Farm Market Report for May 17, 2016 Keith Helmuth
The Woodstock Farm and Craft Market is pitching in to help save the bees.
Bees flourish where wildflowers flourish and the Farm Market is making packages of wildflower seeds available without charge to folks who can plant them and help make our environment a better place for bee survival.
Come to the Farm Market to pick up a packet of seeds. Planting a wildflower gardens may be one of the most important things we do to help save the bees.
It is now well known that bees of all kinds, but especially honeybees, are in serious trouble. Bee populations are disappearing. And if bees are in trouble, we are all in trouble. Bees pollinate more than one third of the food crops on which humanity depends for survival.
Bees are in trouble for two main reasons: the use of toxic chemical sprays that kill bees and the increasing destruction of natural environments that bees need to flourish.
A movement is rapidly growing to stop the spraying that kills bees and to restore and create environments that help promote strong bee populations. Planting wildflower gardens is something many of us can do to help the bees.
Veseys Seeds has joined the movement to help save the bees and is providing special packets of wildflower seeds at reduced cost. The Farm Market has signed up for the promotion. Board member Glenn McLean was so enthusiastic about this that he offered pay for the first order of 100 seed packets.
But there is more to come for the bees at the Farm Market. On Saturday, May 28, Mike and Kathy Whalen will bring in an observational hive of bees to provide a live image of bees and honey production.
This will be a good opportunity for kids and adults alike to see what goes on inside a beehive and learn how important bees are, not just for humans, but also for the whole living world.
Mike and Kathy Whale operate Whalen Apiaries near Lakeville and sell their natural, unpasteurized honey in the Woodstock Farm Market.
Saturday, May 28th is also the first of the extended Summer Markets. With the permission of the Town, the Farm Market will be expanding its available stall space into the parking area in front of the Market building to provide room for additional vendors. Applications for stall space are available at the Market or can be downloaded from https://www.woodstockfarmmarket.ca/