MUN botanical garden celebrating the unsung heroes: pollinators
The MUN Botanical Garden is hosting an all-day event on Saturday to celebrate all things pollen.
Visitors can check out an observation bee hive and taste the freshly produced honey.
"You may see the queen. You'll certainly see the other bees passing pollen and nectar back and forth. You'll see them working," Karen Youden Walsh of the NL Beekeeping Association told CBC News.
An interesting note about honey bees native to Newfoundland is just how rare they are when compared to the global honey bee population and how the province is free of the four major diseases that are affecting other bees. This is something Youden Walsh says people need to be aware of when entering into beekeeping as a hobby.
"For the Newfoundland and Labrador Beekeeping Association it really worries us that somebody may some day decide 'I want to keep bees,' and just through a lack of knowledge go order bees somewhere or bring them in," she said.
"It's important that governments, beekeepers and the general public come together and say we have a really special environment here, we have a really special honey bee and we need to do everything we can to maintain that."
The event promises to be educational and raise awareness toward pollinators outside of the bee family as well, with the bonus of being completely kid friendly with crafts and a photo booth to take pictures dressed as honey bees.
"There are all kinds of other insects that pollinate our plants and the food that we eat, and so (we) will talk about who they are and what they do, as well as habitat conservation and restoration," said Kim Shipp, director of MUN Botanical Garden.
"We're hoping some will come dressed as their favourite pollinator, and we have a little photo booth. If they don't they can have some wings and bumblebee antenna that they can try on and take some pictures."
Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
