Mary Ellen “Mel” Hughes is a successful serial entrepreneur whose previous businesses include a line of specialty food products that were sold across the country and in London. Mel isn’t a scientist, or a beekeeper, she’s just a food lover that wanted to do something about the mysterious disappearance of our honey bees once she heard about it and realized that it is a potentially devastating problem.
This post is slightly off topic today as we won’t discuss sewing, but in the spirit of Thanksgiving (for those of us in the U.S), I wanted to bring Mel’s newest project and the plight of the bees to your attention.
Did you know that most of the food we eat wouldn’t exist without honey bees? And were you aware that one-third of our honey bees are disappearing each year? Here’s a partial list of foods we’re preparing for Thanksgiving that wouldn’t be on the table if it weren’t for bees:
- Almonds
- Apples
- Asparagus
- Blueberries
- Broccoli
- Carrots
- Celery
- Coffee
- Cranberries
- Cucumbers
- Lemons
- Lima Beans
- Mandarins
- Okra
- Onions
- Oranges
- Radishes
- Squash
- Tea
You can read all about this and more at Mel’s site ABeeLoversGarden.com, and even help to support the national grassroots effort to educate people about the importance of honey bees by purchasing the beautifully illustrated “A Bee Lover’s Garden” 2010 calendar. The calendar features twelve framable illustrations of bee-friendly plants by award winning artist Jay Pfeil. Show your support and bee a part of the solution. This year, when giving thanks, remember to include the bees!