Uncategorized
Community gardens are growing in numbers both in cities and small towns and so is the idea of having mason bees. These are exciting projects and are a boon to educating a large number of people about gardening and keeping mason bees. The Environmental Youth Alliance of BC (EYA), based in Vancouver, focus on educating youth and the public about the importance of bees. http://www.eya.ca/pollinators-paradise.html
Others groups focus on How-to grow food.
These groups have the same issues when setting mason bees into public spaces.
- Bee Health: How to keep the bees away from the weather- Design of Shelter
- Bee Home Security: How to keep bee homes from being taken-height and nests fixed to structure.
EYA involved youth to build Shelters for their mason bees. The most fancy is the Pagoda Shelter in Stanley Park. Although I have not seen it myself-I was told that it was designed so that the Quicklock nest blocks could not be pulled out of the structure. This structure is secure. I have not heard if rain was able to run into nesting holes. Setting the pagoda at a light angle would prevent this.
EYA-Pegoda mason bee shelter in Stanley Park,Vancouver, BC
EYA -A large roof over this tall Field Shelter would increase protection from the weather. Height gives it security.
EYA is also involved in educating farmers about mason bees. This field shelter placed on farmland is not so tall since it is on private property, but nests are well protected from the weather.
A combination of Quicklock -corn trays and routered wooden nesting rays are used in this project.
Although the jury is not out on this yet, it seems that if a variety of nests are used in a Shelter fewer bees are produced. It is best to use one shelter for one type of nests and not mix nest type in one shelter.
In the fall of 2010 I began blogging using the Google blogspot. In just under 2 years there were 34,455 visits. In the middle of Augus this year I moved the whole blog under the auspices of Beediverse.com. At the new location, there have been 494 visits and 1894 page views. Our next goal is to move our friends to our new blog. These friends signed up for email reports of new blogs. A handy way of keeping up with the news. I will let you know when this is up and running and you yourselves can join. Margriet
Stores that carry Beediverse products and that are located in the USA are now in the data base. As stores order products for the fall ( nests and tools and how to info) the locator will be updated. When stores carry products both in the fall and spring, a note is added to the address of the store “Year- round”
Earlier this year we added the Store-Locator to our web. Initially the Store-locator went for a bumpy ride, but these issues have now been resolved and it is fully operational. It is a powerful addition to this web site.
The Store-locator makes it easy for people to find the closest store to their home location. Look on the left hand side of the home page of this web site. Type in your location and a map will appear with store locations near you.
We have now added all Canadian stores that carry Beediverse Products to the Store-Locator. In the next few days we will complete adding stores that are located in the United States.
We have included the web site of each store. With one click you are on their web site for additional shopping details.
I am still working through the postings and categorizing them so people can more easily find popular threads through the blog. I will be working on it through this week. It is interesting the categories that are appearing. Like chapters in a book!
