Posts Tagged: Thanksgiving

Thanks Be to the Bee

Hap-bee Thanksgiving!

If you're having cranberries, squash, pumpkins,  carrots, cucumbers (and pickles) onions, grapefruit, oranges,  apples,  pears, cherries, blueberries, sunflowers and almonds,  you can thank the honey bee.

 “A substantial portion of the meal is pollinated by the honey bee,” said Extension Apiculturist Eric Mussen, a member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty and a noted authority on honey bees.

Cole crops, such as cabbage, Brussel sprouts, kale, spinach, chard,  and broccoli, are pollinated by bees.

Almonds often garnish parts of the meal, and those, too, are pollinated by bees--along with macadamia nuts, said bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey, manager of the Harrry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis.

Even milk and ice cream are linked closely to the honey bee.  Cows feed on alfalfa, which is pollinated by honey bees (and other bees). Ice cream ingredients usually include fruits and nuts, other bee favorites.

And the turkey? If it eats sunflower seeds--and it does--sunflowers are pollinated by bees.  

Vegetarians can also be thankful. Bees visit soybeans (made into tofu for tofu turkey and other meatless dishes).  “And bees can make a honey crop foraging on lima beans,” Mussen said.

And don’t forget the honey: honey-glazed carrots, honey rolls and honey-baked ham… 

No wonder "honey" is a term of endearment...

Your Honey

HONEY BEE nectaring lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Resting?

THIS HONEY BEE appears to be resting, but she's not. She has work to do. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Insect Behind Thanksgiving Day

Happy Turkey Day!

The last Thursday of November is Thanksgiving Day, but it really should be Honey Bee Day.

Without the bees, we’d have no Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving as we know it. They are our unstung heroes. They pollinate more than 90 agricultural crops in California.  One third of the American diet is pollinated by bees.

So, as we sit around the dining room table giving thanks, we should also consider the insect that makes it all happen.

The honey bee.

Happy Honey Bee Day!

Bee and Nectarine Blossom

BEE-ING THERE--Honey bees pollinate more than 90 crops, including the nectarine. The honey bee pollinates one third of the American diet. Without the honey bee, there would be no Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving as we know it. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)