Why Pollinators Matter

Five years ago, if you had asked me why pollinators mattered, I probably would have given you one simple answer. Because without them, my garden  wouldn’t produce fruits and vegetables. 

I wasn’t wrong. I just had no idea how much bigger the story was.

Like a lot of people, I knew bees pollinated flowers. I knew gardens needed them. Beyond that, I honestly didn’t think about them much. Then I started paying attention.

I learned that roughly one out of every three bites of food we eat depends on pollinators. Thats huge. The more I learned, the more I realized how many different creatures quietly keep our world growing. And then I became a beekeeper.

That’s when everything changed.

The other morning, I walked into my flower garden with one simple goal: cut a few of my beautiful flowers to bring inside the house.

Instead, I stopped. Right in front of me was the most beautiful honey bee I’d ever seen.

She wasn’t unusual because of her distinctive black and yellow stripes. She was unusual because she looked like she’d been dipped in gold. Bright orange pollen dusted her fuzzy body, and her pollen baskets were so full they looked ready to burst. She was absolutely magnificent. Completely absorbed in her work.

For just a second, I thought, that would make the perfect cover for my book!

Then I remembered, my phone with my camera was still inside the house. 

I knew what would she's be gone if I ran back to get it.

So I stayed. For a minute or two, I simply watched.

I watched her disappear into the flower and emerge dusted in even more pollen. I watched other bees come and go. 

I noticed butterflies drifting through the garden. I spotted tiny pollinators I couldn’t even identify.

A few years ago, I probably would have called them all bugs, but now I find myself wondering who they are. Where do they live? What flowers brought them here today?

Eventually, curiosity got the better of me.

Hope has a funny way of making us try anyway.

I ran back for my phone and as I suspected, by the time I got back, she was gone.

For a moment, I was disappointed. That photograph would have been something special. But then I realized something.

Some moments lose a little of their magic when we try too hard to capture them.

The colors are never quite as brilliant.

The light is never quite the same.

A photograph can remind us of a moment, but it can never fully replace being there.

That little bee reminded me of something much bigger.

Our gardens are little ecosystems.

We feed the soil.

The soil feeds the plants.

The plants feed the pollinators.

The pollinators help feed us.

Every living thing plays a part, whether we notice it or not.

Maybe that’s why pollinators matter so much.

Not just because they help grow our food.

Not just because they make our gardens more beautiful.

But because they remind us that the smallest creatures often have the biggest jobs.

Five years ago, I would have walked into my garden, picked my flowers, and gone back inside.

This time, I stood there completely absorbed, watching one little honey bee go about her day.

I never got the picture.

But maybe that’s okay.

Some moments are meant to be remembered instead of photographed.

Thank you for spending a little time in the hive today.

Until next time,

~ Tracy 🐝

**This isn’t the bee from that morning. She was long gone by the time I came back with my camera. But she was working this very same flower, and every time I look at this bloom, I remember the moment I didn’t capture… and the one I did.