and keep my cool, and notice they tend to leave me alone. I took a snap of bees pollinating a moon flower this morning. They worked so diligently it was hard to get a picture before they were off to the next flower!
And as for an anecdote, a couple of years ago my family was driving through Death Valley National Park when we turned a bend and witnessed the aftermath of a grizzly tractor trailer crash. About 5 days prior a truck transporting several hives (possibly for agricultural use) lost control and crashed. Apparently first responders were stung getting the driver out who also was stung. When we happened upon the crash site, there were still a noticeable amount of stranded bees in the area and I felt such a sense of loss to know so many bees were lost in the crash. You can see the press release about it here: Tractor trailer hauling bees rolled over west of Towne Pass - Death Valley National Park (U.S. National Park Service)
2 Spice ups
ajason
(aJason)
15
We still have tons of fireflies around our area. I remember a year or two ago being outside in the summer after dark and there were so many fireflies lighting up everything around that it looked like stars shining on the plants and ground. Mesmerizing, I just watched and enjoyed it for awhile.
Our neighbors have bees. I know that our fruit trees and gardens get pollinated by his bees. I haven’t spoken to him recently about them, but in the past it sounded like it was difficult to keep the hive healthy. 
2 Spice ups
It’s nice to see bees at this time of year, which I why I aim to buy more bee-friendly plants for my gardens.
2 Spice ups
What kind of peppers are you growing, Oscar?
I’m trying out poblano, habanero, and jalapeno peppers for the first time this year, but I recently got hooked on sweet snacking peppers. Last week I tried a biquinho pepper for the first time and really want to grow them because these are not in stores in my area.
