There are many ways to make a suitable bee hotel for your garden, in this blog we'll show you a couple of different ways that you can create a perfect space for solitary bees to live and breed. While we all call them bee hotels, they are in actual fact more of a 'bee nursery' as they are usually used as a safe place for solitary bees to raise their young...
After some cold and wet weather, summer certainly has felt like it's on the way lately with some lovely sunny spring days and a very welcome rise in temperature. There have also been plenty of bees buzzing around my back garden already. Even my little bee garden which was left dormant over winter (and in a pretty sorry state, I have to admit) has started flowering again before I've even had a chance to do anything to it!...
The passing of Queen Elizabeth II last year was a defining moment in the history of our country. Regardless of how you feel about the monarchy as a whole, I think many of us felt a desperate sense of loss and more than a little uneasiness for the future. The tradition of beekeeping has long been a part of Royal Family life, not only has King Charles been active in beekeeping for many years, but as Prince of Wales he has a long history of highlighting the plight of bees and urging for their protection and welfare....
When we look inside a beehive we hope to find a whole colony of healthy bees and lots of delicious honey! But aside from the obvious have you ever wondered what exactly makes up a beehive and how it functions? From the outside they may just look like a big wooden box, but there may be more going on inside than you might imagine...
While it's true that honey and refined sugar do share a similar make-up for the most part (both being largely made up of fructose and glucose sugars) there are some important differences...
As you might have seen in Joe's video blog posted recently, we did some amazing things together last year. Our fantastic customers planting wild-flower seeds all over the UK will no doubt make a real and genuine difference to many bees this year- increasing their chances of survival and helping to create ongoing healthy bee populations...
Between Christmas and New Year (‘Twixmas’ as we call it in our house) is one of my fave times of the year. The craziness of Christmas is over and there is time to see family and friends, do some long dog walks and enjoying the festive telly. As usual, I’m constantly asking Anna what day of the week it is!
I won’t keep you long. I just wanted to highlight the things YOU have helped us do this year...
People's concerns about practices within the food industry are often completely legitimate. We are all aware that there have been instances of poor practice in almost all areas of farming and food production. This has caused many people to question if beekeeping is cruel and whether it is ethical to take honey for our own consumption. At Just Bee, we understand why people might have concerns and why people might question beekeepers in this way, however we feel that these types of questions are often based on misunderstanding or repeated dogma without any basis in reality...
Unfortunately there is no simple answer to this question. If you are overweight with poorly managed diabetes, then consuming honey could be health disaster. However if you have well managed diabetes, are not overweight and are otherwise fit and healthy, then using a little honey as a replacement for sugar could possibly be helpful. Diabetes is a very complicated condition and the dietary restrictions required to keep blood sugar levels under control will not be the same for everyone...
The weather lately has felt more like winter than autumn at times, it's been decidedly chilly and wet! There's also a lot of cold and flu viruses around that we'll need to fight off the best we can. Our immune systems are an important part of that. As the name implies it is a complete system that works in different areas of our body, that means we need to employ multiple strategies to keep it strong and healthy. To function at its best we need balance and harmony in our bodies and general healthy-living approaches are by far the best way to keep our immune system working at its maximum potential. If you are feeling a little under the weather and feel like you need a boost then read on to find out our top five ways to help keep your immune system healthy and working at full strength...
