bees Archives - Homesteader DepotHomesteader Depot

7 Little-Known Miracles of Beeswax

Bees are amazing creatures. Well organized and extremely productive, they are able not only to make their own food (honey) but also the custom facilities they live in and store the food (honeycomb). In addition to pollinating naturally occurring and farmed produce, they do more for us than we can imagine. Beeswax is literally bee’s wax. It is the waxy secretion their bodies produce to make their honeycombs. And, it has as many health benefits and other uses as the honey that makes them so popular with us. Beeswax has been used for millennia. It has appeared in Egyptian tombs […]

All About Bees (Infographic)

Bees are under serious threat lately, and if the bees die out, it would seriously disrupt life on this earth. I’ve always wanted to keep bees but never have, so I don’t know that much about how they work, but I love learning. This infographic from HobbyFarms.com is totally awesome and I learned so much about bees in such a short time! It breaks down their social order, their life span and life stages, their anatomy, fun facts about bees, and even what is threatening them in the environment. This really makes me want to plant as many bee-friendly plants as […]

Benefits of Bees for Homesteads

Bees can be greatly beneficial to the homestead. Becoming a beekeeper requires some knowledge, but it is still relatively simple to get into the field. Once you start to look at beekeeping, you will see that bees can provide a number of wonderful benefits. If you have a large garden that is meant to feed you and your entire family, then you need to make sure everything is pollinated properly. Same is true if you have some fruit trees on your property as well. By having bees on the property, you can ensure the pollination and fertilization of various crops. […]

What to Plant to Attract Bees

Bees are essential for our survival, and they’re dying in record numbers. We need them to pollinate our plants, so as they are dying in record numbers worldwide, it is devastating to think of the effects this might have on life on earth. There’s only so much a single homesteader can do, but as bees are just as vital to our small operations as they are to global food production, we can definitely still try to do our part to attract, nourish and sustain bees on our humble homesteads. Of course, beekeeping is a great way to do this, and […]

Should You Be a Beekeeper? 3 Questions to Ask First

All over the world, people are worried about honeybee populations. Declining bee populations mean a decline in pollination, as well as a decrease in food supplies for birds. Basically, if bees disappear, we’ll be in a lot more environmental trouble than you might think. As a result, homesteaders everywhere are helping their local bee populations out by becoming beekeepers, but should you do the same? There are a few questions you should ask before you commit to home beekeeping. Is One of Your Family Members Allergic to Bees? First, if anyone in your family is allergic to bees, then the […]