Calling all bloggers to join my saving the bees challenge, a bloggers alliance made up of real actionable tips from one blogger to another, to another, to another! I really wanted to make a difference if possible, there are so many good hearted souls out there but often we often don't know where to start so I really wanted to create a helpful step by step challenge guide, so we know how to get our hands dirty to create the most impact!
PS scroll down to the bottom for a special bee treat!
This cause is special to me as it's little known how much bees contribute to our food ecosystem and our survival, we never hear about how much our food depends on them. 70 of the top 100 food crops grown worldwide rely on pollinators, equivalent to 90% of the world's nutrition - but factors like climate change plus pesticides are devastating bee populations worldwide. Any help is amazing, popping the button on your page or note in your post, or social media share!!
People talk about saving the bees but it's really hard to know what to do to help. Bees need all the help they can get so I wanted to share how many I really hope having them all in the same place will be helpful and you can create wonderful things with the two hands in front of you πΌ Let's go, go with the challenges!
π 1. Gift family and friends some wildflower seed bombs
You can find some great ones here and here (not affiliate links)
π 2. Share this page
One of the best ways to help is to share this page with family and friends, on social media, anywhere counts! Share it with others so they can learn how to help too, we can do so much with the help of others.
π 3. Buy family and friends these bee friendly seed infused cards
They are totally biodegradable and your loved ones can even plant the card afterwards. They come in so many cute designs and make an amazing way to spread bee friendly wildflowers in your area! It's also a really cool way to support small businesses.
π 4. Make a bee hotel
Make a bee hotel from a wooden box and fill it with hollow stems like pieces of bamboo, or drill a variety of holes in to a trunk, anywhere from 2mm to 10mm wide (a variety of hole sizes would be amazing!) You could even order yourself a mini build a bee hotel kit (no affiliate link).
Simply pop your bee hotel at least one metre above ground level, ensuring no vegetation is blocking the tunnels. Bees can hibernate here and come out in the spring and it provides the perfect shelter for them. Keeping and making one makes for such a therapeutic self care activity and is a really lovely treat for yourself also!
π 5. Plant some tulips
Single flower top flowers like tulips are wonderful as they yield more nectar per flower! It's great to select a range of early, mind and late season tulips - select a few varieties from each bloom time category will mean you get a long lasting display, transcending multiple seasons! Tulips like lots of sun and fast draining soil, which makes them great for rock gardens. Plant them in autumn/fall, about 7 inches deep, with the pointy end of the bulb pointing upwards, and they will look beautiful in the spring!
Bulbs can be planted quite closely together. Water thoroughly and regularly once green growth starts emerging.
π 5. Plant some marigolds
Marigolds are single flower top flowers, which makes them perfect to plant for bees as they possess more nectar per flower head! When growing marigolds, give them full sun and some well-draining soil and watch them bloom from late spring until fall. Marigold seeds germinate quickly, within just a few days, and bloom in about 8 weeks.
π 6. Sign these petitions to stand up for bees
Sign to urge governments to stop bee killing pesticides finding their way in to the environment
Sign to stop the use of bee-killing neonicotinoids (pesticides) in the US
π 7. Plant some daisies
Daisies are single flower top flowers that bees just love, they are such a happy flower and are a brilliant way to give your garden or outdoor space a sunny feel!
π 8. Plant some more bee friendly flowers
Any sized garden is perfect, even a miniature one or hanging basket! Planting a range of flowers in your garden means that bees can have access to nectar from March to October. You can use the winter season to plan a garden full of nectar-rich plants that bees can forage come spring. Bees love traditional cottage garden flowers and native wildflowers, like primrose, buddleia, and marigolds.
π 9. Cut grass less often
Allow for a little extra length, to make your garden more habitable for wildlife. You could even set out a new look for your garden to give it a bit of a refresh (a fairytale/cottagecore garden?) and allowing for extra grass length means it might feel a bit easier to maintain.
π 10. Sign here to join the fight against climate change
π 11. Make a bee bath
Set up a bee bath, a little dish with some pebbles and stones and water inside for them to drink from. The pebbles and stones make perfect platforms for them to perch on to drink from and they look so so pretty too! Bees like to share information and will remember this water source in the future if you leave it out for them.
π 12. Make a small donation to support bee conservation
π 13. Collect odd pennies and change in a pretty jar
Make it look super pretty in your home! This is a great way to save up change to donate.
π 14. Buy in an all natural pesticide and fertiliser
Find a good one and recommend it to your friends for their gardens too.
π 15. Give out wildflower seed bombs inside party bags
At your kid's next birthday! These will be really fun for them to plant, will be amazing for bees and something really quirky and fun to receive.
π 16. Follow some helpful eco accounts on social media
When you can complete these, you'll be at the...
Next level! Now bee thrillseekers can
π 17. Gift people beautiful hanging baskets with bee friendly flowers growing
This is such a wonderful gift idea! Make the flowers super pretty, so they will be sure to want to set up the hanging basket right away.This is such a unique and wonderful gift idea! They will be sure to want to set up the hanging basket right away, making it look beautiful and the perfect environment for bees.
