Honey

Honey is already harvested in our forested areas. Focus here needs to be on the sustainability of the harvest. This can be ensured by making the villagers the owners of their land through the community land trust scheme and the harvesting being controlled by the Board of Trustees. This will ensure that those who keep the bees (and the trees on which they rely) also are the ones who benefit from them. Honey is a very welcome addition to the diet as it is a sweetener which we can produce locally.

We should buy a FLOW Hive or two and also plan our food forests to make them ideal for bees, including flowering plants all year long and windbreaks to minimize bee flight energy.

Some notable contact people:

Michael Steinbrück, Mike Demtschuk or Udo Schluckwerder (produces Honey on his farm)

Unfortunately we do not have that many natural sufficient populations of wild flowers or any large seed sources for the few we do have in Namibia. But there are ways to provide habitats and forage grounds for bees and pollinators like bubble bees, wasps and solitary bees in your gardens. Many herbs make excellent sources high quality nectar and pollen. Herbs such as Marjoram/Oregano, Rosemary, Borage, camomile, chives, mint, basils, lavender, sage, comfrey, hyssop fennel and dill all are super pollinator attractors.