Pollinators - Bees
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| Yes, this a traditional Honey Bee operation for the production of Honey. This photo is used with the permission of the photographer |
The National Garden Club is concerned about the decrease in Honey Bee population. We need bees to pollinate a lot of the items we enjoy.
A Letter
From Linda Nelson
As I
began my term as President of National Garden Clubs, one of the things I
focused on in my installation speech was our Conservation Pledge. It states:
"I pledge to protect and conserve the natural resources of the planet
earth and promise to promote education so we may become better caretakers of
our air, water, forest, land, and wildlife." One way we can do that is
through partnering with other organizations that are committed, like we are, to
preserving, protecting and nurturing our natural resources for the betterment
of all.
We are
actively engaged in one such partnership with Crown Bees to learn
more about Mason Bees and how we can encourage them in our gardens. They are
non-aggressive and excellent pollinators, and through Crown's BeeGAP program, we
can participate in the growth of this important resource.
BeeGAP stands for: "Bee Gardener Adding
Pollinators." It
describes a life cycle system that encourages gardeners to change their yards
into bee havens and a garden oasis. The goal is for backyard gardeners to
nurture bees that can then be sold through a buy-back program and provided to
farmers for commercial use.
At
present, the majority of commercial farmers rely on honey bees for pollination
due to the strength and depth of the honey bee industry. However, as many of us
know, the honey bee population has been experiencing stress and loss due to
various environmental issues.
Many
farmers don't yet realize the value of the solitary mason bee or the benefits
of being a mason bee keeper. Mason bees are efficient pollinators. In some
cases it takes as little as 100 mason bees to produce the same amount of fruit
or vegetables as 560 honey bees.
On the
other side of the equation, many gardeners don't realize the power of their
backyards yet. Without knowing it, many gardeners raise hundreds of these bees
without realizing their value to commercial farmers nearby. They can help
pollinate local orchards!
Currently,
the honey bee existence is facing continual losses. We either watch this
continue and do nothing about this, or we look for and provide alternative
solutions. It's up to us. One of the solutions is that we can provide safe
homes for mason bees, and other solitary bees to help pollinate our crops.
BeeGAP is
an alternate solution with a long-term vision to helping our crops achieve
pollination. Our role, today, is vital, and I am proud to sponsor this
important initiative as a Presidential Project.
For more
information, visit the Crown Bees website atwww.crownbees.com
Or, contact our Crown Bees liaison: Debbie Skow
Or, contact our Crown Bees liaison: Debbie Skow
Members of The Garden Club of Georgia may also contact:
As
chairman of BeeGAP, I think everyone should know about the new video available
online: http://www.growingagreenerworld.com/solitary-bees-pollinators/
. This is video of Joe Lamp’l and Crown Bee founder Dave Hunter
discussing importance of solitary bees and ease of having mason bees. It
even shows Joe building a bee house and filling it with tubes rolled from scrap
paper around a pencil. It will take about thirty minutes of your time, but is
well worth it. Everyone should also check out the Crown Bee website www.crownbees.com .
Under the Learn tab is a mini-course 25 pages, 9 short) explaining everything
you need to know about having mason bees in your garden. You can
read online, print it out, and/or explore all the other options at Crown
Bees. Remember NGC has partnered with Crown Bees to help raise awareness
of the importance of pollinators and to offer fund-raising opportunities to
your clubs.
Judy
Judith
S. Kirkland
1055
Fieldstone Road
Grovetown,
Georgia 30813
