Nature’s Little Helpers~
While growing up in Michigan, I remember one of my favorite things to do when visiting my grandmother was to read through her zoo collection of animal books. Each animal had it’s own book, color-coded, filled with statistics, interesting facts, picture diagrams and more.
I especially loved the editions on sharks and snakes. Ancient Megalodons bigger than a school bus! The amount of things a python can swallow whole!
What I also remember was sadly coming across some of the animal books that relayed, even back then in the 90s, that some of these amazing creatures were already on the endangered species list.
Curious cat that I was, I asked about these endangered animals and why they were in the predicament they were. This was but one example of the organic empathy children can experience regarding the care or well-being of another, but are often taught to separate themselves from thanks to societal conditioning and brainwashing over what is or is not “normal” (which further drives to our behavioral pinching-off in regard to our daily habits, like eating).
This awareness of coexisting and the delicate balance between our resources and consumption was but another facet that geared me towards sustainable living and my passion for the vegan lifestyle.
Fast forward to spring 2017, and upon my joining of a farm venture to learn the ins and outs of in-ground planting the old fashioned way, I was told that becoming a beekeeper might be a worthwhile endeavor, which I considered for the following reasons:
1. Bees are a natural and symbiotic addition to any farm, especially an organic vegetable farm where bees pollinate the fields while taking nectar for themselves as a necessary component to make honey.
2. Being a cruelty-free life leader and environmentalist, what better way to give back to Mother Nature than to create a safe and happy home for some of her littlest creatures with the biggest jobs?
3. Recently, bees were unfortunately added onto the Endangered Species list. Needless to say, that means they need all the help they can get to maintain healthy population levels.
According to an article by the BBC, “They are critical pollinators: they pollinate 70 of the around 100 crop species that feed 90% of the world. Honey bees are responsible for $30 billion a year in crops. That’s only the start. We may lose all the plants that bees pollinate, all of the animals that eat those plants and so on up the food chain.”
May 4, 2014 (found at: www.bbc.com/future/story/20140502-what-if-bees-went-extinct )
The opportunity seemed like a feasible one, something I could manage to learn and undertake as a self-proclaimed animal activist for posterity. The discrepancy here is that honey is not considered a vegan product, as veganism by its very definition seeks to exclude both cruelty and exploitation of any living creature, i.e. not stealing honey from bees for personal satisfaction. Let it be said then that about 99% of the time I’ll declare that the ethical and moral ground for arguing pro-veganism is a blatant black-and-white matter, but where bees and honey are concerned I have my Achilles’ heel– though as ever, not without explanation.
In short (for another article will be had to detail more about bees and the cool creatures they are), the honey, if harvested “properly”, will be enough to use for human purpose while still leaving more than enough for a hive that gets taken care off by the beekeeper. Since the bees are technically looked after, they’re not in a position where they’ll starve or likely have a showdown with invaders since regular hive checks mean keeping their safety and wellbeing a priority. Guaranteed feeder jars and a clean, bug-free maintained home? Doesn’t sound like exploitation.
In regard to utilizing honey as it’s an “animal byproduct”, I’ll say this: I’ve gone my whole life without health insurance. In the last three years, I can’t even recall once where I’ve been TRULY sick. Part of this is due to daily drinking of Braggs (organic, raw) apple cider vinegar, which is like a punch to the immune system, constantly bolstering my immunity from attack. The second trick is the honey! When sourced responsibly from local hives and bottled “Raw” without treatment, heating, processing, and shipping, it’s one of the healthiest natural substances you can have as an antibiotic, antioxidant, and aid for allergies (local honey made from local nectar fights local pollen). More ways in which honey benefits your body can be found in this neat article:
https://draxe.com/the-many-health-benefits-of-raw-honey/
And there you have it. My journey into bee keeping, from a ecosystem-conscious kid to an empathic animal lover to present-day farming apprentice. If saving bees, giving them a place to live, and at some point harvesting some honey means I’m not a vegan in someone’s book, then fine. I’m a “Level 11 Vegetarian” who is still otherwise conscious of my choices and how they affect others and the planet. But why take my word for it? If you’d like to help the planet out and our ecosystem, get into backyard beekeeping for yourself and see how you feel then.
Don’t know until you try… right?
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