Summer/Fall 2013 Workshops Announced

Bee The Future Workshops are back for Summer/Fall 2013!

For last year's workshops our focus was on the mason bee.
This year our star bee is theeee (insert drumroll)... Honey Bee!

Details on each workshop coming soon, with the release of our 2013 Workshop poster.

For now here is a taste of what you can expect:

Sept 20 | All of Your Beeswax!
Sept 21 | Lunch and Learn Stone Soup
Sept 27 | "Vanishing of the Bees"

We Wouldn't Bee Here Without You

We here at Bee The Future are honoured to have been mentioned in the Spring 2013 Vancouver Foundation Magazine.

Thank you to the Foundation for their support in our project!

Check out the digital version of the article and a photo on page 18 and 19:
http://digital.canadawide.com/i/134411

Release The Bees!

This is a much delayed post. The weather finally became beautiful and warm in the city so I took this opportunity to release the bees. Here's a photo-by-photo recap of how I did this and some tips on where to place your mason bee house.

Thanks BEE diverse for the cocoons!

 The Release Box

After removing the mason bee cocoons from the cool temperatures of my fridge, I crafted a little release box for the 10 cocoons.

Here they are looking like raisins nestled on tissue.

             Waterproofing... just in case

Because the release box was made from a cardboard I thought it would be best to cover it with something a little more waterproof.

Not the prettiest vessel to emerge from but it does it's job.

 Where to Place the Release Box

I had to figure out a way to attach the release box to the mason bee house. Gotta love string and tape. I wanted it to be close to the bee house so they would choose it as their nesting spot.

The release box is in the shade of the bee house, it should not be in direct sunlight. 







I put-up my mason bee house up in the south-west corner of my house, south-east would've been preferable but they will still get lots of sunlight here. It took 3 of us to put it up believe it or not... It was a very political process apparently. In the end it went up onto a post by our fig tree, about 5 feet off the ground which is the ideal height.

Hopefully I'll see one of my mason bees emerge!

Later this week I'll be opening the release box up to see what the empty cocoons look like, as well (and the sad fact) to see how many cocoons didn't made it through hibernation. Pictures and more tips on mason bee house placement to come.

Spring Has Sprung

Welcome back everyone! Like the bees we were hibernating through winter but are ready to spring into mason bee action again. Though it's not officially spring (not until March 20th) some bees have already hatched and are pollinating the crocuses and other early bloomers around town.

I haven't yet seen any mason bees, but I've been keeping my eye out for them. Have you seen any around your garden yet?

 

Can you spot the bee?

In the next blog post this week I'll explain how to put up your mason bee house and give you tips on location. I'll also be posting pictures of my mason bee cocoons that I recently put outside to hatch and release.

It's nice to bee back :)

 

Back to class: Mason Bee 101

Hello!

In our last event we had created a small booklet for each of our participants. The booklet was a compilation of all the information we had found while researching mason bees. Inside the book gives a quick rundown on each stage of the mason bee and what to do or what to expect. If you didn't make it out to our last event and can't make it out to our next one, we want to make sure you can get a little bee-education too!

If you CLICK HERE you can find our pdf version of the booklet.

Have a bee-utiful day!