Okay did you know that if the bee's disappear then a third of our food does too including most of our delicious fruit and vegetables. And the bee's ARE disappearing. This wasn't really something I'd given thought to until recently when Burt's Bee's invited me to Nicky from the British Bee Keepers Association hive in Oxfordshire to find out more and experience a little bit of beekeeping myself. After a beautiful sunny morning, drinking tea and learning all about the bee's, the wildflowers and the story behind Burt's Bee's products, I returned home armed with my own delicious jar of honey, a new desire to plant wildflowers in my garden and was buzzing (excuse the pun) to share what I learnt with you so we can all do our little bit to save the bee's, their pretty badass FYI...

Firstly the story of Burt as in Burt's Bees (yes his a real person) is super fascinating, from a roadside honey stand to a global best selling zero waste natural beauty brand, the philosophy behind Burt's Bees remains true to Burt's values from the start- for the products to be good for you, good for us and good for all. Read more about the story here. Personally knowing a story behind a brand all the way down to knowing more about the founder is becoming more and more important to me.

So going back to being a beekeeper for the morning, apparently I was a natural! There was something about being around the hive that made me feel really calm, seeing nature before my eyes. All the worker bee's are female and they have many different roles from guarding the entrance of the hive, making the wax, feeding the babies, cleaning, foraging for food and even grooming the queen. The foraging bee's go out to gather the nectar and a single bee's lifetime of work only makes a teaspoon of honey! It made me feel a little bad taking home a whole jar!

You had to handle the hive really gently and I was so worried about hurting them as I took each layer of the hive off. They really are so busy! The honey tasted so flowery, like lavender! So different to what I buy usually in store.

But don't fear apparently the more honey we eat, the more hives beekeepers will keep and we'll have healthier bees for future generations so yay for all the honey eating! They will always make as much as they possibly can (they really do work hard) and beekeepers will always leave enough in the hive for the bee's to eat themselves over the winter.

There's various factors that are causing a threat to bee's across the world at the moment such as loss of habitat, disease and the use of pesticides but there's some things we can do to help. Honey bee's need food and water to survive. There food is nectar (carbohydrates) and pollen (protein) produced by flowers.

The bee's need the flowers but the flowers need the bee's too so spread it's pollen so that it can reproduce and continue to bear our seeds and fruits. Honey bee's like borage, fruit bushes and even patio or window boxes like thyme, rosemary and lavender are great. Nicky's garden was filled with a beautiful array of flowers and plants, different garden goals!

The Burts Bee's #BringBackTheBees campaign is so lovely because all you need to do to help is get one of their a gorgeous limited edition pear and coconut lip balms or post a #SelflessSelfie and 5000 wildflowers will be planted in partnership with the British Beekeepers Association giving the bee's a much needed feast. I'm planning to create a little beefriendly patch at the front of my house.

Some of the foods we'd lose if the bee's disappear include pears, apples, mangos, strawberries, cashews, onions, carrots, tomatoes, the list goes on! It was so great to visit a hive and really learn more about the bees myself. Thank you so much to Burt's Bee and The British Bee Association for opening my eyes to appreciate the wonderful little things that run our world.

Love, Lottie x

Photography: Copyright © Tiffany Lin - www.tiffanylinphotography.com

*This post is not sponsored and all opinions are as always my own.