One of the big efforts we are focusing on is to encourage individuals and schools to create a BEE-A-FRIEND zone; places where pollinators are safe and can find healthy food, water and shelter.
So here are 10 ways YOU can save the bees with us!
- Create a BEE-A-FRIEND Zone to protect the bees on a piece of land you own, your garden, the backyard of your school or even just a flower box on your window sill! We have written to schools and shops in the community and to our local town council.
- Do not use any pesticides, fungicides or herbicides on plants or in your garden. Plants get contaminated and the product will likely reach the bees and kill them. Make sure the plants you buy are not pre-treated with neonics pesticides!
- Buy local and raw honey from your local beekeepers. Avoid honey sold in bulk or in the supermarket unless you are sure of it's quality. Always best to buy on farmers market so you can meet your beekeeper and check with him his sustainable beekeeping practices.
- Plant your garden with native and bee friendly plants. They provide great sources of nectar and pollen (both food for the bees and butterflies). It’s important for bees, as it is for us, to have a diverse and regular food supply.
- Avoid planting gardens with just grass. Grass is literally desert for insects and for wild plants because grass is cut too often so plants never get to bloom. Instead plant some flowers!
- Do not weed your garden. Many plants like dandelion, for example, are an excellent source of food for bees. In early spring, those “weeds” are often the only source of food for beneficial insects.
- Even if you live in an apartment you can install a little water basin on the balcony or window sill for the bees to drink during the warm day of summer. Put a few stones and floating cork on the water so bees won’t drown!
- Educate yourself about bees. Bees are not dangerous; they forage on a flower and don’t attack humans. By better understanding them we will learn to better respect them.
- If the buzz gets you, become a beekeeper and install a hive in your garden or on your rooftop. It’s a powerful way to give honey bees a home and probably the best local honey you will ever get!
- Check out a list of bee friendly plants for every season at http://dublinbees.org/want-to-learn-about-beekeeping/garden-plants-for-bees/