Tag Archives: Bees

Bees: A Sweet, Sustainable Gift

Posted on by
0

Photo courtesy of Heifer International

Like many of the gifts available in the Heifer catalog, bees offer several advantages to the beneficiary, to the environment, and to neighboring farmers. Best of all, they are very sustainable. All in all, they exemplify Heifer’s mission of fighting hunger and poverty while caring for the Earth.

One of Heifer’s most important elements is that we believe development must be sustainable−that projects should be long-term investments in the future of people and the planet. Not only do bees supply honey for consumption and added income for participants, they pollinate a wide area around their hives, improving the environment. The cultivation of honey-yielding plants increases biodiversity and improves the quality of bee products. This is an enterprise that can sustain itself.

bees

Photo courtesy of Heifer International

As bees search for nectar, they pollinate plants. Placed strategically, beehives can as much as double some fruit and vegetable production. Although most Heifer partners keep bees as a supplement to family income, beekeeping can be a family’s livelihood. Your gift can help Heifer provide a family with a package of bees, the box and hive plus training in beekeeping−and of course this unique gift will be passed on to another family in need.

Much has been in the news about the danger of bees becoming extinct. If this were to happen, the agriculture systems we need to produce food to feed the world would be seriously compromised. Heifer projects work hard to prevent this in regions around the world, such as this one: Honey–Yielding Plants for Bee Breeders in the Carpathian Region of Poland.

Donate bees in someone’s honor today. You will be helping a family lift themselves out of poverty and caring for the Earth at the same time. What a sweet, sustainable gift.

bees

Rafael Morales of Honduras can't resist the taste of honey! Photo courtesy of Heifer International

This post is part of our What to Give series, where we’re helping you choose the best Heifer gift for your loved ones. Read previous What to Give posts here, and subscribe to the What to Give series here.

Still don’t know what to give? Check out our entire online Gift Catalog.

Make Beeswax Hand Cream

Posted on by
0
Beeswax

Photo courtesy of Heifer International

Every week we feature a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. We have begun mailing our Gift Catalog for this year’s holiday season and will be featuring activities that highlight the items available.

In addition to making honey and beeswax, honeybees, a major pollinator in ecosystems that contain flowering plants, play a critical role in the human food supply. A third of the human diet comes from insect-pollinated plants. And these little creatures do an estimated 80 percent of that pollination, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They are found on every continent with the exception of Antarctica.

Heifer has projects using bees to increase yields for coffee farmers in Guatemala. They pollinate the coffee, meaning more profits for the farmers, who sell the honey too.

The brisk winter weather removes moisture from everything leading to chapped lips and hands. Don’t let winter get the best of your skin. This homemade beeswax hand cream will moisturize skin and provide a fun activity to do with children during their holiday break.

Beeswax

Photo courtesy of eveoutofthegarden.com

Materials

  • 4 ounces sweet almond oil
  • 1 ounce beeswax
  • 2 ounces water
  • 8 drops Vitamin E
  • 8 drops essential oil
  • Glass bowl
  • Large pot
  • Water

Place the beeswax in the glass bowl and put the bowl in the pot. Pour water into the pot, filling until it reaches about half way up the bowl. Don’t let the water get into the glass bowl; you just want there to be enough to warm up the wax. Turn the temperature on to medium. Add the almond oil.

Remove from heat and add 2 ounces of water and remaining ingredients, slowly stirring continuously. Pour into a small glass container. It’s important to pour the mixture out before it cools enough to where it’s too thick to pour.

For more beeswax recipes, read this article.

To learn more about how Heifer families are using bees to increase their yields, click here.

Give the gift of honeybees to families in need.

Still don’t know what to give someone this holiday season? Browse our catalog and find out how you can help.

 

A Little Activity to Show You Just How Hard a Bee Works

Posted on by
0

Every week we feature a fun and/or educational activity you can try at home or in the classroom. We have begun mailing our Gift Catalog for this year’s holiday season and will be featuring activities that highlight the items available.

