Mason bees are the lesser-known relative of honey bees, and are fascinating! A mason bee can visit as many as 1000 blooms each day, which is 20 times more than a honeybee. And major bonus for the wary...they don't sting! If mason bees pollinate 20 times more than honey bees, sign me up! I've recently received a Bee & Bee (cute, right?) to help attract mason bees to my garden and am excited to invite them in.
Wait...you can eat bee pollen?? Those were my thoughts as I first thumbed through a cookbook I'd received (more on that here). How could that be a good thing? And it sounds like way more work than it could possibly be worth... So when I saw the beekeeper selling honey at the farmers market the next morning, I was filled with questions. How is the pollen collected? Does it hurt the bees? How long does it stay fresh? How much is it?