π 18. Make bee hotels to gift to family and friends
Make it super decorative and pretty! They will only have to hang them or set them decoratively in their garden to provide an amazing refuge for bees.
π 19. Make some dishes with food grown in your area
Source your ingredients close to home to get close to your food and enjoy a whole new close appreciation for the food that fuels you and keeps your body going.
π 20. Give out wildflower seed bombs as wedding favours
You could even enjoy wildflower seed paper confetti as a wonderful gesture as part of your big day.
Reach out to others in from different political groups and making others feel welcome is an amazing way to make it less of a one party issue in your area. Itt's something we can all get behind and support and have in common together, to nourish and care for our area. You never know who you might inspire!
π 21. Buy local sustainable raw honey and beeswax
To support local bees and pollination in your area. Use them in your cakes and cooking and promote them on your social media page.
π 22. Gift someone you love a bee pollinator house
π 23. Make and sell bee cupcakes for charity
π 24. Talk about bees declining with someone today
It can be in an indirect way, but challenge yourself to bring it up in conversation! Why not create a bee themed manicure and let it be the talking point in your conversations. Let them know what your goals are and which challenges you want to do that make you feel excited!
π 25. Create a fairytale garden
Creating a wildlife filled garden doesn't have to be messy, it can be magical! You can start to relish the extra grass length, it can make you feel connected with nature and helps us get back to our roots and the things that help us to thrive. It gives you a great sense of joy and peace letting nature have a hand in keeping your garden. Definitely an excuse to go cottagecore! Think of 'Shakespearean' Elizabethan gardens that really celebrate the interconnecting of food and nature, the seasons and how different ecological systems depend on each other.
π 26. Create a miniature garden
π 27. Join a bee friendly group on Facebook
π 28. Make your own wildflower seed bombs
And give them out for free, leave them in a crate for people to help themselves to. You could make them super colourful with this recipe here to attract peoples eye! This is a great way to distribute them! Another way to make is to mix together 1 cup of seeds with 5 cups of compost and 2-3 cups of clay powder (you could use clay soil instead if you have it). Slowly mix in water with your hands until everything sticks together. Roll the mixture into firm balls. Leave the balls to dry in a sunny spot.
π 29. Create a petition in your area about patches of unused unowned land and verge sides
π 30. Throw a bee themed event
To catch the attention of people in your area and even the media, this is something really productive and special you can do for the community as it means bringing people together and inviting them to learn more about bees and our ecosystem at the same time! There are so many fun ways to capture people's attention and imagination.
π 31. Allot yourself a random challenge every day
π 32. Makeover someone's garden for them
Offer to give someone's garden a makeover as a wonderful way to volunteer! It's a wonderful way to help your community - or you could charge a small fee and advertise your services - dedicating anything you earn to a bee supporting charity. This is a wonderful weekend activity that will keep you fit too and means you can get busy creating beautiful spaces! It also makes for an incredible self care activity.
π 33. Create a beautiful piece of art or mural
If you are an arty type! It can communicate to people like nothing else and capturing the beauty of our bees is a wonderful way to pay tribute to them. You could even sell your pieces and donate the money to bee charities - the perfect way to help them! We can produce such beautiful, exciting, compelling and extraordinary things with our hands, now is the perfect time to try!
π 34. Create an instagram account for your bee challenges
And bee related endeavours, you will inspire others to do the same, begin and record your adventure and enhance everyone's day with your sunny content. It's a way of putting out rays of sunshine and positivity in to the world - the more you do this the more you will receive it back. It might even mean that someone starts bel-bee-ving in humanity again!
πΌ Some fun puns (and dad jokes) to use as captions: πΌ
'Bee there or bee square'
'Beauty is in the eye of the bee-holder'
'Quit pollen my leg!'
' To bee or not to bee'
'Now I'm buzzing!'
'Wasa-bee for lunch'
'When a bee is in your hand, what’s in your eye? Beauty. Because beauty is in the eye of the bee-holder'
'Let's create a buzz!'
'Beehive yourselves'
'Daily dose of your vitamin bee'
'That's not too shab-bee'
πΌ Fun fact! Never feed honey to bees, but granulated sugar and water together to make a sugar syrup is fine. This is because purchased honey can introduce diseases and contamination to your hive! Pop some sugar water mixture on a spoon for a tired bee to enjoy πΌ
It's all a way of celebrating and showing love for our intricate and wonderful ecosystem that fuels us everyday. We can use our power, influence, intelligence and strength as humans to better both our species and help each other.
Free treat - papers for your phone!
Help yourself to these, just link back here if you use them, that would be so amazing and go a long way to helping others find this page.
I hope this helps you with your bee journey, especially if you've never thought of starting one before, it can make everything feel so much sunnier for you and is excellent for our own wellbeing as well!
This is a communal project so I really appreciate any tricks and tips I might have missed, I would love to add them so we can all share them together. I'd love it if you shared this page with family and friends! It would mean so much, if you like it, do share it so others can discover it! ππ
I try to do as many of these as possible! I study Environmental Science and learnt about neonicitinoids a couple years ago and was truly shocked. Ever since then, I've been trying to help as best as I can. Do you have a facebook for this? Might be fun to share updates :)
ReplyDeleteCaroline | https://envirolineblog.com/
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