The Buzz About Bees

One of Heifer’s most important commitments is to care for the Earth. Development must be sustainable, and our projects should be long-term investments in the future of people and the planet. Bees fit this bill perfectly. As bees search for nectar they pollinate plants. If placed in the right location, beehives may double fruit and vegetable production. Most Heifer partners keep bees as a supplement to family income, but beekeeping can provide a livelihood for an entire family. This gift can help provide a family with a package of bees, the box and hive, plus beekeeping training. And of course, this unique gift will be passed on from one family to another in need.

Today, we are going to pretend we are bees, flying from flower to flower drinking the nectar with our proboscis, which is a tongue that looks like a drinking straw. A bee can only transport one eyedropper’s worth of nectar at a time, so when it is full it returns to the hive to deposit the nectar into the hive cells.

Photo credit: ben matthews

Materials:

  • eyedropper
  • cup of water
  • medicine cup marked with teaspoon and tablespoon measurements

Put the medicine cup across the room from the water and eyedropper. Take turns transferring water across the room, one drop at a time, making sure someone is keeping track of the drops needed to produce one teaspoon to two tablespoons. Remember as you are transferring the water, each time you cross the room represents one bee flight, which includes stops at many many flowers. Think about it! Each bee produces about 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime. That’s a lot of hard, tedious work for such a small amount.  That’s why there are so many bees in a hive, and why they all appear to be as “busy as a bee.”

To learn more about bees and see more activities go to www.scholastic.com. To read about how bees have been helping Heifer participants around the world, read these blog posts.

photo credit: ben matthews ::: / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA

From the Field: Heifer’s Work Around the World

Posted on by
0

This weekly post shines a light on a handful of stories from Heifer.org’s “From the Field” section.

Thinking outside the box, being open to doing things differently, can be the tipping point to success. Heifer’s work is carried out by innovative people who are constantly thinking of ways to improve their methods and reap even more success.

Bees and their honey make life sweet for coffee farmers in Guatemala

Since bees joined the coffee farming activities of Guatemala’s Tuiboch village, honey has become a sweet bonus business. Read Bees Improve Yield for Guatemala Coffee Farmers to learn more.

Staff from Heifer Poland and the Polish Development Cooperation of the Ministry of Public Affairs were on hand to celebrate the opening of two new projects in Armenia. Find out how this bi-national collaboration means successful project implementation in Fruitful Partnership Betwen Armenia and Poland Leads to Tangible Results.

Empowering a Remote Village to Improve Livelihoods tells how Lin Fengchen, a farmer in China’s rural Sangfang village, encouraged skeptical villagers to join a chicken raising cooperative. In addition to building a brand, Jianmenguan Natrual-Fed Chicken, cooperative members have dramatically increased their income through diverse and sustainable agriculture activities.

New Solution to Bee Problems in Poland

Posted on by
0
Courtesy of Heifer International

Story by: Marek Klauzinski, Public Relations and Communications Coordinator, Heifer Poland

Did you know we owe about a third of our food to bees and other pollinators? About 30 percent of food crops and 90 percent of wild plants depend on cross pollination. Beekeepers have informed the population of a 30 percent beehive reduction every year. If this persists, we are at serious risk of bees becoming extinct.

Grzegorz Stańczyk from the Beekeepers Association said, “The bees’ extinction is a very complex process and scientists work constantly to find its reasons.”

Both scientists and beekeepers agree on one thing. Biodiversity is what keeps bees in good health. A variety of blooming plants is absolutely essential for bees to have a source of food from spring to fall. On farms practicing monoculture agriculture, however, achieving the biodiversity needed by bees and other pollinators is a challenge. Beekeepers from the Podkarpacki region of Poland, in cooperation with Heifer Poland, are implementing the Honey–Yielding Plants for Bee Breeders in the Carpathian Region of Poland Project. Through this project, impoverished bee breeders from southeastern Poland will achieve food security and incomes while increasing the area and biodiversity of bee forages.

