“I was stung five times the other day. I couldn’t be happier!”
My friend is a beekeeper and while I enjoy her honey; I do not enjoy being stung as much as she seemed to. She went on to explain that after two winters of losing her hives, she was encouraged to be stung by an alive and thriving colony. It wasn’t really the sting she enjoyed, but the fact that her hive was well established and producing so early in the year.
The Fate of the Honeybee
Honeybees are a key to human survival! And they are dying! Honeybees are pollinators. Without ‘good’ bugs much of our food cannot reproduce. If plants stop reproducing they die out. Without plants animals have nothing to eat. How does this have anything to do with clean living and being Zen?
Clean Living
Clean living and honeybees go hand-in-hand. Organic pest control, gardening, landscaping, and choosing products that are chemical-free, go further than just your kitchen and yard. A honeybee will fly up to 7 miles to find nectar. They bring back nectar to make honey and they collect pollen in the process. As they fly from one plant to another this pollen gets spread around and fertilizes the plant. The use of pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers has made collecting nectar a virtual minefield! They are bringing those toxic chemicals to the hive, and it is wiping out the honeybee population. Some never make it back!
The equation is easy: Plants – Pollinators = NO FOOD
What you use today will have an impact on what you eat tomorrow. Our trash sits in landfills that are covered over with dirt and grass. Flowering plants like clover can grow on these covered landfills. Clover is a huge supplier of nectar for bees! In the meantime the laundry detergent bottles, cleaner bottles, and pesticide products are leaching into the ground and affecting what is able to grow. By living as clean as possible you are supporting your local agriculture. Even if you live in the city, you can help the world’s honeybee population by living clean. They will visit your flowers in urban parks!
Going Zen for Life
Going Zen is not a mystical religious philosophy. You may be Zen in your lifestyle and not even realize it! Living in the now, being mindful of your environment, and focusing on peace and balance for yourself and your loved ones is part of living a Zen lifestyle. When you choose to live cleanly, eating organic, buying organic products, and living as chemical-free as possible; you are supporting the organic community. Supply and demand has farmers desperate to produce crops. Let’s give them a reason to want to produce only organic crops!
Applications & Resources
- Check out what PBS says you can do to help the honeybee
- Go to the website BUZZABOUTBEES to learn why we need a non-native pollinator
- Take a look at what you have around your house and find ways to live as clean as possible. Being kind to the environment benefits everyone, including the bees!
- Go Zen in how you look at the world around you. You are part of a ripple effect that could change the way our children live the future!
