Bees are one of the gardener's best friends, if you are growing plants such as pumpkins you will appreciate their help with pollination. Unfortunately, bees population is in decline due to the use of pesticide and other chemicals sprayed on plants. When I moved to this house, we didn't bees in the garden. After planting more flowering plants for the bees, I've started to see Bumblebees and Blue Banded Bees around the garden beds which is excellent news.
Source: Aussie Bee, photo by Peter O.
I then discovered about Australian Stingless Bees that you can keep in beehives in your garden, they can even make honey, although in NSW it is too cold and harvests would usually be in tiny amount. The only hiccup is the price. To get a colony, you need to spend around $350-$600 which includes the hive, which is not a sum I can spend on anytime soon, which is a shame as I'd like to contribute to increasing the bees population. But meanwhile, I will build a bee hotel for solitary bees.
I'm still very interested in acquiring a stingless beehive and hoping that Steemit will help me get one. My plan is to first get to around 400 SP and then start saving about 100 SBD to get a colony.