Workshop: Feeding the Hungry – Food and Shelter for the Pollinators

Have you thought about the birds and the bees recently? How about the butterflies, beetles, wasps, moths, and flies? Pollinators gift humans with every third bite of food that we eat by pollinating the majority of our food crops. Bees are keystone species in most terrestrial food webs ; without them,  80% of our planet’s flowering plants would disappear, along with the animal species that depend on them for food. This workshop will focus on why the pollinators are in trouble and how we can support them by creating habitat that provides sources of pollen, nectar, host plants, and shelter. For me, there is a very personal joy that rises up when I watch a butterfly uncurl its long tongue to sip nectar from a flower or when a pollen-dusted bee lifts from a blossom in my garden and makes a bee-line for its nest to provision its offspring. I know I have provided a good meal.

 This workshop will introduce the basic principles of designing a pollinator garden and suggest plant species that are the most beneficial to bees and butterflies. I will emphasize the stunning variety of native plants that feed our native pollinators. We will cover seed collection, how to grow plants from seed and division, and the special germination requirements of native perennials. We will learn the importance of butterfly host plants and nest sites for bees. Weather permitting, we will take a walk through pollinator habitat on Taproot Commons Farm and observe the pollinators at their work. I will provide instructions and materials for building bee boxes and each participant will go home with bee box kits, a variety of native perennial seeds, and hopefully a desire to feed and shelter your pollinator neighbors.

Visit the Taproot Commons website to register.