Living Library Day at Riley Park Community Garden

 We started out the printing process by creating a bee drawing to transfer to a rubber block.

Artist Jasna Guy taught the students how to carve the blocks and create prints on paper.

Then I worked with the students to create collaborative pieces by sharing stamps and passing around the emerging artwork.


Finally, students added the names of top plants for pollinators in the Lower Mainland, researched by Dr. Elle's lab at Simon Fraser University.

These collaborative works of art will be shown at events in the community in "clothesline exhibitions."

Earlier in the process, students did watercolour paintings of bees.

These rubber stamps are easier to carve than linoleum, but can be a bit fragile.

Guess which piece Ms. Kool made!!

Then we took the process to Rile Park for our Living Library Day. This was one of the activity stations students worked at while discussing topics close to their hearts.

 Art talked about the natural history of the site and soil science, Anya gave a tree talk, and Thomas led a yoga circle.

Tamara led the wood-chip moving crew, to form the paths that make the garden take shape.

Jess led the weeding party and had interesting conversations with students. Once they got started weeding, they didn't want to switch stations!

Plantain is one of the common garden weeds in Vancouver. If you get stung by a bee, wash up a leave, chew it and apply it to the sting.

One of the boys found and named this ragged moth.

Yoga was also popular!!!

 Students helped prep these elements which will be part of future garden signage.

Wendy led the students in further adventures in printmaking, getting them to take risks and try new techniques.

This is what the future of education looks like!

Now the herb garden is clearly defined. Hopefully the squirrels who have been uprooting and eating the herbs will get the message.

After the event, our youngest garden helpers checked out the new pollinator patch in the parking lot. I counted 6 species of bees foraging in the lacy phacelia, California poppy, California bluebells, and baby blue eyes.

It looks like a coyote has been snoozing in this cozy spot.

Blue orchard mason bee and mixed bumblebee.

A honeybee carrying the purple pollen from this plant. In German it is known as "bienen freunde" or the bee's friend.

 Another species of solitary bee.

This solitary bee is carrying dry pollen, so it is a light purple colour. Bumblebees and honeybees mix a bit of bee spit into their pollen loads, so it appears much darker.

The pollen on the anthers is a light periwinkle blue.

This bumblebee has been foraging on another plant with rich chocolate-coloured pollen--maybe red clover.

A big thanks to everyone who came out and collaborated for our Living Library Day! Special thanks to Tupper High School, the Riley Park Community Garden and ArtStarts who funded this project.

Radishes at Moberly: A Spicy Juicy Snack

What a beautiful day for grade threes and their buddies to garden at Moberly! Yesterday was all about radishes, as one of the beds had become covered with volunteers from last year's radish pods. (Volunteers are seeds that sprout without being sown directly by a gardener.) If we had more beds I would have one just for radishes, because they would just grow and seed without any help. However, we want to plant a variety of veggies, herbs and flowers.

This is a large radish plant that grew in the path. We're leaving it to flower for the bees. We'll just work around it! The flowers are edible too!

These are the small radish greens. The heart-shaped leaves (cotyledons) are delicious!

Here's the patch with small and medium radish plants. The medium leaves are fuzzy and not palatable until they are cooked. In wartime, people made radish soup to make sure that none of the plant was wasted. It's called "nose to tail" eating: chowing down on the root, the leaves and the flowers. Just remember to leave plenty of flowers for the bees. And thank you to my "worker bees" from Moberly Elementary.

P.S. I saw a hummingbird at the garden feeding on the borage flowers! But in my garden at home they love the salmonberry blossoms above all.

Mason Beepalooza at John Henderson Elementary: Bees are Life!

The plum trees are blooming in the John Henderson Schoolyard, the Oregon grape shrubs are just starting to show their yellow blooms, and the pieris are coming into flower too.  The pussywillows will soon be producing yellow powdery pollen. That means it's mason bee time! Erin Udal from the Environmental Youth Alliance and Madame Beespeaker spent an inspiring day with students from the school learning all about mason bees so they can install this condo on their school and take good care of their blue orchard mason bees.

The garden club met with us over lunch time and each named a mason bee cocoon becfore putting them in the secret cocoon release compartment in the condominium. Many were named after flowers: daisy, daffodil and rose. It's still a too early to put out the cocoons. I usually wait until I see a mason bee flying in the flowers before putting out cocoons. Master Beekeeper Brian Campbell also suggests putting them out in stages 1/2 early, 1/2 two weeks later, just in case the weather turns bee unfriendly. Most of the trees you see blooming right now are the plums, but when the cherries come into blossom, hopefully it will be warm enough for the mason bees.

Then we acted out the life cycle of the mason bee, the joyful ups and downs growing from egg to larva to pupa, laying eggs, gathering pollen, sipping nectar, and making mud walls to keep our babies safe from woodpeckers.

Each class told us why they were grateful for bees: because  through pollination they provide us with a rainbow of fruits and vegetables for our plates. That's called biodiversity, folks!

The grade 6/7 class made seed packets that would inspire gardeners to plant flowers that feed the bees.

The students came up with some great advertising slogans for their seeds: bees are life!

 

Erin brought out her fabulous bee box with examples of real bees, wannabees and wasps. Upon discussion we decided that wasps were omnivores rather than carnivores because they sip nectar as well as eating other insects. I've always called wasps carnivores, but I stand corrected. Bees are vegans, wasps are omnivores.

We also planted microgreens with the grades 4/5 which they will water and grow once they get back from spring break. Plants like overwintered broccoli produce flowers in the spring that feed mason bees. Then they produce seeds which you can grow into micro-greens for a nutritious snack. (Radishes are great for bees too).

As we learned, all good things must come to an end, even the sweet little mason bees. (Although not every one gets a proper Christian burial). They only live a few weeks, but they play an important role in keeping our fruit trees brimming with cherries and apples. Thanks bees and bee-lovin' students and thanks to the bee-loved adults who helped make this project possible with a Neighborhood Small Grant.