Today is National Honey Bee Day! Did you know planting flowers in one of the best things you can do to help the bees who work so hard to make our honey? Bees have to visit about 2 million flowers to collect enough nectar to make 1 pound of honey. That’s 260 million flowers per batch of Bee Line Honey Blonde Ale!
National Honey Bee Day is an awareness day started by beekeepers in the United States to build community awareness of the bee industry, through education and promotion.
According to its organizers, the National Honey Bee Day program started with a simple concept:
Bring together beekeepers, bee associations, as well as other interested groups to connect with the communities to advance beekeeping. By working together and harnessing the efforts that so many already accomplish, and by using a united effort one day a year, the rewards and message is magnified many times over. We encourage bee associations, individuals, and other groups to get involved. The program is free and open to all.
The event was started in 2009, by a small group of beekeepers who petitioned for and obtained a formal proclamation by the USDA honoring honey bees and beekeeping. In 2010, a non-profit, Pennsylvania Apiculture Inc. was organized to better facilitate and promote the observance. The original date of observation was August 22, 2009 (the fourth Saturday of August), but has since settled permanently on the third Saturday of August.