I have been a biologist since I was a kid. Then I became a "bee biologist". From bees in my garden to studying them at Simon Fraser University, I still find bees fascinating. Pollination with bees also became a focus when I studied pollination of blueberries. My journey with bees continued into the business world. In 1999 I started my company Beediverse Products and developed a line of products to keep mason bees. I first developed a successful method for harvesting mason bee cocoons and then I developed a line of products including: book,DVD, poster,mason bee homes and tools.
Now, my main interest and enthusiasm is focused on figuring out how to best manage mason bees and produce them by the billions. For this reason we are continually testing new ideas, widgets and gadgets for making the job of keeping mason bees easier and more successful.
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!
I have just placed about 1/3 of all posts into one or more categories. This is a great way to place blogs of a certain topic under one heading. If you see a category that should be included into the blog- Let me know!
I will continue working on this part of the update. In the meantime we are going to move over our blog subscribers to this blog. Subscribers receive notification of newly posted blogs. This is a handy reminder that there is a new post.
I have just figured out how to add new categories into the blog. I think this will make it a lot simpler to find articles of interest because blogs are grouped under a one or more categories. One blog may be under several categories.
For example, my trip to Holland last year has a blog on bee attractive flowers. This particular blog would be under two categories: Travel, and Bee attractive plants.
If you have an idea for this blog or an idea for a new category, please let me know.-Margriet
This is the first blog at its new home location.
Last week, my blog Beediverse was moved from Google blogspot to this Beediverse web site. This move is exciting to me because it makes it more my own. It also makes it easier for people to find us and adding blogs is easier if it is all under the same roof.
Fly searching for nectar in Sedum spp.flowers
With summer holidays behind us, it is now time to add into this blog, a backlog of emails and ideas sent over the summer.
Interest is spreading into identification of other bee species and insects that are seen in the garden. People are sending great photos of these insects and we hope we can identify them. The photo on the right is a photo of a fly on Sedum spp.
In this photo of a fly, note the absence of antennae (bees have antennae and if you look closely at a bee, each antennae is made up of segments- less then 20).
One of the things that is on my to-do list is to categorize each of the old posts to make them more accessible. For example, if you are interested in seeing my blogs of my travels, then you can look under ‘travels’. The category ‘Old city of Dordrecht’ will be placed under ‘Travels. The only thing is that I have not been able to figure out how to remove a category…yet.
