I am a recovering bee hater. Being stung over 10 times as a child will create that fear and hatred. However, as an adult gardener I see their role and importance everyday in my yard. Without them, I would not be harvesting the bounty that I have!
I'm sure you have all heard about the recent plight of the honeybees. The decline of them recently is very real and scientists still are not sure why. Some attribute it to colony-collapse disorder, mites,pesticides, or environmental changes (duh!) but they really do not know why.
In Sunset Magazine this month, there is an article by Allison Arieff about a San Francisco State University associate professor of biology named Gretchen LeBuhn who is trying to get to the bottom of it all. She noticed that this decline in bees was affecting her own garden. The productivity of her veggies has declined as well and thought that she could enlist the help of fellow gardeners in gathering research. Enter "The Great Sunflower Project" http://www.greatsunflower.org/. Through this project, she will send you sunflower seeds for you to plant. When they grow, observe your bee situation and report back to her. She now has about 55,000 participants and it is continuing to grow.
Through this research she is able to track bee populations all over the country. I am hoping, through this project, solutions will be found so that our great pollinators do not fly (or die) away. Join her project and help the bees!
I'm sure you have all heard about the recent plight of the honeybees. The decline of them recently is very real and scientists still are not sure why. Some attribute it to colony-collapse disorder, mites,pesticides, or environmental changes (duh!) but they really do not know why.
In Sunset Magazine this month, there is an article by Allison Arieff about a San Francisco State University associate professor of biology named Gretchen LeBuhn who is trying to get to the bottom of it all. She noticed that this decline in bees was affecting her own garden. The productivity of her veggies has declined as well and thought that she could enlist the help of fellow gardeners in gathering research. Enter "The Great Sunflower Project" http://www.greatsunflower.org/. Through this project, she will send you sunflower seeds for you to plant. When they grow, observe your bee situation and report back to her. She now has about 55,000 participants and it is continuing to grow.
Through this research she is able to track bee populations all over the country. I am hoping, through this project, solutions will be found so that our great pollinators do not fly (or die) away. Join her project and help the bees!
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