‘No more honeybees!” seems a strange message from someone who works as a “honey sommelier”, but the idea is a central theme of this year’s World Bee Day on 20th May. Cities have been flooded with honeybees by amateur beekeepers who believe that they are making a valuable contribution to the environment, but the habitat isn’t there to support them.
“It’s folly to site more honeybees in areas that are already overcrowded with hives,” explains Sarah Wyndham Lewis, honey sommelier and a co-founder of sustainable beekeeping practice Bermondsey Street Bees, which sells single-origin, raw honeys as well as educating people about bees. “Rocketing bee disease rates and plummeting honey yields are key indicators of the natural result of overcrowding,” she says.
The message instead is, “Plant, plant, plant”, Wyndham Lewis says; she is also the author of the guide Planting for Honeybees (Quadrille, £12). There are 250 varieties of bee in the UK and 1,500 pollinators, but our well-intentioned obsession with honeybees is edging out the wild pollinators. Marks & Spencer recently came under fire for announcing a plan to release 30 million honeybees across the countryside, despite evidence this approach hasn’t worked in cities.
The best approach to planting is a simple one: grow sturdy, durable plants such as herbs to provide reliable resources for bees. The trend for wildflowers has apparently run into trouble because they are hard to grow and maintain. “You need huge areas and you need to understand the soil,” Wyndham Lewis says.
Showy, stylised gardens are no better. “Chelsea Flower Show is like hell on earth if you’re a bee. There’s literally nothing to eat,” she says. “The further you move from the original flower form, the more likely that plant will have little or nothing to offer pollinating insects. Pompon dahlias have densely packed, multi-petalled heads that eliminate their food value.”
Wyndham Lewis set up Bermondsey Street Bees with her husband Dale Gibson in 2007 after many years as amateur beekeepers, then trained in the “sensory analysis of honey” in Bologna, Italy. “Just like a wine sommelier, my work with honey is concerned with terroir, provenance and authenticity. Raw honeys are as widely differentiated as fine wines.”
We meet, via Zoom, to taste three of her honeys and their pairings with Martin Miller’s Gin. Most cocktails are made with very poor honey, spoiling decent alcohol. Honey, along with wine and olive oil, is one of the world’s most adulterated foodstuffs. But real honey reflects the diet of its producers, all of whom forage locally. So a Custom House London honey has flavours from the nearby rewilded Docklands as well as the edges of the Hackney marshes. Exmoor wildflower honey comes from bees which feed from one of the few wilderness areas left in Britain.
Rory O’Sullivan, Martin Miller’s UK brand ambassador has chosen the Exmoor honey for the cocktail Bee’s Knees, which is being sold in support of World Bee Day in a number of bars and restaurants, with free seed packets given away with each order.
He shows us how to mix the drink in minutes with no specialist equipment; squeeze a lemon, stir in a generous tablespoon of honey, add 50ml gin, shake vigorously over ice, strain and serve. Take care if drinking in the garden, you might have some flying admirers.
"Hakuna nyuki zaidi!" inaonekana ujumbe wa ajabu kutoka kwa mtu anayefanya kazi kama "sommelier wa asali", lakini wazo ni mandhari kuu ya Siku ya Nyuki ya Dunia ya mwaka huu mnamo Mei 20. Miji imejawa na nyuki wa asali na wafugaji wa nyuki wa amateur ambao wanaamini kwamba wanachangia thamani ya mazingira, lakini mazingira hayapo ili kuwategemeza. "Ni upumbavu kuweka nyuki zaidi katika maeneo ambayo tayari yamejaa nyuki", anaelezea Sarah Wyndham Lewis, mtayarishaji wa asali na mwanzilishi mwenza wa mazoezi endelevu ya ufugaji wa nyuki Bermondsey Street Bees, ambayo huuza asali ya asili moja, mbichi na pia kuelimisha watu kuhusu nyuki. "Viwango vya ugonjwa wa nyuki vinavyoongezeka sana na kupungua kwa mavuno ya asali ni viashiria muhimu vya matokeo ya asili ya msongamano wa watu", anasema. "Kama ilivyoelezwa katika kitabu cha ""Planting for Honeybees"" cha Wyndham Lewis, ""Kupanda kwa ajili ya nyuki ni njia ya kuimarisha uzalishaji wa asali.""" Kuna aina 250 za nyuki nchini Uingereza na wapiga mbichi 1,500, lakini obsession yetu ya nia nzuri na nyuki wa asali ni edging nje ya wapiga mbichi pori. Kampuni ya Marks & Spencer imekabiliwa na mashambulizi kwa kutangaza mpango wa kuachilia nyuki milioni 30 katika maeneo ya mashambani, licha ya ushahidi kwamba mbinu hiyo haijafanya kazi katika miji. Njia bora ya kupanda ni rahisi: kukuza mimea thabiti, ya kudumu kama vile mimea ili kutoa rasilimali za kuaminika kwa nyuki. Inaonekana kwamba mimea ya mwituni imepatwa na matatizo kwa sababu ni vigumu kuikua na kuitunza. "Unahitaji maeneo makubwa na unahitaji kuelewa udongo", Wyndham Lewis anasema. Bustani zenye kuvutia na zenye mtindo hazina ubora wowote. <unk>Chelsea Flower Show ni kama kuzimu duniani kama wewe ni nyuki. "Hakuna chochote cha kula", yeye asema. <unk>Kadiri unavyohama kutoka kwa umbo la awali la ua, ndivyo mimea hiyo itakavyokuwa na vitu vichache au vyenyewe visivyo na vitu vya kuchawia. "Wyndham Lewis alianzisha ""Bermondsey Street Bees"" na mumewe Dale Gibson mnamo 2007 baada ya miaka mingi kama wafugaji wa nyuki wa amateur, kisha mafunzo katika ""uchambuzi wa hisia za asali"" huko Bologna, Italia." <unk>Kama vile sommelier wa divai, kazi yangu na asali inahusu terroir, chanzo na uhalisi. Honey mbichi ni kama sana tofauti kama mvinyo bora. <unk> Sisi kukutana, kupitia Zoom, ladha tatu ya asali yake na jozi yao na Martin Miller <unk>s Gin. Kinywaji kingi hutengenezwa kwa asali duni sana, ikiharibu kileo kizuri. Asali, pamoja na divai na mafuta ya zeituni, ni mojawapo ya vyakula vilivyochafuliwa zaidi ulimwenguni. Lakini asali halisi huonyesha jinsi wazalishaji wake wanavyokula, nao wote hupata chakula katika eneo lao. Kwa hivyo asali ya Custom House London ina ladha kutoka Docklands ya karibu na vile vile kingo za mabwawa ya Hackney. Asali ya Exmoor Wildflower hutoka kwa nyuki ambao hula kutoka moja ya maeneo machache ya jangwa yaliyobaki nchini Uingereza. Rory O'Sullivan, balozi wa chapa ya Martin Miller nchini Uingereza, amechagua asali ya Exmoor kwa ajili ya cocktail Bee's Knees, ambayo inauzwa kwa kuunga mkono Siku ya Dunia ya Nyuki katika baa na mikahawa kadhaa, na pakiti za mbegu za bure zinazotolewa na kila agizo. Kuchanganya kinywaji katika dakika chache bila vifaa maalum: kuchoma limao, kuchanganya katika kijiko cha asali, kuongeza 50ml ya gin, kutikisa kwa nguvu juu ya barafu, kuunganisha na kuhudumia. Jihadharini kama kunywa katika bustani, unaweza kuwa na baadhi ya mashabiki kuruka.