From a young age most of us are taught to be afraid of honey bees and for a good reason, they sting and those stings hurt. Not only do the stings hurt but for a few unlucky people those stings can cause a severe allergic reaction. But sting aside, if you take closer look at the honey bee you'll see that the role they play in our ecosystem makes them a pretty valuable insect.
Thanks to Pinterest somehow deciding I was into honey bees, lots of bee related posts started popping up in my Pinterest feed. When viewed on my phone screen I could safely see that these little 6 legged honey making critters were actually beautiful up close and when I'd click on the pictures, the articles I'd be led to were full of information, I was stunned to learn that honey bees are in serious danger due to mass usage of pesticides by commercial agriculture. Big deal right? Actually, it is a big deal, without bees, flowers don't get pollinated and plants don't reproduce. If plants can't reproduce, how will vegetables grow? How will animals get fed? Where will our food come from? And what about honey? What would tea be without honey? So you see, from what I've learned, the world needs bees. Before I knew it I found that my fear of bees had evolved into concern as well as a deep appreciation for what they do. I also found creative inspiration as I learned more about honey bees which led to lots of bee doodles and from those doodles I created a series of patterns called "Let them Bee" in hopes that at least through my art I could raise some awareness about the goodness of bees.
To my surprise, there are a lot of other people who like bees too! My two most popular designs on Redbubble happen to be from my Let them Bee Collection. Honey Makers and Bees and Flowers.
While I'm not quite ready for my own beehive, it's something I'm considering as a someday thing... lots to learn first! I do know one thing for sure, you won't catch me swatting a honey bee.
I'm no expert on honey bees so if anyone reading this has anything to add or a website with valuable information, feel free to leave a note in the comments section.