Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Take a Break: Celebrate Earth Month, Day, Week

April is Earth Month, the 22nd is Earth Day and the 20th begins Earth week. To mark the occasion, here are some ways you can celebrate without leaving your community:

1. Protect the Bees: Try one or more of these activities this summer:
• Let the Clover, Dandelions and Wildflowers Grow: Bees love meadows, with clover being one of their favorite flowers. Cutback on the size of your lawn and let the dandelions (often their first feed after a winter in the hives) and clover grow. 

• Avoid chemicals & pesticides in treating lawns and gardens: Research alternative methods to battle bugs and weeds. These include white vinegar, cayenne pepper and insecticidal soaps.  Note, just because a product is organic it doesn’t mean that it cannot harm honeybees and other pollinators.

• How and when you apply products: Apply products to plants when they are not blooming if possible.  Honeybees would not spend time on a plant without blooms. Apply the products during the very early morning hours or at dusk.

• Plant their favorites: Honeybees are most attracted to purple blooms, such as Russian Sage, Lavender, purple Butterfly bushes, Coneflowers (Echinacea), and Liatris to name a few.

• Purchase local honey


3. Take a Green Clean Walk (Clean up litter in your neighborhood): With the snow receding at a rapid rate, the trash is blossoming. Take a bag and pick a mile, or whatever distance is comfortable for you,  loop by your home and pick up trash.


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