Worker bees

As pollinators, architects and cooks, bees play a critical role in our ecosystem, writes MAGGIE SCARDIFIELD. Plus, they give us nature’s sweetest treat.

- MAGGIE SCARDIFIELD

There are 1700 native species of bees in Australia, as well as the introduced species: the European honeybee, Apis mellifera. Sure as hell, at least one of these bees stung you as a child: perhaps while running under the sprinkler in the hot January sun, at the local swimming pool or playing backyard cricket. More often than not, being stung by a bee is a human’s first encounter with the tiny, diligent insects that waggle-dance from plant to plant, flower to flower, pollinating a massive one-third of the world’s food supply in the process. Some of them sting. But there are plenty of other reasons to look out for them, too.

BEES ARE AT MAJOR RISK

Global bee populations have been in decline for years. Varroa mite disease is one of the biggest causes: a tiny parasite with the power to unravel our entire food system. Australia is one of the only varroa-free zones in the world, and so far it's managed to avoid the mite and colony collapse disorder (where entire hives are wiped out overnight). “We still have great, healthy colonies and the best conditions for honeybees anywhere on earth,” says urban beekeeper Nic Dowse, founder of Melbourne creative studio, Honeyfingers. “But how can we keep it that way? It’s all about communication.”

BEES ARE COOKS

Dowse produces small-batch, raw honey in urban hives across Melbourne, and his studio works to educate people on the collective intelligence of bees and their importance to our food system. One of his favourite topics is how bees cook and ferment their own food, just as humans might bake sourdough bread or turn surplus cabbage into kimchi. "A beehive is a very warm and humid place, about 35 degrees, and any food would spoil at that,” Dowse says. “The bees ferment their pollen to control the decay rate. It’s a lactic-acid ferment and the same process humans use to make bread.”