Golden Goddess Honey of Western Massachusetts

07/29/2021

Bumble bees have become a significant focus of our work and includes outreach to build awareness of bumble bees, guidance to land managers, farmers, and others on habitat projects, advocacy to gain legal protection, and community science to gather data that informs our work -- the focus of this week’s article on our blog.

The community science projects that we now run have grown from small beginnings more than a dozen years ago. We began with distributing “wanted” posters that identified a handful of species and asked people to email photos and location information to us. The success of this was the impetus for creating Bumble Bee Watch, which gathers observations from across Canada and the US, and now also regional bumble bee atlases in the Pacific Northwest, Nebraska, and Missouri that generate detailed and comprehensive information about the distribution and habitat preferences of bumble bees. All of this helps inform and guide our conservation work to most effectively use resources to achieve the greatest results.

None of it could happen without the amazing dedication of thousands of people who give their time and energy to searching for bumble bees and recording what they find. The love for bumble bees that these individuals show is inspiring. Thank you.

Using Community Science to Conserve Bumble Bees: From Small Beginnings to a Continent-Wide Effort
https://xerces.org/blog/using-community-science-to-conserve-bumble-bees-from-small-beginnings-to-continent-wide-effort

07/09/2021

06/22/2021

This year's poster from The Pollinator Partnership “Pollinators and Agriculture: A Partnership on the Land" by artist Hugo Salais is an artistic depiction of the harmony that can be achieved when agricultural landscapes embrace pollinator-friendly management practices. You can download or order this poster here: https://www.pollinator.org/poster-2021

06/21/2021

Going bumble bee watching is not only fun, but also a great way to contribute to real conservation science. Why not try it this summer?

06/08/2021

A new fungus strain could provide a chemical-free method for eradicating mites that kill honey bees, according to a study led by WSU entomologists.

04/22/2021

On this Earth Day we should all take a minute to think about how we can reduce our consumption. Plastic and other human waste is a big problem and we need to be mindful that everything we buy will be garbage someday. Simple things we can do to reduce waste involve choosing items that are biodegradable (example: a wicker laundry basket over a plastic one), better quality appliances and the like so they last longer and composting food waste. Food waste in the landfill is a major contributor to methane production. Let's do our part to help Mother Earth! She gives us so many beautiful and tasty things 🌸🐝🦋🍇🍯🥑🍎🌲🍄🌈

As America continues to lead the world in per capita waste production, it's becoming more and more clear that everybody — manufacturers and consumers — "over-believes" in recycling.

04/20/2021

A sweeping analysis shows an overall downward trend in bee diversity worldwide, raising concerns about these crucial pollinators.

01/25/2021

The number of bee species appears to have declined sharply in the past 30 years, which could mean many types of bee are extinct or so rare that no one has recording a sighting

11/30/2020

It's Cyber Monday! This holiday season, use our AmazonSmile link at https://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-3283967 while you're shopping online and choose Pollinator Partnership as your charitable organization.
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Continue to show your support for pollinator conservation tomorrow for Giving Tuesday! Pollinators need your help and are in need of healthy native habitat to survive. You can give directly to a habitat restoration program and restore the landscape with beautiful native flowers by donating at https://www.pollinator.org/giving-tuesday-2020.
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Thank you for making the world a better place for pollinators!
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Illustration by Steve Buchanan 🐝
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11/26/2020

Happy Thanksgiving! We at Pollinator Partnership are grateful for your assistance in making the world a more pollinator-friendly place. We hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving, and don't forget to take a moment to appreciate the wonderful bounty before you that is largely possible due to the diligent work of our pollinating friends. Let’s raise a toast on their behalf!
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Featured Pollinators:

Morrison's Bumble Bee (Bombus morrisoni) - bumble bees fly at cooler temperatures than honey bees. They are important buzz pollinators of blueberries, cranberries, tomatoes, and many native wildflowers.

European Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) - the introduced honey bee is the champion pollinator for most US agricultural crops valued at billions of dollars annually.

Southeastern Blueberry Bee (Habropoda laboriosa) - this large fuzzy native bee pollinates southeastern blueberries, including cultivated and wild plants, and lives in underground burrows.

Blue Orchard Bee (Osmia lignaria) - this shiny blue native mason bee is a newly-developed commercial pollinator of sweet cherries, apples, and almonds.

Squash Bee (Peponapis pruinosa) - squash and gourd bees are native bees specialized for visiting flowers of pumpkins, squash, and gourds.

Alfalfa Leafcutter Bee (Megachile rotundata) - this introduced Eurasian hole-nesting bee is responsible for most of our country's alfalfa pollination.
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Art by Steve Buchanan 🐝
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11/13/2020

Let us not forget the importance of native bees and how honey bees can be disruptive.

They’re important for agriculture, but they’re not so good for the environment