A Feathered Nest: bees

3/15/11

I like Birds & Bees.

I think it's no secret that birds fascinate me - especially the 'couples' birds who work together to build a beautiful, perfect nest for their future babies...and then work together to take care of the little birdlets. Hence the name of my blog! However - another crazy fascination I have is with BEES! Interesting....the two things I'm obsessed about - birds & bees...hmmm...!

Let me make myself perfectly clear---insects of all varieties creep the heck out of me---except BEES. I LOVE bees!!! {I don't love getting stung by them, though} I've actually nicknamed my baby girl "Brookie Bee" because she's so dang busy all of the time!!! ...and Brooke starts with "B" - get it?! haha. {cleverrrr}

Bees are amazing little guys and here's why I love them so much:

1.) They symbolize hard work and industry. You know, "Busy as a Bee!" Exemplifying bees goes back to ancient days - bees and beehives have been used in many civilizations as a symbol of hard work and productivity. In fact, my church {The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints} adopted the term "Deseret" meaning "honeybee" as an inspiring symbol of our people's desire to prosper and become self sufficient. I love that!!! {Utah was requested to be named "Deseret" but obviously that didn't happen.}

2.) Every bee has a job and they spend their short little lives fulfilling that role with precision. They don't compare or compete with each other - they work together - and they work HARD. They are each different and unique, complete with their own individual scent and...get this... they dance to communicate! {gasp!}

3.) Bees make honey. We could spend all day talking about the amazing qualities of honey. Don't you just LOVE to look at a beautiful jar of liquid gold?! Honey is the only insect-produced food, and it is the only food that includes all life sustaining ingredients: water, enzymes, vitamins, and minerals. Honey is the only food with the substance "pinocembrin" which is an enzyme to improve brain function. {interesting!} Looks like I need to eat a lot more honey...my brain needs improving.

Another interesting tidbit: The average worker bee {all are female, by the way} produces 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime -- AND it takes only an ounce of honey to fuel a bee's flight around the world. WOW! Does it surprise you that the hardest working creatures are female?! {girls rock.}

4.) ...you still with me? Another reason why I love bees...They pollinate! They help this whole earthly ecosystem function through the pollination process - as if honey production wasn't fascinating enough! Without bees, about 70% of the earth's crops would fail, eliminating many animal species, as well as humans. {eeek!} Live on, little bees---may you flourish and prosper.

5.) And, finally - every colony has a Queen Bee. Enough said. She stays home, has the babies, and gets lots of help. {interestingly enough, the male bee doesn't work--just mates---go figure.} A bee colony is a highly organized society with everybody cooperating and doing their part. They provide life-sustaining services by hard work - VERY inspiring!

Do you see why I'm so in love with and fascinated by Bees?! Now you're going to want to collect bee stuff with me - and look at what I found on Etsy! {squeal} I want all of these! I want to have little bee reminders around me to inspire me to work hard and be productive. Which is your fave?!

Bee Tags from Creative Visions