A solid bee plus

To forget these hardworking critters on Earth Day would be a-pollen

By Gretchen Ammerman

Oregon Coast TODAY

The news about our pollinators, upon whom we depend for favorite foods from the blueberries and almonds on our ice-cream sundaes to the cucumbers in our salads, has not been good. Likely theories about what’s contributing to their demise include habitat loss, pesticides and introduced predators and diseases.

This Earth Day, let's celebrate this tiny workforce, and meet some of the people on the Central Coast who work with, and for, the bees.

Bee city

In 2016, the City of Newport adopted a resolution making them a formal “Bee City.”

Landscape Specialist Anita Albrecht is one of the people ensuring the requirements are met.

“My position is a little fuzzy,” she said, with no pun seemingly intended. “I work on various projects, but I’m deeply committed to doing things to sustain our pollinators.”

So far, her contributions have included installing planters in city parks that feature pollinator-friendly species and landscaping sites like the Newport Performing Arts Center with pollinator and human favorites like heaths and heathers.

The recommendations Albrecht makes for those wanting to include more of these types of plants in their own gardens includes choosing native species, planting in a “big swath” of similar plants to minimize the energy expenditure and trying to avoid an increasing trend in plant breeding that is creating yet another problem for bees.

“There’s a new style of flowering plants called doubles,” she said. “The extra petals make it not just harder for the bees to get to the pollen, but there is also less pollen for them to get to.”

Newport actually has a small number of honey bees, but plenty of other local pollinators.

“We have the greatest number out here of bumblebees,” Albrecht said. “They can regulate their body temperature, which the honey bees can’t, so they can tolerate colder days. We also have native ground-nesting bees that live in smaller colonies. There are even tiny native wasps.”

The City of Newport is also making steps toward instituting Integrated Pest Management for city-owned properties.

“It’s a more thoughtful and informed approach,” Albrecht said. “Once you get a better understanding of what pests are present, you can approach with a more targeted campaign, like learning what the life cycles are, or when pesticides aren’t needed.”

Immediate future plans for Albrecht include creating a pollinator plants demonstration garden.

“My position is pretty new and happened because the residents wanted to see more beautification,” she said.  “Anywhere that I work I always try to make sure it’s a pro living-species habitat.”

To learn more about all things pollinator, go to xerces.org.

The beekeeper’s wife

When Andrea Gosswiller met her husband, Mark, he was already becoming known in Boise as a natural beekeeper who gave great honey.

“I was enthralled,” Andrea said. “I was also scared at first, but then I got interested in making things.”

She started with soaps, tried balms and lotions and then candles, and the requests for her products grew as quickly as her ability.

“Mark joked that he was irritated that people were buying more of my things than his honey,” she said. “But he came around.”

Two years ago, the couple bought a home outside of Toledo, and Mark built a large workshop to support Andrea’s venture, now called “The Beekeeper’s Wife.”

“We knew we wanted to be close, but not at, the coast for the health of our bees,” Andrea said. “We only moved two hives to see how they would do, this summer we will be bringing the final 25.”

Over the years, Andrea’s feelings toward the bees has evolved.

“Now it’s like I can feel them,” she said. “I can tell if the hive is calm or agitated. I rarely even wear a suit anymore, even when catching swarms.”

That changed for a bit last year, when the bees from one hive were caught in clouds of poison being sprayed while they were collecting pollen.

“We lost more than half the hive,” Andrea said. “When I checked on the ones that remained they came out and chased me down; it was scary. They seemed very protective and angry. I cried more from the sadness of the loss than the pain of the stings.”

Andrea said she is careful to ensure that her relationship with the bees is sustainable.

“The wax is from the capping, I won’t capture pollen and the honey is all extra; we never take so much that they don’t have enough for their own needs. The bees work so hard and almost everything they do is for the good of the hive. Humans should model themselves after them more.”

With gratitude to the bees, Andrea uses her products to help others, for example, ruff-ly half of the proceeds from “Dirty Dog” soap go to the Lincoln County Animal Shelter.

And, for the entire month of April, $5 from every bar of “Bubbles for Autism” soap will go to The EJ Autism Foundation and the National Autism Society.

“My tag-line is ‘Bee joyful,’” Andrea said. “We get a lot of joy from the bees; it’s nice to pass that back out into the world."

Go to www.bkeeperswife.com to learn more.

Raise a glass

Inspired? Raise a glass of Rogue Ales Honey Kolsch, a “liquid ode to bees for all the wonderful work they do to keep the cycle of life turning.”

The award-winning ale is sweetened with honey from GloryBee, a family-owned business headquartered in Eugene that is dedicated to organic, natural beekeeping practices.

For more details, go to www.rogue.com