It’s no secret that pollinators are extraordinarily important to growing delicious and nutritious produce. That’s why it’s so important to the Conservancy that we create pollinator habitats alongside our urban gardens.
At our Prudential Outdoor Learning Center, we have created and maintained a Monarch Waystation Garden which provides food and a habitat to the monarch population. Our Center thrives and blooms every summer thanks to pollinators like butterflies and bees — and we were looking for a way to promote pollinators at the Hawthorne Avenue Urban Farm, too!
On January 13, our Urban Farm Manager Karen received a Sponsor-A-Hive grant from The Honeybee Conservancy! The Honeybee Conservancy is a public charity that works to help bees while increasing access to organic, sustainable food in under-served communities. When asked about the grant, Karen said: “we’re happy to be part of the movement to help attract and support local bee populations!”
The Sponsor-A-Hive grant provides a native bee house and 25 paper tubes that attract native bees. The house and paper tubes will be primarily located in the orchard at our Hawthorne Avenue Farm.
While placing these bee shelters is such a small gesture, it makes a huge impact! Urban farms that house these native bee habitats see an increase in the amount of produce grown and an improvement in the quality and size of each fruit.
