If you love food, have a curiosity for nature and enjoy Swiss traditions, then we have something for you! Bees are just as good at making good pets as they are at making food.
The delicious fresh food we enjoy at restaurants or purchase from grocery stores grows from soil, water and sun, right? Of course, everyone knows that! But there is another tiny, but vital part of the “from seed to produce” process that sometimes gets forgotten – bees.
You’ve likely heard more than one news report about how the bee population is at risk and about how without bees to pollinate farmers’ crops we could have less food. In fact, just over 30% of our food can only prosper if the plants and blossoms are pollinated by bees. Without bees, we’d have a third less food on our plates. Can you image that?! Not to mention how the great Swiss tradition of farming would suffer. So what can you do about? Grow your own bees for the benefit of your family, farmers and food for all!
A Swiss start-up has created BeeHomes of non-aggressive, non-honey producing and non-stinging mason bees that you keep as “pets” on your balcony or in your garden. These bees’ soul purpose is to pollinate and reproduce. A little work is required on your part, but the benefits are huge!
How it works
You order your Beehome from Wildbiene + Partner (that Partner part refers to YOU as a BeeHome owner). We recommend the Observer model so you can actually see how the bee cocoons grow. It’s so interesting to see firsthand – for adults and kids!
When your BeeHome arrives, follow the instructions on the prime place to install it and let your bees hatch.
Each BeeHome comes with about 15 mason bee cocoons that will hatch when the weather is just right. This year, ours hatched the week before Easter and they’ve already been hard at work laying more larvae.
Watch your bees work and grow, see how your garden benefits from the extra pollination and enjoy the summer months.
Come fall, when your bees go into hibernation, you’ll be asked to mail your BeeHome back to Wildbiene +Partner where they will get the bees ready for the coming spring. Some of the bees you’ve grown will go into other BeeHomes, but most will go straight to farmers so they have more bees for pollinating their crops.
As the weather warms again, Wildbiene + Partner will return you BeeHome to you with a fresh set of bees ready for the new season
So really, having a BeeHome is not just an enjoyable hobby, but also something that anyone can actively do to secure a good crop of food next season. Wildbiene + Partner does issue gift certificates and sells BeeHomes year round, but now is the time to buy as last year they sold out before summer!
This article was submitted by Ashley Ringger for Living in Luzern.
