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Community Corner

April's Sustainable Hero

Transition Free Press ~ Cascadia/US (a project of Transition Woodinville in partnership with www.transitionfreepress.org) presents our April Sustainable Hero:

Meet Dave Hunter, our local bee expert, at Crown Bees:

 Mason Bees: For Food and Life

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 Our food supply needs more bees! Crown Bees offers a powerful solution.

 “Mason bees are awesome pollinators. They can supplement the declining honey bee to pollinate 1/3 of our food supply,” said Dave Hunter, Crown Bees owner. “The United States alone needs 4 billion bee pollinators. We have 5 million today.”

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 To increase the mason bee population, the gentle bee educator and product retailer launched BeeGAP (Gardeners Adding Pollinator) in 2013. BeeGAP enlists gardeners to raise mason bees for increased garden yields. The company buys their excess bees and “rehomes” them. As the population grows, BeeGAP bees will be placed in commercial fields.

 “The power of our backyards is key to protecting and sustaining our food supply,” Hunter said. For more information, visit www.crownbees.com.


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