If you’re a fan of the show, you know we’ve talked a lot about protecting and keeping honeybees. But this show is not as much about that. It’s about creating habitats to attract and protect our “native” bees.
According to the Xerces Society, about 25% of our native bumble bees are currently threatened with extinction. And many more native bees are losing pollination sources due to pesticides and habitat destruction.
This episode talks about the current threats and what we can do to make a difference. From big business food companies such as General Food’s Cascadian Farm brand, a Certified Organic brand of their company that is investing big money and planting pollinator habitats in cooperation with The Xerces Society.
In this episode, we explore what these organizations are doing, as well as as the tough questions to Cascadian Farm to see if this is just another case of greenwashing.
Finally, we bring it home to the GGWTV Garden Farm to show you what we can do at home to make a difference. It all adds up, and we all need to do our part.
For more information, please refer to the following links:
Chattahoochee Nature Center (where were filmed a lot of our local Atlanta pollinator footage)
TED Talk on Why Bees are in Decline
About GGWTV
Growing A Greener World is a national gardening series on Public Television that features organic gardening, green living and farm to table cooking. Each episode focuses on compelling and inspirational people making a difference through gardening. This gardening series covers everything from edible gardening and sustainable agriculture to seasonal cooking and preserving the harvest.
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Do you know of any product that kills fireants but will not harm bees. I would love to find something I could broadcast on my fields but not harm beneficial insects.
CS,
Here is a link with some good information about controlling fire ants. I hope you find it useful. https://fireant.tamu.edu/files/2014/03/ENTO_009.pdf
Beautiful. I’m an organic gardener. Love your program Thank you!
Cascadian Farms mentioned in this episode unfortunately General Mills that owns it has spend millions of dollars to block GMO labeling. So I buy elsewhere….. So shame on Cascadian Farms acting like they are concerned.
Joe,
I’m an old gardener and former bee keeper. Haven’t seen honey bees here in Connecticut for a few years. Also, Monarch Butterflies. I’m convinced the majority of the bee die offs have to do with pesticides especially, neonicotinoids (Monsanto?) A question for you: How absoiute all the beautiful flowers we all buy at the garden centers, are they full of poison? How can we decide what NOT TO BUY if we don’t have that info. Lastly, in conversations with som gardeners I hear how the reach for the “SEVEN” or other poisons like they were candy. We certainly need a reeducation for all gardeners, organic or not.
Love the show and wish it was longer!
Hi Frank. I’m with you. Habitat loss, urban sprawl, and over-use of pesticides is the triple crown of thorns in my opinion to the drastic reduction of many species. We do indeed need a shift in thinking when it comes to gardening and landscaping, and FARMING practices.
As to your question on how to know if flowers and plants you buy from the nursery are free of pesticides. Currently that’s hard to know. While there is “some” talk or effort to at least label plants as such, we have a long way to go! Honestly, the grower industry is under great pressure to deliver the best looking, pest free plants to the retailer. It’s a very competitive business. I’m not advocating the use of those chemicals though. But I don’t envy their position. The “good growers” will always be competing against the other guys to delivery the best looking plant at the point of purchase. Unfortunately, that comes at a price of lots of chemicals.
Thanks for being on the right page and I hope we can turn this tide in how we think about such important, long-term matters Frank.
Joe,
Thanks for the episode. Great one!
I noticed in one of the scenes, a garden had a “Pollinator Habitat” certification. Can you provide any information regarding this? We have dedicated 3 acres to the pollinators and would like to find a way to certify the area.
We believe this certification will allow more productive discussions with the local farmers who continue to spray both pesticides and herbicides.
Any information is welcomed.
Again….many thanks for your show.
Hi Mark. I went straight to the source at the Xerces Society to see what information they could provide on this. Eric Mader is in charge of the pollinator program there. Here is his reply:
“Yes, we do offer such a program through our Bring Back the Pollinators Campaign. By going to BringBackThePollinators.org gardeners, farmers, and land managers can sign the pollinator protection pledge, get a sign for their pollinator garden, and add their garden to the nationwide map of Xerces pollinator gardens. In the near future we will be adding even more functionality to the website, including the ability for participants to upload photos of their gardens and share more details about what they are specifically doing. Please feel free to share this info with your viewers.”
Hope that helps Mark.
Thanks for this episode, which reminded me of a few things I knew and inspired me to keep adding natives to my landscape.