In honor of National Pet Day , I would like to tell you a bit about my family’s slightly unusual choice of pet; bees. Bees are quite fascinating, and while they are not the most common choice for pets, they certainly should be. The hive of bees, made up almost entirely of female worker bees is a model example of work ethic, loyalty, cooperation, and single minded determination. At first light they head out hard at work gathering pollen and nectar from the surrounding flora. In fact, each bee can travel as far as 7 miles from its hive every day. This is done day in day out to ensure that the hive has what it needs to feed itself, as well as to make enough comb for the queen to lay her eggs, and thus ensure the future prosperity of the hive.


Apart from being fascinating to watch, bees play a vital role in our world through pollination. Without them the food we eat would cease to grow. By having a hive of our own, we play a very important role in helping to ensure that a healthy pollination of bees exists in our world. This is something everyone can easily do. There is virtually no maintenance or care that they require, and best of all our family gets to enjoy all of the free delicious natural honey we can eat!

Vanessa Elvira
Feeding Tampa Bay Mission Storyteller