5 Benefits to Keeping Bees

The other day, I was watching the Martha Stewart Show. She had a beekeeper featured that day, who was sharing how to extract the honey from beehives. Martha kept mentioning the benefits to keeping bees, which made me curious about these benefits. Having 2 young daughters, I’m always swishing the bees away from their suckers, juice boxes, and popsicles. Bees totally annoy me.

So, what could be beneficial about these stinging, buzzing insects?

1. They pollinate your vegetable plants. This accounts for one-third of all food production. You wouldn’t have a crop without bees moving the pollen around your garden.
2. Bees keep endangered plants from becoming extinct. Certain plants only allow for specific pollinators (bees) and rely on them for their existence.
3. Beeswax is produced by bees and used in hundreds of thousands of personal care products every year. Beeswax is used in lotions, ointments, creams, lip balms, lipsticks, pharmaceuticals, nail polishes, candles, soaps, cosmetics, and hair care products. What would the beauty and health industries do without bees?
4. Alternative medicine uses bee venom, bee pollen, royal jelly, propolis as natural therapeutic materials to treat rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, anxiety and even sexual disorders (although this is considered very controversial).
5. And last but definitely not least… Bees produce honey!

After learning more about bees, I’m really going to try not enjoy them more and remember all of the good things that bees do for society.