Among the main barriers threatening the sustainability of beekeeping in the Carpathian region is the shortage of native, nectar producing plant populations during the early and mid-summer months. Additionally, reductions of agricultural land and changes in agricultural practices have led to a further reduction of nectar producing bee forage. Theoretical and practical studies show that cultivation of honey yielding plants, which are attractive to bees, such as Arctic Glow (Echinops sphaerocephalus L.) and White Sweet Clover (Melilotus albus L.), have a positive impact on honey and pollen production. They also show the potential for development of production systems for season-long supply of nectar from herbal bee forages.

The cultivation of Arctic Glow or White Sweet Clover in an area about 1.25 acres near an apiary consisting of ten beehives will increase the yearly quantities of honey production by 441 pounds. The yearly quantities of pollen production will be increased by 44 pounds. This means that an average yearly bee breeder income may increase by around $1,000. Moreover, the cultivation of honey yielding plants, using organic methods, will increase the biodiversity of cultivation plants and improve the quality of bee products.

“We are about to finish the distribution of 52,911 pounds of honey-yielding plants among 2,000 farm families,” Zygmunt Paluch said. “Each of them receives 26 pounds of seeds, which is enough for the area of about 1.25 acres. Another 2,000 families will join the project through Passing on the Gift, so we expect that by 2015 the area of bee forages in the region will increase by 4,942 acres.”

If bees were to become extinct, the agriculture systems we need to produce food to feed the world would be seriously compromised. It is imperative we do what we can to protect bees and other pollinators and help them flourish. Heifer Poland and beekeepers from southeastern Poland are absolutely convinced their project will improve the situation significantly.

ZOMBEES!

Posted on by
0

Here’s some real-life sci-fi for you: A parasite that lays eggs in honey bees’ abdomens and causes them to stumble around in a zombie-like death march is the latest suspect in the colony collapse disorder that’s killing hives around the world. The horror continues about a week after the bees die and the larvae wriggle out like miniature aliens.
San Francisco State University biologist John Hafernik happened upon the ghoulish parasites after collecting bees to feed a praying mantis. First, fly pupae emerged in the vial where he was keeping the bees, then the bees started lurching around, falling over and dying. Hafernik’s research revealed that the same parasites, identified as Apocephalus borealis, are killing bumblebees, too.
The discovery likely won’t solve the disastrous decline in the pollinator populations we rely on for crop production. Experts think the zombie parasites are just one of many things killing bees. Other culprits include different parasites, infections, pesticides and habitat loss.

Support Your Local Beehive

Posted on by
2

Post by Heifer International Manager of Adult Education Todd Montgomery.

If you, like me, are a casual reader of the news (and yes…this very blog), you have gotten wind of a bit of a controversy surrounding the importing and selling of honey here in the U.S.  The consuming public seems to be keenly interested in what constitutes honey, its place of origin, and the systems of processing the honey and preparing it for its trip to market.  Why does this matter so much?  As a consumer in a global market and a novice beekeeper, I have my own opinions.  Deep down, we have some weird inkling that buying honey (or any other agricultural product) from half a world away just seems a little out of whack.  The question isn’t why should we buy local.  The question is why shouldn’t we.

Let’s compare our habits as consumers with those of the honey bees as producers.  A worker bee will forage for nectar within a 2.5 mile range of her hive.  Using the sun as her compass and following the directions of her sisters, she’ll locate flowering shrubs, plants, trees, and crops.  She’ll gather nectar in her stomach and pollen on the tiny hairs on her legs.  One she has a full load; she’ll fly back to the hive in a bee-line (yes, that is the origin of the term.) and make her deposit.  The nectar is stored in thousands of hexagonal-shaped combs.  The bees will fan the nectar to evaporate the water.  The condensed product is honey.  The pollen is used to feed the young bees.  The bees collect more than enough honey to feed the hive so the excess is stored for the winter when it will be too cold to forage.  The art/science of beekeeping is essentially encouraging the bees to produce enough excess honey for the beekeeper as well.    

