A peek inside a stingless beehive….
Australia’s own native bees and the awesome nest that looks like architecture. Amazing. Keep Buzzing…….
Category Archives: Native Bees
Response to Letter to the Editor – Happy Tonics Board and Officers
The Editorial article by Lauralei Anderson in the paper September 8, 2010 was submitted to Happy Tonics, Inc. officers and board in OH, MA, VA and WI. We agreed to the following response to Lauralei Anderson’s Editorial.
Letter to the editor, Washburn County Register
In regards to the letter sent by Lauralei Anderson from Cumberland, we at the Monarch Butterfly Habitat would like to respond to her criticism calling the habitat “an overgrown railroad bed.”
A native habitat is completely different from a typical garden, park or planting. There are no tulips and marigolds in nice neat rows because all the plants in the habitat are native to Wisconsin. This is a prime example of a restored tall grass prairie whose plants are the same ones that covered Wisconsin when the Conestoga wagons passed through carrying the pioneers west.
It was the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that not only helped pick out the native seeds, but donated over $500 worth of seeds to the habitat and the Land and Water Conservation Department had a huge hand in the project also.
Native plantings always start out with common plants like the little and big blue stems which you call weeds. If the garden is healthy, the first native flowers begin to appear the third year. You mentioned in your letter that you saw some ‘scant black-eyed Susan’s, they are right on time. Within the next 5 years, more native flower species, the seeds of which were planted by professionals, will appear. Some native plants take years for their seeds to germinate and grow into plants.
Even though the habitat idea is new to many here in Shell Lake and the surrounding residents, it’s familiar to those who are familiar with Saulk County’s favorite son, Also Leopold and sites like Brighter Planet. The habitat has received grants from both organizations as well as numerous others that believe that if we don’t save the native plants for the two most important pollinators, the bees and butterflies, commercial crops and public and personal gardens will fail due to a lack of pollination. We will be starting to be official Wisconsin native seed savers this year, sending them throughout the United States.
Shell Lake is also on the direct floral corroder that runs from Canada to Mexico that offers food and rest to the millions of butterflies heading to their winter home in Mexico and yes, the butterflies often follow the highways, another reason for this perfect habitat site.
It’s often easy to criticize what we don’t understand, and this habitat was never meant to look like a ‘cute little garden,’ it’s a teaching tool that has already tied into Eco Tourism and we have given many tours this summer to a local audience as well as visitors from across our nation. The Monarch Habitat also sponsors Earth Day activities each year which encourage locals to buy locally.
Articles about the habitat have not only been published nationally, the habitat is also part of the international world with blog responders from 72 different countries who understand why it exists.
If you watch television, you will see the habitat featured on Discover Wisconsin three times during the next two years, starting March 2011. The habitat is all over their website and print material and calendars as well as the official Wisconsin Tourism Site.
All the beautiful little gardens you mentioned in your letter require constant up-keep from weeding to watering to fertilizing, to the applying of pesticides and for some, mowing.
The habitat is ‘green’ in more ways than one because native plants live with or without our help. The habitat leaves absolutely no carbon footprint.
We would encourage you to take a tour of this amazing place; to step back in history for a bit and enjoy the many kinds of butterflies that already visit the habitat daily.
Mary Ellen Ryall, Executive Director
WANT TO LEARN ABOUT A NATIVE BEE?
One of my favorite things is the bumble bee and here is her story.
On April 14, I was walking through the Monarch Butterfly Habitat in Shell Lake, Wisconsin, USA, and thought I saw a Bombus affinis. This bumble bee is in decline. Even though the bumble could be located in Wisconsin, Washburn County is not its home. You can imagine how excited I became when I saw what I thought was the rusty patch bumble bee. I went scrambling into my purse for the iPhone and took some photos while the bumble bee flew happily from one dandelion flower to another gathering pollen.
On April 25, I emailed Jennifer Hopwood, Midwest Pollinator Outreach Coordinator at Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. She identified my bumble as Bombus ternarius. According to Jennifer, this species has orange rusty hair bands on the 2nd and 3rd segments, and then another yellow band on the 4th segment. This bee is the cousin of the rusty-patched bumble bee.
Jennifer says, “The rusty patch bumblebee has yellow hairs on the first segment, and then a rusty patch in the middle of the second segment, with yellow hairs on either side of the orange patch. She suggested that it was likely a queen bumble bee and that she will go on to produce 100+ bumble bees this year. I hope many of the queen’s offsprings will make their home this summer at the Native Wildflower and Butterfly Garden.
Let’s do all we can to plant nectar sources for the pollinators. Let me know your bumble bee stories.
Be happy Insectamonarca friends where ever you are.
BEE Connected – Every Day Is Earth Day
BLESS THE EARTH AND ALL WITHIN
On 24 April 2010 Happy Tonics held the III Annual Earth Day Event in Shell Lake at the Native Wildflower and Butterfly Garden. This year it did not snow like it did in 2008 but it rained. Heaven smiled upon us in sending the rains in the 7th year of drought.
