Thanks for posting. It's not just about planting wildflowers, though - we need to stop using pesticides that are harmful to bees; even some used in organic farming are harmful to bees (namely, nicotianoids, but there may be others).

For sure mxk3.

In fact it may well be the case that the sponsor of this "giveaway" ie GENERAL MILLS may get its cereal grains from plants treated with nicotianoids...so a bit rich isnt it?

That does seem ironic, but turning an entire industry on a dime just doesn't happen. Hopefully, the message is being heard and companies will try to move away from the nicotianoids. In the mean time, the more plants each of us can grow from seed, those we are sure have not been treated with such chemicals, the better.

Martha

greenwash then

What?

I don't know if anything has changed from the time Rouge first posted this last year, but it looks like Cheerios marketing campaign is in full swing again and offering free seeds as part of their promotion. There seems to be an American link under cheerios.com which did not work for me when I clicked on it (overload?), but the Canadian link Rouge posted above is active.

Greenwash - the cynical adoption of ecological themes as a marketing ploy...or the (mistaken) belief that by buying 'Fair Trade, 'organic' products is some sort of effective counter to the much bigger problems of mass consumption and dwindling resources - especially given the egregious abuses in the 'Fair Trade' initiatives...and the monetising behaviour of groups such as the Soil Association to maintain a licensing monopoly on 'organic'..

Not dismissing the value of such ideas, especially for the ordinary concerned citizen...but we need to keep in mind that there are often competing agendas which are not necessarily benign.

BAN THE NEONICOTINOID IMIDACLOPRID (Canada)

On line petition

Cheerios had a FB post, I ordered my seeds here in the US, if anyone is looking :)

Large corporations are businesses with little regard for the planet and certainly no regard for soil.

Yes, yes and yes.

Gotta start somewhere :).

Cheerios "pulls" its BEE

First Bee Species officially added to endangered species list

I went to an interesting presentation by a beekeeper, and he said that the number one thing that is affecting honeybee population is the Varroa 'Destructor' mite, a rather gruesome parasite.

My daughter dusts her bees with a light coating of icing sugar - they go mental, cleaning each other...and removing mites in the process. True though, bees are under attack on several fronts. My daughter takes issue with the new 'flowhives' - where the honey is collected and decanted continuously. She takes less than half of the colony's honey and tries to avoid topping up the winter feeding with glucose and sugar water...although this is only her second season as a beekeeper. Interestingly, our urban bees are often in far better shape than rural bees - not just pesticides...but diversity and the possibility of continuous fodder gives bees a better chance of making it through a winter.

I know it is just one but it makes my heart sing seeing them buzzing in and out of blossoms that are there because of our plantings.:

I've seen a few big, fat bumbles over the last week or so. The mason bees are doing their thing -- I was a little apprehensive because I set out the cocoons before much was blooming (they were breaking dormancy in the fridge, so they had to be taken out), and also because my soil is not clay-ey, as they like it, but so far so good - I see three tubes capped off and there's definitely activity in the bee house.

I see three tubes capped off

Do you mind explaining how this works mxk3?

My bee home came with circular stickers that one puts on the end of a tube...once it is 'full'...of a bee(s)? How does that work?

You don't need a sticker - what is that for, kids? The tube has a cap of mud - it's very obvious. Crown bees is a great source of information http://crownbees.com/   

I copied a pic off Crown Bees website showing capped tubes. As of this evening, I have six full tubes - the bees are busy!

what is that for, kids?

Looks like it was for me too...I was just wondering.

(Anyways, my new nest looks still completely hollow)

Did you just set it out? It takes a little bit to see filled tubes. Did you order any bees? I ordered bees in years past and released them, so they returned to the place they were released to nest, thus giving me a supply of bees for the subsequent year. If you didn't order any bees, well, I guess you'll just have to wait to see who shows up. If you go out there at night with a flashlight you might see the bees resting in the tubes, or first thing in the morning before the sun warms the nests -- I've seen them hanging out around the edges of the tubes waiting for the sun to warm them before they set out for the day. They're very gentle - they don't sting. I've had them crawl on my hands before, they really are NOT aggressive!

It's actually fun to set out the bee house, watch the activity, and care for them through the next year (very easy!). I encourage you to check out Crown Bees - they're a good source of info, and I signed up to get their e-mail newsletter/reminders (because it's easy to forget the bee cocoons are in the spare fridge...).

