It’s Honeybee Season!

Posted on : February 25th, 2020

The almonds are in full bloom and that means the bees are here, too! Yay! Almonds and honeybees have a very important relationship with each other. You can’t have almonds unless the trees are pollinated—they don’t pollinate themselves! And honeybees love delicious almond flower nectar, especially since almonds are one of the first flowers to bloom this early in the year.

Since bee colony collapse became a crisis several years ago, many people have become worried that transporting bees into the orchards and fields is detrimental to their health. And yet 70% of the food we eat depends on bee pollination! Here at Maisie Jane’s we care deeply about the bees. If we don’t take care of them, they can’t take care of us. So we’ve made great efforts to make sure our orchards provide a good safe habitat for the bees who visit.

Have you heard of the concept of “bee pastures“? We leave part of the orchards’ natural grasses in place to provide nutrition and habitat for bees and other beneficial insects to enjoy all year. One of the benefits of this is that the green foliage attracts the insects that decrease invasive pests which harm the almond crop and the trees. That helps us NOT have to spray harmful insecticides in the orchard. Leaving the blooms in place in the native grasses and plants also attracts bees naturally which is a very good thing. We also have deliberately planted native bushes and plants to attract bees along the creek that serves as a border of our organic almond orchard.

We do, however, still need to bring in bees during the height of bloom season so we have created a relationship with local beekeepers for that purpose. The bee hives we bring in are not freighted all across the country to arrive our farm. That means less stress for them, and less pollution and a smaller carbon footprint for all of us. And we understand that after the bees visit the orchards, they leave stronger because almond pollen provides all ten of the amino acids their diets require. Not easy for them to find at this time of year!

Maisie Jane’s also devotes part of our budget to supporting bee research and programs to help save the bees from colony collapse. Visit the Save Our Bees part of our website to learn more about what we’re doing and how you can join in the effort to make our planet a healthier place for bees—and for us—for generations to come!

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Maisie Jane’s California Sunshine Products, Inc. was founded on strong beliefs and passion for offering unique, flavorful, top-quality, nut products. At Maisie Jane’s we strongly believe in earth-friendly practices that start on our family owned and operated orchards. We use Organic farming practices and continue in the process by using all-natural ingredients with no preservatives or GMOs. And we believe in honest, friendly and helpful customer relations at all levels. We take pride in every task, every day, with every person.