EDMOND HARRY LUCY EDMOND How do you think they do it? LUCY Hmm... HARRY So tell me, children, what have you decided to learn today? EDMOND Well, we were wondering how bees make honey. LUCY Yeah, because it's absolutely delicious! EDMOND We already know that bees forage the flowers. LUCY But, what does forage the flowers mean? EDMOND Uh... I think it means that the bees visit each flower to collect the pollen. LUCY Oh yeah! I know what pollen is. It's flower dust. The bees mix it with water and Presto! It turns into honey! HARRY No, that's not quite right. When the bees forage the flowers, they collect the pollen so they can eat and feed their little ones. But, the bees also collect the flowers nectar. LUCY Oh! EDMOND Oh! HARRY Nectar is a sweet substance found in the center of the flower. The bees harvest it and mix it with their saliva to make honey. LUCY Their saliva! But that sounds disgusting! HARRY Don't worry, it isn't. Bees’ saliva has no taste at all! Bees go from flower to flower, harvesting pollen and nectar, and carry on their hind legs. Once they're back in the beehive, they make honey! LUCY Why do they make honey? EDMOND So they can eat it, just like we do. HARRY That's right, and since the honey won't go bad, the bees can eat it during wintertime when there's no more pollen. LUCY Of course! In winter there's no pollen because there are no flowers. EDMOND Here, look, it's in these trays that the bees deposit what they've harvested. HARRY It's from those trays that we extract the honey. They need to be handled very carefully so as not to disturb the bees. LUCY Yes, I think it's better if you do it. HARRY Once we've extracted the honey from the honeycomb trays, we need to put everything back into place, so the bees aren't disrupted. LUCY It's nice of the bees to make honey for us. EDMOND Yes. It's really nice of the bees to share their food with us. HARRY They're even a lot nicer than you think, because they don't only make honey. They also have a very important job to do for nature. Pollen doesn't exist only as food for bees. EDMOND Wait! Isn't it thanks to pollen that flowers can reproduce? HARRY Yes! That's very good. As they forage, the bees gather pollen all over themselves. Then, they deposit small amounts of it each time they visit a new flower. This is what we call "Pol-li-na-tion". That's how flowers can reproduce. They make new little flowers without having to move from where they are. EDMOND Wow! LUCY Wow! EDMOND Not only do they make us happy by making honey, but they help grow flowers everywhere! LUCY The good thing is that the more flowers there are, the more honey they can make! HARRY And that also means more honey on our toasts! So, did you understand everything we said? LUCY Yes! When the bees forage the nectar from the flowers, they make honey. They also help nature grow by transporting the pollen from one flower to another. HARRY Very well done, kids.