Bee Jewelry Bee Cause I Love Bees

You might think this post title is sickeningly cute with it’s oh-so-clever bee references. But if I add punctuation to it, you might see it’s rather straight forward:

Bee jewelry. Bee cause. I love bees.

If taking each phrase on it’s own, you’ll see that I’m trying to convey what it is I’ve been doing lately:

I make bee jewelry.

I make bee jewelry for a particular reason–a cause, if you will . . . a bee cause. I make it because I’d like to raise awareness about bees and the importance of keeping our bee populations ample, strong and healthy. They have an important job to do and I’d like to do my part to help make sure they can keep doing it.

I make bee jewelry for a bee cause and I do so because lately, I find myself realizing that I love bees. I’ve come to greatly appreciate their importance. When it comes right down to it, for most of my life, I haven’t had an opinion about bees one way or the other. I’ve always respected them, the same way I learned early on to respect ALL wildlife. I specifically remember, when I was a child, Dad telling me, “If you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you.” I believed him, mostly because he had a good track record on such insights on nature. When I stepped on a bee not too long afterwards, it stung me. I didn’t like it, but I understood why it did it. I drew first blood. It was just defending itself.

About the jewelry…

bee jewelry, nature jewelry, environmental sustainability, bee populations, fundraising, custom jewelry, honey bee jewelry

4) Honey Bee bracelet set

5) Single Honey Bee bracelet and earrings, bright yellows, green crystals

5) Single Honey Bee bracelet and earrings, bright yellows, green crystals close-up

5) Single Honey Bee bracelet and earrings, bright yellows close-up

I’ve been making jewelry for roughly ten years now. Recently, I came across exactly the kinds of beads I love, ones that are nature centric. One of those beading components is a rather tiny set of wings that, turns out, are perfect for making tiny little bees. I found myself really drawn to the bees I was making and found others were responding well to them too. More than that, though, the bees kinda spoke to me. Not literally, of course. But I guess you could say I felt I was being called to make this bee jewelry, to spread some bee love, maybe even to raise awareness about their interesting lives and the threats, both natural and man-made, to their populations.

1) Honey Pot Bee Necklace

1) Honey Pot Bee Necklace close-up

When I make bee jewelry, I have in mind the threats there are to the pollinating bee populations and the effects a dwindling bee population would have on agriculture and the general balance in nature. I worked at an organic farm recently (now I just volunteer). When I did, I worked alongside bees all the time. They’re essential to the success of the farm. They love when plants go to flower and we love seeing them doing their thing. Fortunately for the farm, a bee keeper chose to place several bee hives at the back of the property. When I worked the fields, many of the plants would be flowering. I had to get used to having the bees closer than usual. Though we shared the same space, I was not afraid of them. I knew they weren’t interested in me. They were interested in doing their jobs–gathering pollen and playing their particular roles in supporting their hives, the farm, and the general health of the entire world’s ecosystem. When bees get to do what they were created to do, we all benefit.