Today we celebrated the bees at UBC which play an integral part of its eco-system. Here is the Queen Bee with UBC Farm worker bees Rosalind Sadowski, Nicky Grunfeld and Molly Knox.
This cute bee is The UBC Farm Communications Coordinator Anelyse Weiler, who gave tours of the farm highlighting the activities revolving around bees. Anelyse has created a project to plant more bee forage on the farm to feed the honeybees and the native bees.
Anelyse talked about the Medicinal Garden which is actually managed by the Dept. of Botany at UBC. It is affectionately known as the "scratch and sniff" garden. She said that lavender is good for sunburn, so I put some on my face tonight to sooth the bits that got a bit baked this morning.
We went through the children's garden where the hummingbirds were very vocal, attracted to the crocosmia and nasturtiums. Nicky Grunfeld helps young students in the Landed Learning Program learn about the importance of bees in our food system through hands on interactions with bees--I mean literally. One brave student put her hand on a swarm, saying that she felt the beating heart of the organism. Wow.
This is the skep-shaped cob oven where students bake bread they have made from flour they mill from grains grown on the farm.
Beekeeper Bruce shows a visible hive to the fascinated viewers.
This is a lovely sculpture of a Plasterer Bee by Toronto-based artist Charmaine Lurch. More of her bees are currently on display in the
Lobby Gallery at the Liu Institute for Global Issues at UBC.
A lovely bee crafted by Holly.
This is a display of homes you can make for native bees.
Worker bees carrying eggs. (!?)
Phacelia is one of the best plants for honey bees. Bumble bees love the crimson clover interplanted with the phacelia in this patch of bee forage.
It was such a boost to see so many people passionate about our bees: happy bee nerds, one and all!
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