Helping Bees Pollinate

Growing Wisdom with David Epstein

Hi, I’m Dave Epstein. This is Growing Wisdom. You know as a gardener and a naturalist, I come across a lot of products and now I’m able to bring you the products and actually get them to you, to sell them to you. So one of the products that I want to talk about today is this bee house and it’s about several months ago that I went to a lecture and I learned how many different types of bees there are in the United States. It’s over 4,000 of them and we can actually help the bees out in the same way we help the birds, and the same way we help the bats. You know, I have bat houses; I have bird houses, well, now we’re going to put up a bee house. So I’ve got this bee house from Countryside Culture and this particular bee house is for the Blue Orchard Mason Bee. Why that bee is so important is because it’s an early pollinator. Depending on where you are in the country, it’s going to pollinate anywhere from February on through April. So the time where other bees are not out, this little guy is going to come out of his house and begin to pollinate.

Most bees actually don’t live in hives. They actually live solitary lives where they have their little homes. And that’s where they live and that’s where they hatch and they do their thing and they go back to their homes all by themselves. So, this house is for those types of bees. So why do I like this product? Well, a couple of things, one is, it’s made of cedar and first of all, cedar smells great. So it’s made of cedar that means it’s going to last a little bit longer than just plain old wood. It’s got this nice tin plated roof to it and I like that because that’s going to help to keep some of the wetness and the snow. If you’ll leave it out in the winter that’s going to keep some of that moisture out; which will help to protect this a little bit more. Another great aspect, it’s made in the USA.

So how do you attach it? Well it has this piece of wood that actually has two screws. Now, I like that because this piece of wood is just standard wood and my guess is this is going to rot after a few years so you could take this off and just replace it with another piece of wood so they’ve thought of that by just putting in a couple of screws there. Where do you want to put this? You want to put it on an east or a southeast-facing part of your house. Preferably under some eaves so that the moisture doesn’t get top it. Anywhere from two to six feet high mount it with a screw and then just leave it. So, when do you want to put this out? You want them out earlier in the season rather than later in the season. But you know whenever you put them out the bees will find them. So how do you get this? You just want to get to Growing Wisdom, look for the link to buy this. You guys know what to do the shopping cart the whole bet, put it in your credit card we’ll get you one of these guys, you’ll even get a letter from me and some handy instructions on how to put this up. So, the Country Culture Mason Bee Box—a great way to add a little bit of nature to your house; I’m confident you’re going to enjoy this product and I’d love to hear your experience once you get one of these. Email me at dave@growingwisdom.com. And come back often to Growing Wisdom to see what products we are featuring next.


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