Page 13 - RS 8 2019 ONLINE

Home & Garden
Bees:

How tHey Help & How we can Help save tHem?

Welcome to your happy place or, as I like to call it, Here are a couple of easy ways that you can help
my garden. So let’s start talking about this month’s save the bees at your home and help your garden
subject, “Bees,” and most importantly, bumblebees. thrive in the process.
So why are bees so important? • A Hummingbird Feeder

Most of you may not know this, but the US fish and • A Bug House
wildlife services have just added bumblebees to the • Let the wild flowers grow (not only will you be
endangered species list. This is a first for its species helping bees, but you will also be helping their
in US history. Sure, bees are pesky, to some even pollinating friends)
lethal, and yes, they can sting (depending on the • Plant flowering plants or bee friendly plants (avoid
species.) But, most of the time, if you don’t bother hybrids as they may be sterile or not grow as much
them, they wont bother you! pollen or nectar, if any)

• Bird bath or tray (fill with water marbles or rocks so
Believe it or not, bees are responsible for 80% of
the US food crops we eat daily. I bet you didn’t know the bees can land and safely drink)
that a bee touches and pollinates over 5,000 flowers • Bee down? (If you see a Bee on the ground crawling
a day. Just to create 1 pound of honey, a hive has around, he will recover. He’s had too much pollen, or
to travel up to 55,000 miles and visit up to 2 million as I like to say, he’s just buzzed on pollen.)
flowers. • Let your grass grow!
• Avoid pesticides! (It’s no secret they are no good!)
The bee population is taking massive hits recently
from weather, spraying for insects (by way of plane • Avoid planting lawns (sure, they look pretty, but
or pest control) and even vandalism. Over 40% of they are literally a desert for pollinating insects)
the US bee population was killed last year alone. • Stay informed and help others get informed before
The fact is.....we the people just aren’t doing much it’s to late!
to help; if anything, we are part of the problem. If
we don’t do something, our food crops are going to Tip:
suffer and, in turn, we will suffer. If you ever need to remove bees from you property, for
any reason, we beg you to please do it responsibly and
The big task at hand is educating our fellow friends, call a specialist to “No kill” remove them! My good friend
neighbors and future generations to be more aware Jimmy says he and his twin brother, Nick Maynard, are the
of the small, but huge, roll we play in our environment. owner of “Maynard’s Nuisance Wildlife & Bee Removal,
Not everybody cares about the same things, and Inc.” They specialize in live removals! The focus is to
that’s OK, but we all need to start caring about this relocate any beehives they find back to their bee yards.
one simple thing. Who’s going to save the bees?
www.Maynardsnwbr.com. The Bees will thank you for it!
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