March-April 2024 Newsletter
May 4, 2024
Towards a bee and pollinator friendly Canberra
August 2, 2024World Bee Day is on 20 May, however it’s all happening here in Canberra on the weekend of 17-19 May. This year’s theme is “Bee Engaged with Youth”, recognising the importance of involving young people in beekeeping and pollinator conservation efforts.
With that in mind, our main activity at the Belgian Embassy on Sunday, 19 May, from 11am will have a great day of family focussed activities and information and honey produce stalls.
But wait, there is more!
The Global Waggle Dance Challenge
The Global Online Waggle Dance Challenge is an Australian-led global celebration and is an initiative of the Rotary Club of Canterbury, Rotarians for Bees and The Wheen Bee Foundation. All you need to do is take a video of yourself (with others if you’d like!) and upload it. By submitting your video, you honour the 20,000+ species of bees identified around the world so far. In Australia, about 1,600 species of bees have been identified, with scientists believing that perhaps another 1,000 species exist.
The Great Bee Morning Tea
Maybe your office or school would be interested in hosting a Great Bee Morning Tea to raise awareness about the importance of bees for our food security. In his recorded message for World Bee Day 2023, The Governor-General noted that pollinator services in Australia are worth more than $14 billion, about 140 times more than the value of honey produced. In the words of the Wheen Bee Foundation, “our food security needs bee security”.
Did you know…
- bees pollinate one in every three mouthfuls of food we eat,
- bee pollination is responsible for 65% of our food diversity, and
- at least 53 crops in Australia rely to some extent on bees? This includes almonds, avocados, apples, berries, stone fruit and carrots, oilseeds such as canola and legumes like clover and lucerne that feed farm livestock.
By hosting a honey-themed morning tea, you could start a conversation about how these little insects are essential to our well-being.
If this idea resonates with you, our website and the Wheen Bee Foundation have some great resources for information about bees.
Curious about bees and pollination of our food? Check out our ‘Love Food? Love Bees!’ curriculum resources to share the joy about bees and other pollinators with students from Early Learning age through to High School.
We’re looking forward to seeing you at the Belgian Embassy. Please come and say hello!
Best wishes
Julie, Vicki, Mark, Lynne, John, Didi and Matt,
The ACT for Bees + Other Pollinators team.
Save the Dates!
Biodynamic Agriculture Conference
When: Saturday 11 May to Sunday 12 May 2024
Where: Rudolf Steiner House, 307 Sussex St, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
Earth Regeneration and Renewal is celebrating 100 years of BD agriculture. The biodynamic movement has been active worldwide for 100 years, and you are invited to attend the Sydney public conference and other events. On this journey, you will learn about biodynamics, what it has achieved, and future developments to address current environmental crises. Check out the exciting program at Program and bookings.
World Bee Day will be BUZZING!
17 – 20 May 2024
As foreshadowed in our February newsletter, World Bee Day is on 20 May 2024, and the week before will be buzzing with events in Australia and worldwide!
Details of all events are on the World Bee Day Australia website.
Crace Landcare World Bee Day event
When: Saturday 18 May, 10:00am-12:00pm
Where: Crace Supabarn Farmer’s Market, Abena Avenue, Crace
Free face painting, craft table & succulent pot making for kids. Bee Hotel demo stall. Free pollinator-friendly plants stall. Build a mini bee hotel from recycled materials. ‘Pollinators at my place’ info stall. Further details are on the World Bee Day Australia website.
Sweet like Honey: Masterclass in Creating Bee-Friendly Environments
When: Saturday 18 May, 10:00am-11:00am
Where: Australian Parliament House
Join Australian Parliament House’s Head Beekeeper, Cormac Farrell, for a masterclass exploring how a region’s diverse botanical sources create unique flavours in honey. Discover how to integrate native and honeybees into landscape design by selecting native and exotic plants, with reference to the Parliament Gardens as an example of a vibrant bee-friendly city. Indulge in a tasting experience as you try honey sourced from across Canberra’s urban spaces. Including honey and honeycomb made by the busy Parliament House bees. This 1-hour indoor masterclass is suited for beekeepers and gardeners interested in creating bee-friendly hubs, both in their own gardens and in local areas.
