World Bee Day | Why Do We Need Bees?

Image: Canva 

May 20th Is World Bee Day!

Here at F&F, we love World Bee Day! Did you know that there are over 20,000 species of bee that exist? Here in Australia, we’re so lucky to have around 2,000 native bee species. 

The main purpose of World Bee Day is to raise awareness for our fuzzy, bumbling friends and the amazing work they do to keep our ecosystems healthy. It’s also about highlighting the major threats that bees face, like climate change, habitat loss, intensive agriculture, pesticides, disease, and invasive plants.  

There are a few ways that we can support bees on World Bee Day. We love the idea of planting bee-friendly flowers (Daisies, Poppies, Schizanthus, Alyssum and Nemophila) with Urban Greens’ Bee-Friendly Flowers Seed Ball kit, or setting up a pollinator farm or ‘bee hotel” on your balcony, terrace, or garden.

Image: Meggyn Pomerleau

3 Big Reasons Why We Need Little Bees!

We all hear that we need bees to survive — but why? According to World Bee Day, we need bees for three crucial reasons:

1. To support our ecosystems. Bees provide essential pollination services for other plants! Maintaining plant diversity supports other essential ecosystem services including helping to regulate climate, purify air and water, build soil and recycle nutrients.
2. To ensure food security. Bees are important to our livelihood as they help to pollinate most of the crops we eat! Nearly two-thirds of Australia’s agricultural production benefits from bee pollination.
3. To promote healthy biodiversity. Some plant species can only be pollinated by a particular species of bee. Without pollination, that particular plant species may die off.

Image: Simon Kadula / Unsplash 

At F&F, We Don’t Use Beeswax, Royal Jelly Or Propolis — Here’s Why

Here at F&F, we get asked quite frequently about our stance on products containing honey or by-products of bees. We are 100% vegan and cruelty-free, which means that we will never stock products that contain animal by-products or products that have been tested on animals. 

It can be easy to dismiss the pain and suffering of bees (and other insects) because we cannot see it. But, harvesting products like beeswax (a waxy substance secreted by honeybees), royal jelly (secreted by bees to feed to bee larvae), and propolis (a sticky compound created by bees to build their beehives) means that bees are at risk of being mishandled, mistreated or killed. These bee by-products have many humane alternatives, which are often more effective and less likely to cause allergic reactions, too!

F&F’s Favourite Bee Products!

Here at F&F, we want to celebrate bees instead of harming them! Here are some of our favourite bee-related products.

• Wrappa Vegan Organic Cotton Wraps are 100% beeswax free, easy to use and clean, and have fun bee designs. 
• Just One Bee by Margrete Lamond And Anthony Bertini is a beautiful story that educates the importance of bees!
• The Life Cykel Bee Pollination Grow Kit contains borage and alyssum flowers, which attract the growth of bees.
• The Pela Compostable Phone Case — Honey Bee Edition is one of our favourite Pela cases! They’re soft, durable, and 100% compostable. 
• Pebble Ethical Toys’ Bee Rattle is the perfect little companion to any baby or toddler. It’s utterly adorable
• The Retro Kitchen Biodegradable Dish Cloth (Bees) is machine washable and compostable!