Pollinator Powerhouses for Your Garden

Want to help the bees and beautify your yard? Plant these pollinator powerhouses and watch your garden buzz to life

Bees need more than just our soda’s namesake—they need nectar-rich plants to thrive. Whether you’ve got a big backyard or a sunny balcony, you can turn any space into a pollinator paradise.

Here are 5 easy-to-grow, bee-approved plants for spring:

1. Lavender – Fragrant, hardy, and a nonstop bee magnet. Bonus: it smells amazing and repels mosquitoes.

2. Bee Balm – With its wild, colorful blooms, this one lives up to its name and supports native pollinators.

3. Coneflower (Echinacea) – Drought-tolerant and long-blooming, it's a favorite for both bees and butterflies.

4. Borage – A fast-growing herb with blue star-shaped flowers bees love. The edible blooms are great in salads or drinks.

5. Sunflowers – Tall, cheerful, and packed with pollen. Plant a few and you’ll have happy bees and great Instagram shot
   The best part? More bees mean better pollination for your veggies, herbs, and flowers. Plant a patch, skip the pesticides, and let the buzz begin.

 Got a bee-friendly garden already? Tag us with #GreenBeeGarden—we’d love to see it!

Here’s our Garden from last year! #greenbeegarden

BEE a hero for pollinators

This Earth Day, be a hero for all our pollinating friends—simple actions can make a BIG difference!

Supporting pollinators like bees and butterflies is crucial for a thriving ecosystem and a bountiful garden. By making thoughtful choices in your gardening practices, you can create a welcoming habitat for these essential creatures.

Here is a SIMPLE list of things you can do to help:

Plant Native Flowers – Many local garden centers sell native plants.  Better yet, support your local garden club.  They always have plant sales in the early spring.  If you can’t find any native flowers, you can always go on-line to find seeds local to your area.

Avoid Pesticides – Kind of goes without saying.  Pesticides have a direct correlation with bee colony collapse disorder. They also impair pollinator’s ability to forage.  Even trace amounts of pesticides disrupt foraging behavior, the ability to find food and navigate.

Provide a Water Source - All creatures need water and that includes bees.  Leave a small dish of water out for them.  BUT make sure to put pebbles out so they have some place to land without drowning.  If you have a natural water source, add some rocks or gravel, so they have some place to perch.

Leave Some Wild Areas in Your Yard- Sow some wild native seeds and let them grow

Support Local Beekeepers – Hit your local farmers market and buy local honey

Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue. If You Love Flowers, Thank A Pollinator Or Two

What do you think of when you think of Valentines Day? If you’re like us, you think of roses. With roughly 250 million roses grown for Valentines Day each year, we think it’s fair to say most people think of roses. Why roses, when there are so many beautiful flowers to choose from? Roses have come to symbolize many things: purity, innocence, and gratitude. Red roses the most popular rose on Valentines Day have come to symbolize romantic love, passion and devotion.

Roses are pollinated by bees in addition to other pollinators. They do this by transferring pollen from the male parts of a rose to the female parts, which help the plant to reproduce.

The majority of roses grown for Valentines Day come from Columbia and Ecuador. These flowers are grown in unheated hoop houses. The long warm days and cool evenings provide the perfect growing temperature. There are about 130 native bee species found in both countries.

So, if you love getting roses on Valentines Day and beyond, say thank you to the hardworking bees of Ecuador and Columbia.

Love and Bees. Its a Real Thing!

Did you know that St Valentine is the Patron Saint of love and BEEKEEPERS? Yup, love and beekeeping!

Back in Roman times and still to this day, bees are a symbol of romantic love.

For such a happy and sweet filled day, the history of how Valentines Day came to bee is a lot darker.

It is believed that Valentine’s Day originated from Lupercalia, an ancient Roman Festival. Lupercalia, was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus the Roman God of agriculture. We won’t get into how this was celebrated (it’s kind of morbid and distressing) but if you’re interested you should totally check it out (don’t say you weren’t warned).

As Christianity took over, it began incorporating Pagan holidays into their own celebrations. This is exactly what happened to Lupercalia. St Valentine, was a priest and beekeeper. Known for treating his bees with love and compassion. Valentine, defied the Roman Emperor Claudius 11 by secretly marrying couples. This really angered Claudius and he had Valentine tortured and decapitated on February 14th

To honor St Valentine, the Church began calling Lupercalia, Valentines Day

It wasn’t until the Middle Ages when the idea of courtly love became popular that Valentines Day started to become a thing amongst lovers.

Crazy to think that a day that started with an execution is now the Universal day of love.

Honey for your face? Yes it’s a thing.

Yes, honey face masks are incredibly beneficial for all types of skin. Because of honey’s antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties it is a great choice to include in your skin care regime.

Benefits of honey face masks:

Antibacterial and Anti-inflammatory

Honey can be used to treat acne, reduce the appearance of blemishes and help clear out clogged pores

Anti-aging

Because honey contains nutrients, amino acids and antioxidants it can help repair and promote collagen production

Hydrating

Honey grabs moisture from the air and uses it to help hydrate your skin

How to use

Apply raw unfiltered honey directly to your face and leave on for 15-20 minutes and wash off. That’s it…. Couldn’t be easier or more natural.

Do not use honey if you are allergic to pollen. When in doubt, don’t do it…

5 Tips To Help With Dry January

Dry January is a time when people take a break from drinking alcohol. The U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called for cancer warning labels on all alcoholic beverages to highlight the link between alcohol consumption and increased cancer risk. “Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States…yet the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk”.

After hearing this, Dry January and an NA lifestyle are even more relevant than ever for our long term health.

Here are 5 tips that will help you on your journey:

1. Make sure to have lots and lots of Non-Alcoholic choices on hand. Can anyone say, Green Bee? Our fizzy, delicious honey sodas and sparkling waters are the perfect replacement for any cocktail. If you’re going to a friend’s house bring a few 4 packs so you know your covered.

2. Sit down and make a list and identify why you drink. Are you drinking because you are stressed out? Are you drinking to help you sleep better or to help break the ice in social situations? Once you identify why you are drinking. Come up with alternatives to drinking so you are prepared before someone tries to hand you a drink.

3. Pay attention to how you are feeling without drinking. Start a journal so you can track your daily progress. Are you sleeping better? Have more energy during the day? Feeling less bloated? These are all positive signs that will help stay you on your alcohol-free journey.

4. Put all of the money aside that you would have spent on alcohol and do something nice for yourself at the end of the month.

5. If your feeling great without alcohol, come up with a long-term plan. Just like with healthy eating habits, if you aren’t making a conscious effort on a daily basis, it is very easy to fall into your old bad habits.