Buzzing About Something New

Did you know more than 200,000 animal species play a role in pollinating more than 250,000 plants?  Honey bees are part of a 10 million dollar industry that includes pollination, honey, and crops.  These are just some of the things members of the Dirty Rascals 4-H Junior Master Gardeners and the Robeson County Master Gardeners Association learned on our trip to the Bayer Bee Center.
We learned about the anatomy of a bee, the different roles of the Queen Bee, worker, and drones, and let's not forget the hierarchy of the hive.  Nature is brutal.  We also learned the difference between honey bees and bumble bees, and of the various roles they both play in pollination.  The Bayer Bee Center is researching all sorts of things having to do with bees, and we learned there is so much we still don't know about this most important insect and the roll it plays in our food chain.
We of course could not visit without talking about honey.  Folks got to belly up to the honey bar and try Tupelo, Buckwheat, and Orange Blossom honeys.  The majority of folks liked the Tupelo Honey but some preferred the others.  It is after all a matter of personal taste.
We also got to see some of the new technology the center is testing to determine hive temperatures, honey production, and swarms.  There are so many variables that go into pollination and honey making that it is important that we know more to see if we can help replenish the bees that are disappearing at an alarming rate.
Our folks got to see bees in action through a visible super frame,  and everyone got a chance to see the queen.  These bees were feeding off of a sugar water supply while they educated us.  We then went out in the garden and got to watch the bees in action.  We saw both honey bees and bumble bees enjoying a specifically planted pollinator garden.  There was a direct site line to their hives, all three of them that we could see.  It was a truly neat experience.
After a busy morning, we needed to pollinate our stomachs.  Where better to go then to the State Farmer's market where we could sample the local foods that grew thanks to pollinators.  We can tell you it was really good.
Then we went cross the road and had a scavenger hunt for the most colorful and strangest items.  There we saw everything from pickled carrots to snake plants, red cabbage, and some fuzzy furry plants.  It was all pretty eye opening and fun.  We tried some samples of things we hadn't eaten before and even tried some samples of our favorite things.  All in all it was a great trip and we have some ideas of how we will share the importance of pollinators when we get home.