At Just Bee, we love using the central library. There is a Business and IP (Intellectual Property) Centre which provides lots of useful research resources and support for local businesses. A few weeks ago, the IP Centre got in touch and asked if I’d like to be involved with its latest programme, Food Mania. The aim is to provide mentoring to people that are thinking about starting a food business; the mentors would be local entrepreneurs and business owners...
At Just Bee we are always happy to promote the benefits of eating honey and encourage its use. However it's very important to know that it's not recommended for babies and infants under one year old.
This is the opinion of health professionals and the UK'sNHS. There is a single, very serious reason for this advice. In this blog we'll look into that further, understand what could happen if you feed your baby honey and explore some other related topics too.
As we head into Autumn, it won't be long before the colder, darker nights start to draw in. At this time of year it's especially important to keep our immune systems healthy and to look after our bodies. Nutrition is a big part of that and a superfood that is nutritionally dense can play a key role in keeping our immune system in tip top shape.
Here is our list of 5 superfoods to boost your immunity this winter. These foods all have fantastic immune boosting properties to help keep those winter colds at bay by helping keep your immune system fit and healthy...
I met my partner, Anna, back in 2019 BP (Before Pandemic). Amongst the many things I found attractive about Anna was her love for helping other people. As I got to know her better, she told me about a homeless breakfast project she volunteered at called Life Share. It intrigued me, seeing her get up at 5.30am on Saturday mornings, throw on her branded hoody and drive into Manchester city centre to help out. After a few months watching Anna, I asked if I could get involved…
This Summer we've seen a lot of our buzzy friends flying around our wildflower garden. And thankfully, most of the time they look very healthy and happy! But as the summer draws to an end, sometimes we do see a few bees that look a little worse for wear.
If you see a bee lying or crawling on the ground you might presume it's either dead or dying, but very often that isn’t the case! Bees get tired and low on energy, just like us humans do. And if they are a long way from home or have to fly long distances without being able to dip into some flowers for nectar or find water to drink, they can find themselves in trouble...
A few years ago, I heard that someone was keeping bees on top of Manchester Cathedral. This really intrigued me, so I decided to go and say hello! The Cathedral staff told me it was a community project called Volition who looked after the bees and they kindly invited me to visit their beehives. This was an offer I really couldn’t refuse, so popped on my beekeepers suit and went into town…
Back in June 2020, we were contacted by Haydn Bettles from Armitage Primary School in Manchester. He wanted to create a wildflower area in school, hoping to attract more bees and butterflies into the school grounds. He also wanted to use the area to teach children about the importance of bees and pollinators...
Here at Just Bee we are very passionate about planting flowers to help bees. So much so that we happily give away wild flower seeds for free to encourage this! But why exactly do we do this and how does planting flowers help the bees?...
The definition of an endangered species is any type of plant or animal that is in danger of disappearing forever.
There are estimated to be between 20,000 and 30,000 different species of bee around the world. If you were to search the question "Are bees endangered?" on in the internet you might either come to the conclusion that most bees are not endangered or that many species are in imminent risk of extinction...
While it's true that honey does have an incredibly long shelf life, especially when sealed and kept in perfect conditions, that's not the exact conditions most of us keep honey in once we've bought it and started using it. Unfortunately it is possible to cause honey to go bad. However there are reasons for this and a number of things we can do to avoid it...
There are really only two answers to the question how we can help save the bees; What we can do personally, as individuals, and what we can do collectively around the world.
There is some cross-over between the two answers, but it's understandable to feel that some of the bigger challenges are out of our hands. Thankfully there are others that do brilliant work on our behalf...
While we would be a little reluctant to use the word 'cure', the long history of honey being used to treat coughs and sore throats potentially dates back thousands of years. Many of us will remember our parents, grandparents and even great grandparents giving us honey and lemon drinks as children to sooth our sore throats and coughs. This knowledge and personal experience of using honey as a treatment seems to have been passed down from generation to generation...