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...
In 2006, researchers at Oregon State University discovered a bee preserved in amber that is 100 million years old! The bee is around 45 million years older than any bee fossil found before, and the oldest known bee that's ever been identified. The discovery of the bee may help to explain the rapid expansion and diversity of flowering plants around that time. The bee species found in the amber has been extinct for a long time, with features that resemble wasps like a double spine on the middle tibia and narrow hind legs. It also had branched hairs all over its body which is a main feature characteristic of pollen-spreading bees...
Turmeric is a bright yellow spice that many of us will be familiar with as a common ingredient in curry recipes and other Indian foods. Turmeric is the main ingredient in most curry powders - when you break open an onion bhaji that bright yellow colour comes from turmeric. Turmeric is from the same spice family as ginger, and both are believed to share similar anti-inflammatory effects. Like the ginger plant, turmeric grows as a root and is typically ground into a powder and used in cooking to flavour the dish. Turmeric has also been used for thousands of years in Eastern remedies to treat various conditions such as inflammation and painful joints...
Unfortunately, daily aches and pains that come from joint stiffness are something that many of us have to deal with. It's often associated with age, and getting older is certainly often a contributing factor, but for others, arthritis and other chronic conditions can come at a much younger age. Pain relieving drugs and anti-inflammatory medicines are often necessary but there are also some easy and natural ways we can try to relieve some of the stiffness and pain. In some cases they could allow you to reduce the amount of prescription pain killers that you need to take or provide more relief than you currently get...
People often ask us why honey is good for you or even if it is really good for you at all! Unfortunately it's not always a question we can answer in a quick or straightforward way, especially when you take the medical, scientific and anecdotal evidence together. It can be confusing and you may get conflicting opinions from different sources...
Make no mistake, when we say everyday things we really do mean items that most people use or consume every single day. This is not a list of vegetables like the pumpkin that we may buy once a year to carve into a lantern or exotic fruits that most people have never seen. These are things that are very much a part of our lives on a daily basis and it would make a significant impact to our lives if they were not available or became cost prohibitive due to scarcity.
In this blog we will take a walk through a typical day to show you just how different it would be if we didn't have these things in our lives...
Did you know that there are over 250 different bee species found in the UK? Unfortunately, we can't cover every single species in this short blog - we would need to write a bee encyclopaedia for that! What we will cover in this blog are some of the more common species you are likely to see in your garden or local park this summer!...
A good friend of mine, Mike, works for the National Literacy Trust (NLT). This is a fantastic charity whose aim is to work with schools and communities to give disadvantaged children the literacy skills to succeed in life.
Last year, I was chatting with Mike over a beer about his work. He told me that one of the areas he is focusing on is South Manchester, very close to where Just Bee HQ is. I told him about how we are trying to encourage more children to learn about bees and the environment. We knew there was a cross over, but couldn’t quite put our finger on how we could collaborate to achieve both our goals...
Pesticides are one of the biggest threats to bees in the UK. Bees pollinate many of the crops we use for food, so it's important that crops are kept free of pesticides that are harmful to them. Neonicotinoid insecticides are particularly harmful to bees and have been shown to be directly linked to the decline in our bee population. Neonicotinoid products were outlawed in Europe and the UK in 2018 but recently the UK government has given emergency authorisation to use a product containing a neonicotinoid. In this blog we'll explore why that decision was made, what it means and why we should care...