The honey bee is a strong advocate of supporting a local food system.  Honeybees are remarkably resourceful.  They will collect the nectar of nearly any flower, and honey bees can live in a wide range of habitats because of this resourcefulness and their instinct to prepare for hard times.  Each hive is a product of its specific environment and habitat.  By the way, the worker bees only live for 6 weeks to 3 months depending on the time of year.  For the most part, they won’t live long enough to see the hive benefit from their hard work.  They just do it because they “know” it is right and natural.  

Let’s not kid ourselves.  We live in a global economy.  My coffee comes from Central America; my shoes are from Southeast Asia.  I drove to work today in an automobile powered by fossil fuel from who knows where.  I am, for the most part, no longer a product of my local habitat and resources.  I think I represent the majority in these respects, and I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing.  But I know that supporting local agriculture is a good thing.  How do I know?  I’ve had local, raw honey.  Don’t believe me?  Try it.  When you eat a spoonful of local honey, you are directly plugging yourself into a value-added food chain.  Soybeans, gardenias, apple blossoms, clover, and dandelions may all be in the mix, depending on where you live; all of these plants benefit from visits from bees.  They all have a place in our habitat and food system, and so do I.  At a very basic level, though, it doesn’t make sense to import a product from thousands of miles away when the same product, at a higher quality, can be found nearby.  

Be an active participant in your local food system.  Try local honey.  

Trust me, I’m a beekeeper. 


Heifer China Participants Teach Donors to Sing the Song of Heifer

Posted on by
2
Story Reported by Zhang Han, communication and networking officer, Heifer China. Photos by Zhu Wenjing, communication and networking officer, Heifer China. Video used with permission.
Melodious singing resonated from the Heifer project activity room in Fuxing Village, Lizhou District, Guangyuan City, Sichuan, China, as women of a self-help group (SHG) taught donors visiting from Hong Kong to sing the Song of Heifer, which the group members wrote and composed.

The SHG consists of 22 female project participants who established a chorus. Through singing, these women became more confident and willing to help others. “Heifer was brought into our community; we pass on our love to others with sincerity,” said one member.

During their visit, 25 donors from Hong Kong saw how the women and their families live and work to raise pigs and implement project activities. The donor group included children and adults. In the afternoon, donors helped with farm work. Some of them plowed a field for the first time in their lives. The experience, as well as the 95F heat, made an impact on each donor. They were students and ordinary citizens, demonstrating that benevolence is not only an obligation of the rich. If everyone contributes a little, Heifer can bring huge changes to people and families in rural areas.
On his Facebook wall, one donor wrote, “After a four-day visit, I do need to deal with loads of work. But I think I need to work harder to donate more to Heifer in the future.”
A few hours’ drive from Fuxing Village, Heifer China is also helping survivors of the 2008 magnitude 8.0 earthquake rebuild their livelihoods. This umbrella project will provide 4,000 families with poultry, rabbits, goats, beef cattle, honeybees and silkworms (71,000 animals total) and extensive training in their care. Help us complete our goal of raising $3 million for this project (only $317,536 to go!).

Good News on the Poverty Front

Posted on by
0


The total number of the world’s poor fell to 878 million people in 2010 from more than 1 billion in 2005, a new Brookings Institution report shows.

Brookings’ Laurence Chandy and Geoffrey Gertz announced the findings in a Washington Post opinion piece today, linking the news to the World Economic Forum, convening this week in Davos, Switzerland.
In their editorial, they say our understanding of global poverty “remains firmly rooted in the year 2005, the last year for which the World Bank produced data on the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day.”
“A lot has changed in the past six years. The economies of the developing world have expanded 50 percent in real terms, despite the Great Recession. Moreover, growth has been particularly high in countries with large numbers of poor people. India and China, of course, but also Bangladesh, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Uganda, Mozambique and Uzbekistan – nine countries that were collectively home to nearly two-thirds of the world’s poor in 2005 – are all experiencing phenomenal economic advances.”
The new Brookings Institution report, available to download here, updates the World Bank’s official figures to show how the global poverty landscape has changed. The editorial says “we estimate that between 2005 and 2010, nearly half a billion people escaped extreme hardship. Never before in history have so many people been lifted out of poverty in such a short period.”
The editorial concludes “While there is good reason to focus public attention on the need to support those still stuck below the poverty line, there is also reason to celebrate successes and to ensure that policy debates are grounded in reality.”
Heifer International’s successful model focuses on one family at a time, through livestock, fish, bees and innovative agricultural training.
“I have seen families rise above poverty and hunger for good,” says Heifer Tanzania Country Director Peter Mwakabwale. Read more about Heifer’s programs at www.heifer.org and www.heifer.org/worldark.
Photo of Isaya and Restituta Mlelwa, Heifer Tanzania participants by Dave Anderson. The Mlelwas, who started with just one Heifer dairy cow, have now trained thousands throughout Africa on raising dairy cows and organic farming. Restituta Mlelwa just met her dream to travel to Europe, visiting Italy in December to share her knowledge of zero-grazing dairy farming.

