{"id":1254,"date":"2019-08-15T14:33:53","date_gmt":"2019-08-15T14:33:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shut-bells.flywheelsites.com\/?p=1254"},"modified":"2019-08-15T14:37:07","modified_gmt":"2019-08-15T14:37:07","slug":"idahoan-nikki-macredes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idahowild.com\/idahoan-nikki-macredes\/","title":{"rendered":"IDAHOAN: NIKKI MACREDES"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Nikki Macredes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s not everyday you meet someone with plans to save the world. Much less someone who wants to save the world by saving bugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then you meet Nikki Macredes, an Idahoan beekeeper with an absolute passion for bees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just ask her what the bee obsession is all about and you\u2019ll get an answer like this: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My mission right now is to save as many bees as I can.<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Nikki didn\u2019t grow up loving bees. In fact, she had the same reaction to them most of us still do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was scared of bees and I didn\u2019t really know how gentle they were until we started picking them up and started saving them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, you read that correctly. Nikki and her daughter would find bees close to death, dying of thirst, and she would take them home to feed them sugar water until they recovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her bee-saving work coincided with a unique experience Nikki shared with a bee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne day I was sitting in my backyard and this honeybee just hovered in front of my face for 15 to 20 seconds.  It was like she was checking me out and trying to tell me something,\u201d Nikki said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that, Nikki was hooked on bees. <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI knew that one out of every three bites we eat depends on the bees. I knew we were losing a third of our colonies and every year beekeepers were losing bees like crazy and I wanted to be part of helping to save them and to raise awareness so people know how important they are,\u201d Nikki said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So she started her company, Bee Swell<\/a>. As owner, not only does she work to educate people about the importance of bees but she also rescues bees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to raise awareness to let people know if you see a swarm in your yard, call a beekeeper. We will come out for free and rescue the bees. We don\u2019t want them to be sprayed. We want to save every bee that we can,” Nikki said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bee Swell also sells eco-friendly surf wax made from beeswax and honeybee wildflower seed mixtures called \u2018seed bombs\u2019 that will sprout wildflowers in your backyard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n