Gov. Tony Evers has proclaimed June 21-27 Pollinator Week, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) encourages Wisconsinites to help pollinators by creating and maintaining habitat and monitoring bees and butterflies.
The Cider Farm goes to great lengths to help our wild & cultivated bee friends and butterflies. Here are a few things that we do, perhaps you can help by incorporating one or two where you live.
- Habitat is critical. We converted 35 acres of crop and multi-use land to prairie. The blooming wildflowers from April to October are functional and beautiful!
- Contrary to many homeowners, we welcome dandelions and creeping charlie. These plants flower early and the bees love that.
- We made sure to plant specific plants, like ninebark, around the orchard (used for windbreaks) that favor bees.
- We use pesticides, approved for certified organic production, that are non-toxic to bees. There are times when we must use a pesticide that could harm the bees. When used, it is limited to only one row of apple trees, applied at night when the bees are in the hive and limited to only 1-2 times per year.
- Monarch butterflies need milkweed. We have lots! The orchard team makes every effort to mow around milkweed plants. We’ve even stopped mowing when we unexpectedly found monarchs in our orchard as they were in migration to Mexico. The mowing could wait and it did.
- We educated ourselves! Orchard owner, Deirdre Birmingham and orchard crew, Caroline and Kiley each downloaded the new WiBee app from UW-Madison. We learned about bees and conducted surveys to provide researchers with data on bee visits to apple flowers during blossom. It was fun! Deirdre also joined Drift Watch so that our farm is in a database that the ag services company can consult so they avoid spraying neighboring farms with pesticides or fertilizers during windy conditions. This also protects pollinators on our land.
We are fortunate to have springs and a creek to give bees water. Even our dog and chicken waters are utilized by occasional bees. A beekeeper set up 32 hives across the road from us to take advantage of our apple blossoms and to be near a farm without row crops and toxic pesticides.
As you can see, our pollinators are our friends. After all, we wouldn’t have apples without them. In honor of National Pollinator Week, we encourage you to do what you can where you live to help the bees and butterflies. Every little bit helps. We’d love to tell you more, join us for one of our Orchard Tours in Mineral Point, see our efforts firsthand.