Why are honeybees important to me?

If you have found yourself at this website, you may have asked yourself the question, why is this individual pushing for honeybees to be allowed in the City of Romulus?

That is a good question. Personally, I would have to ask a few questions in return. Have you ever tried to hand-pollinate a cucumber vine? What about squash? Ever wonder why you didn't get much yield from your garden?

1. One worker can visit up to 2,000 flowers per day. Honeybees are master pollinators. They are efficient, diligent, and purposeful. They are designed to carry as much pollen as possible. That means they carry pollen from plant to plant. This saves you and me both much time while giving us the most food possible from our gardens!  
2. One hive can produce up to 100-150lbs of honey per year. Been to the supermarket to buy honey lately? It is not cheap! Not to mention, the average jar is about 16oz or less. How often do you go through that much honey? The excess, not only good for you, friends, and family, can also be sold to local restaurants or stores. Can you imagine having your own fresh honey for medicines, tea, baking, sale, and hundreds of other uses!?
3. Honeybees need our help. Honeybees suffer from many parasites, phenomena, and disease that keep them from being abundant. The rarity of their existence in the wild is in part due to human encroachment. Whereas wild hives could be found in many backyard trees, they seldom if ever are seen in the wild. One hive stand can host 60,000 bees. That is a good start, and it helps the local agriculture.

There are a myriad of other reasons of why honeybees are important to us. These are only a few, and hardly skim the surface. Take some timeout today and visit some websites to help educate you about beekeeping, urban farming, and the differences between bees and wasps. You won't be bored I promise! Maybe you'll decide you need a hive for your backyard too!

Here are a few helpful websites:
Michigan Beekeepers Association
Southeastern Michigan Beekeepers Association
Keeping bees in urban and suburban neighborhoods
TED Talk on Every City Needing Bees to be Healthy
Urban Beekeeping keeps cities healthy
How Stuff Works: Difference between bees and wasps