UPDATE:

Good for you UK:

UK to ban "bee harming pesticides"

I was in Costco the other day and there was a large display at the entrance pushing the sale of these large bee 'homes':

I just harvested my mason bees last month; the cocoons are tucked away in the crisper drawer of the spare fridge. I had a good year last year, though the start was iffy with cold weather blowing in after I set the cocoons outside. Hey, they're on their own once they're out there...

I started out with one of the bee house kits, it's a good way to get started. I now use reeds instead of the bamboo tubes that mine came with (which I think the above uses). It's really hard to crack the bamboo tubes to get the cocoons out. You don't have to harvest (no one harvests them in the wild, so...), but it's a good idea to do it to cut down on parasites/disease and it's easy and doesn't take long. Check out Crown Bees, they're a good source of info. I think it's great word is getting out about the bees, maybe these kits at the mass-market level will get people started (like it did me) -- what a great, fun learning experience for a kid!

Good on you EU:

https://www.google.ca/amp/www.newsweek.com/saving-bees-europe-may-ban-worlds-most-common-pesticide-825761%3famp=1

UPDATE (April 2018):

"Cheerios" is again sending out free seeds (to Canadians):

BRING BACK the BEES

I got some last year. After finally figuring out what is in this seed mix, I didn’t plant them. There was something in there that might have become invasive in my area.

I followed the bee discussion in Europe closely

yes, Neonicotide is a big factor, they are kind of hidden in a lot of herbizides or rather insectizides, I almost ordered a "green" ecofriendly stuff to battle "apple worms" and only in the small print discovered that it is based on neonico-thingamajig (sorry, lost the spelling)

giving out seeds is all nice and well, but really cynic in a way when one of the main factors is the industrialized agriculture, just the blossoms-free intensly managed fields are more or less worthless to insects

-

and that is without taking into account the agrichemicals

I read about a study on bees that found that bees that feed on flowers that were treated with nicotianoids (in some cases by treating seeds before sowing) loose their orientation

and another had strong evidence that the Varoa mite is so devastating because the bees are weakend already.

in the long run things in the whole agriculture industry and food business need to change,

and they probably only going to change if consumers put pressure on them, signal willingness to pay more for well produced crops....

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/27/eu-agrees-total-ban-on-bee-harming-pesticides

And two steps back:

EPA Approves Bee killing pesticide

is just great that the EPA is suspending data collection on bee populations... makes total sense

Depressing stuff.

https://returntonow.net/2020/01/29/minnesota-will-pay-homeowners-to-replace-lawns-with-bee-friendly-wildflowers-clover-and-native-grasses/

^^ That is great! I hope other areas follow. And I'd like to see some sort of massive public service campaign about stopping the use of herbicides, complete with pictures of beautiful, well maintained homes with some dandelions, clover, and violets in the lawn --> what it is about John Q Public and the desire for pristine lawns is absolutely beyond me. But let's face it -- Scott's and Ortho would never allow that to happen...sigh...

And I'd like to see some sort of massive public service campaign about stopping the use of herbicides

It would help lots if our governments were much more proactive if taking steps to reduce the use of (commercial) pesticides.

I harvested this mason bee cocoons this past weekend, they're now back in the fridge awaiting release, probably by end of March based on the way the weather has been this year. If any of you don't keep mason bees, I encourage you to get started -- they're super-easy to tend and are a terrific pollinator of early crops. Oh, and if you get a good bounty of cocoons, Crown Bees has a bee buy-back program.

"It would help lots if our governments were much more proactive if taking steps to reduce the use of (commercial) pesticides."

The tide might be turning, especially with such a strong focus on climate change of late. I'm hesitant to say this, because I know a lot of us are...ahem....not young-uns, but my hope is in the younger generations, the ones now coming up --> they're going to be the ones that fix the cr*ptacular environmental mess my generation and those previous made.

The tide might be turning, especially with such a strong focus on climate change of late.

It seems like this should be the case but there is rarely a week that doesn't go by where I read of rollbacks to environmental regulations in the USA. And here in this country we are betwixt and between re supporting further oil sands development. We have left it for too long and now important decisions are so difficult to make and follow through on.