We all took a pinch of tobacco and offered our good thoughts along with tobacco to the Ojibwe birch bark basket. Then Dr. John Anderson offered prayers to the Creator in thanksgiving for the rain and we dedicated our ceremony “To honor the bees.”
John taught the audience that man once honored all the four legged, finned and winged relatives. Somehow we have become disconnected. He gave an example of how the dog dances when he sees you return safely home. Every one with loving smiles looked at the dog he was speaking about. The four-legged one just listened intently to John speaking .
Ginger Wilcox gave a message as she held the sacred Eagle Feather. We need to protect and honor the pollinators. The Earth will survive without human beings.
Mother Earth knows how to protect herself. We must reconnect to Mother Earth and respect her so that human beings can survive too. We need to protect the butterflies, bees and native plants and stop destroying the natural world or there will be no natural resources for future generations.
Paul Schaefer spoke about beekeeping. He and his wife Beverly are beekeepers in Shell Lake, Wisconsin, USA. The pure and organic honey that they produce is absolutely delicious. There is an urgent need for younger generation to get involved in beekeeping. Without bees, we will have no food. Native bees are also in decline including four species of the beloved bumble bee. Xerces Society is a good start to learn about native bees and beekeeping. The local lunch was made possible by a grant from the Wisconsin Environmental Education Board.
The Wednesday Sit and Stitch Quilt Group made this handmade butterfly quilt as a Fundraiser for Happy Tonics. It took the senior ladies a year to complete the project and the quilt was on display for the Earth Day attendees to view. It will be auctioned off online or through a raffle later this summer. First the quilt is being entered into the 100th Anniversary Fair in Spooner, Wisconsin, this summer. We surely hope this beautiful quilt wins a ribbon.
- Baby Eden
The last message of the day is that we must all do our part to protect Mother Earth for the next 7 generations.
Let us plant host and nectar plants for the pollinators so that Baby Eden will have a natural world when she grows up.
Miigwetch (Thank you)!
PLEASE VOTE FOR OUR GRANT PROPOSAL on Brighter Planet
Happy Tonics has been selected again as a candidate for the April 1 – 15 VOTING PERIOD with Brighter Planet. Our Grant Proposal Native Habitats and Community Gardens in Shell Lake, Wisconsin, needs your VOTE at
We are a nonprofit 501(c)(3) Environmental Education Organization and Public Charity. Officers and board work for free.
Please take a minute to REGISTER on BRIGHTER PLANET and VOTE for our Grant Proposal. Thank you for helping us create a world of beauty for today and the future.
Our work is dedicated to helping the littlest of species the pollinating butterflies and native bees that need our help. We grow native habitat and crops to promote biodiversity which pollinators depend upon.
Thank you for VOTING for our Cause at http://brighterplanet.com/project_fund_projects/100
Today We Sing Your Praises
Hand Drum Contest – Lac Courte Oreilles (LCO) Convention Center, Hayward, WI. Happy Tonics will be at LCO Ojiwe Community College on Thursday to present a program on Oneida Culture and Corn. It is all about saving tribal indigenous crop species from extinction.
Brighter Planet VOTING PERIOD has ended. Happy Tonics, Inc. received 234 VOTES for their initiative to adapt to Climate Change. Happy Tonics, Inc. Officers and Board Members wish to thank each and every one of you for your votes. Today we heard from Michelle L. Voight, Executive Director, of Tourism Washburn County Tourism Association at www.washburncounty.org Michelle let us know she VOTED for adapt to Climate Change Native Habitat and Community Garden in Shell Lake, Wisconsin.
We are both members of Destination Marketing Organization at http://wisconsinvisitor.com/?113140 Nancy Herman, Yellow River Advertising and Marketing and Greg Vreeland, Wisconsin Great Northern Railroad, are dedicated to letting the public know that we have some great green initiatives to promote Eco tourism and Volunteer Eco vacations in the Great North Woods of Wisconsin. Check out the train schedule in Spooner at http://www.spoonertrainride.com/ to find some interesting short excursions that include meals and other eco friendly activities like the pumpkin train that goes out to a pumpkin patch in the fall.
In the summer, right down the road from Spooner is the Monarch Butterfly Habitat that Happy Tonics implements. The city owned land is now a Restored Remnant Tallgrass Prairie for many species of butterflies, native bees and dragonflies. Visitors have even seen ducks, deer and a bear come wandering through the habitat.
One doesn’t need a lot of land to restore nature back to native habitat. Native plants are host plants to butterflies and do not require intensive watering. The plants have very deep roots. The prairie rose has been known to grow 20 feet down into the soil to tap water. Can you image lawns doing this? Why deplete water to maintain a lawn? Native grasses and wildflowers can do all this with so little in return. With climate change we need to adapt. Bless you all for voting and helping to protect Mother Earth.
Be happy insectamonarca friends where ever you are.
Day 11 – Let’s Vote and Speak Out about Climate Change
I am awed that we have reached so many VOTERS through Brighter Planet. As of 9:30 p.m., 193 conscientous citizens have voted for our grant proposal. Thank you. We are still plugging for VOTES for Climate Change Native Habitat and Community Garden in Shell Lake. For those of you signing up and VOTING now please click on http://brighterplanet.com/project_fund_projects/100 and give us your support.