The Embassy of Switzerland’s World Bee Day “Honeyland” film screening
When: Saturday 18 May, 5:00pm-6:30pm
Where: Australian National University
Enjoy watching “Honeyland,” a captivating journey into the world of beekeeping. This eye-opening documentary follows Hatidze, a remarkable woman preserving traditional bee keeping. Followed by a small reception.
The Belgian Embassy .beFAIR
When: Sunday, 19 May, 11:00am-3:00pm
The Belgian Embassy will open its gates to celebrate World Bee Day with young and old! Put on a beekeeper suit and discover everything there is to know about bees on one of the guided beehive tours; dance and sing with Johnny Huckle and the Royal Belgian Conspiracy. Stroll around our market or picnic on the lawn with friends and family, enjoying the delicious food and drinks our Embassy and some of our European colleagues have on offer or head to the Ambassador’s residence for a screening of one of Maya the Bee’s exciting films. Plenty to discover for a fun day out, all while helping us support Ukrainian Beekeepers struggling to make a living due to the war.
BnB Varroa Warriors
When: Sunday 19 May, 1:00pm-4:00pm
Where: Orange Agricultural Institute – Training Centre, 1447 Forest Rd, Orange NSW
We will launch a new initiative that will bring together beekeepers from local clubs to network and share their experiences. This initiative will eventually incorporate online and face-to-face events and conversations. As we move into unknown territory with Varroa management, the purpose of the initiative is to learn as much as we can about the Varroa mite and to ensure that we consider the ‘bees’
in our choices. We will engage with bee experts, academics, and various institutions and government departments to learn as much as we can. This is a chance for you to share your thoughts.
Interesting Links
The Australian Regenerators team led by Damon Gameau has recently launched a learning hub.
The Regenerators Learning Hub is a free education resource with over 100 cross-curriculum lessons catering to all levels, from primary to adult learning. There’s some wonderful material on the site broadly categorised under 13 topic headings. Also, check out the main Regen site and its 10 action areas for inspiration and resources, as well as its films.
The Planting Seeds team led by Dr Judy Friedlander have launched their new website. Planting Seeds is involved in regenerative plantings and corridors for pollinators throughout Australia. The new website has an interactive map with species of threatened pollinators by location and the food that the pollinator requires. In Canberra, these are the Swift Parrot and the Regent Honeyeater.
Restor is a Swiss site that connects people and projects to data and funding for the restoration of natural habitats. It is active in 140 countries. The site has links to case studies and projects around the world.
From the US, an interesting initiative to engage youth interested in agricultural and environmental sciences with grants for high schools to create pollinator habitats within working areas such as farms.
A few interesting books……
Urban Beekeeping: The City as a Hive
by Cormac Farrell (Head Beekeeper, Australian Parliament House)
An instruction manual for change, Urban Beekeeping, explores how we can adapt urban spaces to create a more sustainable future, both for bees and for ourselves.
Urban beekeeping has become a booming pastime in cities throughout the world. But why just fit bees into our cities when we could reshape our cities to fit them?
Written by beekeeping expert Cormac Farrell, this guide is a practical guide to establishing a thriving urban hive. It covers a range of topics, from understanding different bee species and selecting the right ones for your space to setting up your apiary, providing the right plantings for your bees, choosing the right hive, and managing your hive effectively.
For those passionate about beekeeping, environmentally conscious gardeners, and urban planners, this book offers a wealth of knowledge on creating local green spaces that foster thriving nature. From community gardens to rooftop apiaries, cities hold immense potential for sustainable food production. Urban Beekeeping advocates for tapping into this potential, managing bees for beauty, food, and the local environment.
This is more than a manual for beekeepers and gardeners who want to go beyond their backyard; it is a guide to changing the whole concept of our cities, making places where we produce quality food locally and creating spaces for native species.
Due to release in October 2024. Pre-orders can be made via online booksellers.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY
We respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we live and work, the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people. We pay our respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging.
We recognise the impact of climate change and increasing urbanisation on biodiversity. It is now even more important for us to plant and maintain our urban gardens and parklands to protect our bees, butterflies, birds and local wildlife.
