Do you remember I was invited last year to join an apero for Zug bloggers, hosted by Zug4You?
Well since then, I have remained in touch with the other participants, and especially with the founder of the organization, Natalie. We have been following one another's work and articles, checking moods and family status, and she nicely accepted to share some words about the bee hotel she has installed on her balcony.
The campaign "Wieldbienen fur Zug - wild bees for Zug" launched by Wildbiene und Partner in partnership with the City of Zug has become great success: with the aim to support the biodiversity of the city, 100 households were offered a BeeHome, bee cocoons and seeds to provide the bees with nice plants to snack on. The project is still open for volunteers to welcome a BeeHome at a discount price. And it's been lovely to see them in the neighbourhood.
I was highly tempted to welcome one here as well, especially as these little guys are not coming as a proper hive and are fairly inoffensive; but with an allergic background and two small kids at home, we agreed to work on an insect hotel instead (more on this in a later post).
"My curiosity for bees started a couple of years ago when I was researching topics for our TedxZug talks. I came across the movie “More than honey” produced by Markus Imhoof who we wanted to invite to speak at our conference. Watching the documentary was a real eye opener.
I since then, have always wanted to own a bee hotel. Last year we got an “insect hotel” and a “butterfly hotel”.
This year a “bee hotel” from Wildbiene und Partner joined the gang and I am so in love with it. Watching these amazing little creatures has been so endearing. I love each and every one of them – 25 to be precise. They are so industrious and I finally get why the saying “busy bee” is so accurate – they are non stop on the go….
I alo thought it would be good to plant flowers not so far from them. I chose a “Bee Buffet” - it’s important for people to offer possibilities for the bees to feed and pollinate. I planted some in old wine crates - I am observing how it’s growing and I am also loving the process. Everyone who has a garden could plant a small wildflower meadow. These help with the biodiversity and are great for all pollinators to feed on.
I am enchanted to see many efforts done in our Canton to support biodiversity, be it the Chilematt garden in Steinhausen or Stadt Zug allowing wildflower meadows to grow."
All pics from Natalie