Q&A with an 11-Year-Old Social Entrepreneur

Posted on by
0


Hats for Hunger was founded in 2008 by Andrew Castle when he was 9 years old. He was inspired by a Heifer International catalog, and decided to make a difference himself. He combined his love of animals and knitting to start Hats for Hunger. We asked Andrew a few questions about his 2010 goal to raise $5,000 for a Gift Ark:

-Why did you choose Heifer International? For Christmas 2007, my grandparents let us chose an animal from the Heifer catalog. That was the first I had heard of Heifer and I loved the concept of providing people with the tools to improve their lives. Rather than a food handout, the gift of animals creates self-sustainability. A gift to Heifer has an exponential impact on the lives of communities. -How did you come up with the goal of 5k? The first year of Hats for Hunger, I raised $1,500. The second year, I had a lot of academic commitments and only raised $700 which I donated to the Vermont Foodbank. For 2010, I had a goal of $3,000, but Noland Hoshino (lead Heifer volunteer in Portland) got me excited about the idea of raising $5,000 to buy a gift ark.

-How did you learn to knit hats? I learned to knit when I was 7 as part of a school project. -Just how many hats have you made this past year? This past year, I haven’t knit any because the volunteer knitters have done such an amazing job! The first year of Hats for Hunger, my brother, mother and I knit all of the hats and it was overwhelming. $1,500 of hats is a LOT of hats! Many were custom hats, but the most fun was creating new designs. The most popular hat that year was the “valentine hat” with a heart on top.

-How many volunteer knitters are there? We have over 80 volunteer knitters/crocheters around the country (and one in England). They are an amazing group of people and have given so generously of their time and effort. We have a group on Ravelry.com which was started by Hannah, an amazing 9 year old in Minnesota. She and her family have donated over 100 hand knit hats to Hats for Hunger. Also, a group of knitters in Virginia called K1-D2 did a hat drive throughout the state at yarn stores and collected 297 hats. Fortunately, they arrived the day after Thanksgiving because they took over our dining room. -What is your favorite part about H4H? At first, it was knitting the hats and getting H4H started that was the most fun. Now it’s watching the growth of the company and seeing how many people are excited to get involved. In just a few months, we went from 150 Facebook friends to over 1,000! That has been pretty cool. (www.facebook.com/hatsforhunger)

-What goals do you have for 2011? My goal is to raise $10,000 for Heifer International. Also, I’d like to introduce a “Premium” line of hats this year. Many of the donated hats are made with high-end fibers (alpaca, cashmere, merino wool, etc) and have incredible handwork. They should sell for more than $20. I’d like to add a chart to the website to show how each hat helps to pay for animals via Heifer. For example, a $20 hat pays for a flock of chicks or ducks. A $30 hat pays for honeybees. A $10 hat buys a share of a pig, etc.

-If there is any additional information you’d like to add that would be great, too. 100% of profits goes directly to Heifer International. We have virtually no overhead since almost all of the hats and yarn are donated. Someone who buys a $20 hat is essentially getting a two for one deal. $20 goes to Heifer AND they get a cool hat. Also, our customers often buy extra hats to donate to homeless shelters and children’s homes.