Check out what corporate America is doing to help our BEES!

Usually, package bees would come in mid April and be built up enough for apple pollination, but because of the late spring, our packages are late and blossoms are early and it is a scramble to find overwintered colonies to foot the bill.

I have hit the ground running building the Bee Squad program, working with customers, and just having a blast.  Pictures to follow.

My thesis title is:

Salmon in the trees: An assessment of dendrochemical techniques

for detecting marine-derived nitrogen in riparian tree rings

In this study I examine the reliability of using a "salmon signal" in tree rings to reconstruct historic spawning abundances and delineate historic spawning ranges.  It is quite an interesting study and one I am honored to share.

Why would I complete a masters of environmental science in Freshwater Ecology when my life path is to work with bees?  Good question and one I have pondered at great length.

Here is the commonality.  Salmon impact the ecosystems in which they live in innumerable ways.  The nutrients they bring to freshwater systems becomes incorporated into the system at every level of the food chain.  This is known as the salmon conveyor belt.  Bottom line- salmon are very important. By helping salmon we help a whole host of ecosystem functions and critters.

Bees likewise impact their surroundings in a disproportionate way.  Pollinators enable flowering plants to reproduce which in turn provides clean air, clean water, and food and homes for all of earth's creatures.  By helping these bees, we can have an enormous impact on keeping the world a clean and healthy place for us all to live.

That's my truth and I am sticking to it!  Hope to see you Tuesday.

I am sad but very excited to say that I will be spending another summer working at the University of Minnesota Honey Bee Research Lab.  However, my job as a bee technician has evolved to leading a  brand new program called the Bee Squad.  I have worked closely with Marla Spivak and Gary Reuter to build this new hands-on mentoring program for beekeepers and bee supporters in the greater Twin Cities area.  This job starts in April so I will miss yet another beautiful bee season in the shadows of Mt. Baker.

We have designed this program to be adoptable by other university extension programs to help beekeepers all over the country.  Watch for developments on the Bee Squad and partnerships with the Bee Informed Project.  I’ll keep you posted.

www.beesquad.umn.edu

March 1st  in Friday Harbor, San Juan Island at the Skagit Valley Community College Room. This class is sponsored by the WSU Extension. Please click here for more information.

March 17th at the Fairhaven Public Library, Fairhaven.  Click here for more information.

These one-day events are designed for the new and beginning beekeepers providing beekeeping essentials necessary to keep your bees healthy and happy.

Beaked hazelnut (Corylus cornuta) catkin

Although snow covered my backyard last week, some plants are beginning to act like spring will be here soon.

Flowering plants rely on the transfer of pollen from the anther of one flower to the stigma of another for reproduction.  Flowers have co-evolved with their pollinators or “pollen vectors”.  This co-evolution has brought about a multitude of different flower shapes, sizes, colors, and rewards.  Flowers that are pollinated by the same type of pollen vector usually have many traits in common.  This grouping of flower “types” based on their pollinators is called a pollination syndrome.

The transfer of pollen via wind is known as “anemophily”.  Plants in this category have small inconspicuous flowers and produce abundant light, small, dry pollen.  These flowers have no scent and are usually green providing no nectar.

Late January 2012 first pollen from beaked hazelnut (Corylus cornuta)

But just because the flowers don’t need the bees to reproduce doesn’t preclude them from being important bee  plants.  In fact, some of the earliest pollen sources are these wind pollinated plants.  Beaked hazelnut (Corylus cornuta), red alder (Alnus rubra), and various willow species (Salix spp.) are some of the first plants that bees can collect fresh pollen from on those rare warm (above 50 F) days of late winter.

Pollen provides vitamins, amino acids, and minerals necessary to grow bees.  In the hive, it is mixed with bacteria and enzymes and packed into wax cells.  There it ferments, worked on first by bacteria, then fungi, yeasts, and molds.  Eventually it turns into nutritious bee bread fed to developing drone and worker larvae and young adult bees.

With fresh early pollen and mild temperatures, queens can start laying eggs and building up the colony population for the summer ahead.

Beaked hazelnut (Corylus cornuta) catkin

As I sit looking out the window at the wind-swept snow and icicles hanging from snowberry bushes I can’t help but think about all of our little native pollinators tucked away for the winter.  Not too long and they’ll be working hard under sunny skies….

“Many people claim that they haven’t seen bees on their flowers in years, but if we would stop buzzing about and sit still for 30 minutes in the garden on a sunny day, bees will appear seemingly out of thin air.  Bees are out there, particularly on native floral species.  If we stand still, they will come to us.”

- Marla Spivak, PhD, professor of entomology, University of Minnesota.  From Managing Alternative Pollinators: A Handbook for Beekeepers, Growers, and Conservationists

Directly from the pollinator partnership website:

About this petition

You can help bees and other pollinators by signing on to Group Letter (and shown BELOW) supporting the Highways BEE Act (Highways Bettering the Economy and Environment Act), H.R. 2381, this legislation was introduced during National Pollinator Week, on June 23, 2011.  Check out your state on the letter, and see who has already signed on.  Then help grow the list!

The bill promotes conservation practices on 17 million acres of highway rights-of-ways (ROWs) by encouraging reduced mowing and native plantings that provide improved habitat for pollinators, ground nesting birds and other small wildlife. No new monies are requested and this bill is designed to save money for states. Click Here for additional background on the legislation.

http://pollinator.org/BEEAct.htm