A buzzing good blog

The Humble Bumble-  A petsup’s thoughts by Helena Robertson

This summer I have been the petal supervisor, better known as a petsup! This has involved looking after the pickers,supervising the de-petalling and keeping the sheds tidy!

Here at Shropshire petals, the buzz right now is all about the humble bumble bee. They're vitally important to agriculture and with harvest well underway they have been hard to miss, taking a special fancy to our bee friendly, ‘Blue Bird’ Cornflowers, delphiniums, calendula and sun flowers!

 As well as hiding amongst the crates of harvested petals, the bumble bee has been spotted buzzing around the shed and has even inspired a friendly ‘Buzz off’...

Can you name the different types of confetti we have used? Jess was very proud of hers…who do you think won? (only a little sisterly rivalry occurred between Jess and I)

There are hundreds of interesting facts about the humble bumble. Here are some of my favourite ones.Did you know there are at least 300 different types of buzzy bees and 24 of these are found in the UK alone?

Honeybees communicate with one another by "dancing" to give the direction and distance of flowers. Through ‘throwing some shapes’, scouting bees can report the distance and direction of food sources over 3 miles away.

Buzzy Bees are the only insects we get food from, They're like little striped cows with wings.

 (http://www.catscratchreader.com/2012/4/1/2918438/cows-with-wings-spotted-hovering-over-bank-of-america-stadium)

Their honey can be used for all sorts of things and recently studies have found that bee venom, royal jelly and propolis have cancer fighting properties; slightly more exciting than your average cheese wouldn’t you say?

It would cost UK farmers £1.8 billion a year to pollinate their crops without bees. With this in mind I’ve decided on a little campaign to convince Jim that a bee hive or two in the flower field would be a great idea. With all the bees buzzing about, we could produce lots of lovely honey for wedding favours. What do you think? Shropshire petals honey anyone?

It could look a little something like this...

There are bee keeping associations all over the country for beginners (Shropshire beekeepers association taster day this year is on august 31^st) so if you fancy a new hobby, why not help save the bees and make some yummy honey too!

Writing to you from my shed,  

Love as always, SP xx