Happy Tonics hopes you will listen to testimony about climate change by Ross Gelbspan, author of “The Heat Is On,” on his Web site at http://www.heatisonline.org/ It is no longer about when. It is about how we are going to adapt to Climate Change.
All of us need to bring the message home that we need to protect biodiversity and plant native grasses, wildflowers and crops to withstand climate change. I am hopeful of seeing many rain barrels in place this year in Shell Lake. Andrew Eiche, Executive Director of HUD Housing, told me he plans to grant our request for a rain barrel for resident container gardens at Lakeland Manor, senior housing, in Shell Lake in 2010.
I called Jeff Parker, Director of Public Works, Shell Lake, today about donating a rain barrel for Friendship Commons where the girl scouts are going to plant a container garden with an Aldo Leopold Education and Pheasants Forever Grant. The seniors are pleased that the younger generation will be involved in beautifying outside the center. The educational garden will teach others about growing bee pollinator, butterfly (second more important pollinator), herb, flower and veggie gardens.
Happy Tonics is thrilled that Shell Lake is starting to get the message that we need to grow local and organic food.
We need native plants for pollinators. It has taken Happy Tonics a few years of teaching environmental education to reach the public on a deep and profound level. Protecting Mother Earth comes natural to Happy Tonics. Nick Vander Puy, reporter at News from Indian Country, wrote on his Facebook blog recently something to the effect, “Our grandchildren will ask what did you do during the Great War for the Earth?”
It is all about the baby steps and teaching others how to grow their own food in sustainable ways to adapt to Climate Change.
Be happy Voters where ever you are.
Day Ten – Counting Votes for Climate Change Native Habitat Community Gardens in Shell Lake, WI
http://vimeo.com/7327532 Check out Brighter Planent’s short video of a bee and a daisy.
Happy Tonics Environmental Education Intern Tabitha Brown is a student at Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Community College. She took the initiative to email the entire student body with permission from the college staff. Tabitha is also getting out the word out on her MySpace Blog So what’s up? She is recruiting for friends and students to Sign Up and Vote for Happy Tonics grant proposal at Brighter Planet for Climate Change Native Habitat and Community Garden in Shell Lake, WI. We need your votes at http://brighterplanet.com/project_fund_projects/100
Our Morph Your Mind Environmental Education Program teaches about Colony Collapse Disorder and importance of native wildflowers as pollen sources for bees that need our help. Seeing Beyond Ourselves, we hope you too will help our friends the native plants, bees and butterflies and the crops that feed us. All these species are experiencing stress because of climate change. Help us make a difference in our hometown. We are a sustainable city but to plant gardens and maintain a Restored Remnant Tallgrass Prairie and butterfly meadow, we need funds to do so. We are grateful to Brighter Planet for this opportunity.
You are voting for species that cannot speak for themselves. Bless your hearts.
Adapting to Climate Change
Please take a minute to REGISTER AND VOTE at http://brighterplanet.com/project_fund_projects/100
Happy Tonics needs your VOTE to help us do our work. Officers and Board Members give of their time to educate and implement programs to adapt to Climate Change by promoting Sustainability of Native Plants, Monarch Butterfly and other pollinator habitat. Our mission is: Sanctuary for the Monarch Butterfly and Food Safety Issues.
We are a small grassroots nonprofit that needs your help to WIN our Climate Change Native Habitat and Community Garden Shell Lake grant proposal.
This is not Happy Tonics first attempt to bring Adapting to Climate Change into national awareness.
We were honored to participate in the Green Effect grant process with National Geographic sponsored by Sun Chips in 2009. Although other worthy causes won, we believe that each of us must do our part to bring the message of adapting to climate change home. (National Geographic, Green Effect Winning Ideas for a Better World, November 2009, insert after pg. 6.)
Won’t you help us now? Please SIGN UP AND VOTE at http://brighterplanet.com/project_fund_projects/100
Thank you.
One Meadow at a Time
Good news! New York City is turning heads. Here’s a an article about an old railroad bed that is now a garden. Bravo!
http://mediacompost.wordpress.com/2009/08/20/old-train-tracks-become-green-area-and-public-park-nyc/
Happy Tonics did the same thing in Shell Lake, Wisconsin, USA. We created a Monarch Butterfly Habitat, a restored remnant native tall grass prairie, where once buffalo roamed and tall grasses grew. The habitat is alongside of an old railroad bed on a narrow strip of land, on one half acre. The railroad bed is now a trail for foot travel, bicycle and horses.
Dennis Van Engelsdorp spoke about the importance of helping the pollinators especially honey and native bees including the beloved bumble bee. He suggests letting meadows grow. You can view the video on our Blog re: A Plea for Bees.
Let’s get beyond the written world. I would love to hear from you and learn what you are doing right now to help Green Up your corner of the world. Let’s turn the abandoned wasteland into something beautiful as a Pay it Forward act of kindness for generations to come.
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