Apologies to William Shakespeare
Another Hidden Treasure in the Sutherland Shire
I recently visited an open day at the Illawarra Beekeepers Association in Sutherland, mainly because I have been interested in the sorry plight of bees around the world. There have been programs on 60 minutes and other tv stations that brought the problems being faced by bees to our attention, that are under threat.worldwide. As we go about our everyday lives many people are not aware how important bees are to us. Without bees pollinating plants, we wouldn’t have food.
Recently I completed a painting which was inspired by bees coming to visit flowers on my balcony. This is the completed painting which won a prize at the ArtShine Gallery in Chippendale, Sydney for their competition Art on Board.
I was surprised and gratified at how many people attended these talks at the open day. Some people keep bees as a hobby, and some like myself are just interested not only in the plight of bees but in the many uses of honey as a natural healer. The club is having more and more interest from the local community and they run courses on how to keep bees in a more organic and chemical free way. Australia has some of the best Manuka honey and we also have the healthiest bees at least for now.
We also export our healthy bees to other parts of the world due to the impact on bees of diseases and pesticides.
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One way everybody can assist is to stop using Pesticides. There are interesting articles on companion planting which assists in using less of harmful pesticides.
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You can plant a bee friendly garden.e.g. lavender
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You can learn more about bees and how crucial they are to our survival.
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You can join a local club and become a bee keeper.
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Buy local honey and find out the many uses it has besides being a delicious food. e.g. in healing wounds
I hope this article has been of interest to you and given a bit more awareness of the problems bees are experiencing around the world.
If you live in the local area of Sutherland and surrounds you can find out more on www.beekeeperssutherland.org.au
