What’s that buzz?… it’s the BEES!
The bees are back at RRC!
Welcome back our busy, buzzy little buddies to both NDC and PGI campus rooftops. For the third year in a row, we have partnered with Beeproject Apiaries to install three hives on the 4th floor patio at the Paterson GlobalFoods Institute, and for the second year, three hives on the roof of Building A at the Notre Dame Campus.
Bee hives on NDC Building A rooftop
Urban beekeeping is an important movement to promote biodiversity within cities and provide valuable educational and engagement opportunities for people to connect to nature and our local food system. Not only that, bees are an essential element to enable and sustain healthy food production.
Did you know, bee’s are the only insect in the world that make food that humans can eat? One out of every three bites of food we eat is a result of pollinators like honey bees, and crops like blueberries and cherries are 90% dependent on pollination.
Three hives are once again installed at PGI
On your next lunch break, take a walk around the NDC campus and check out our healthy, diverse and beautifully landscaped campus, maintained using only 100% biopesticides!). RRC is busy at work developing a pollinator garden on the NDC grounds to keep these bees and other native pollinators going and our environment flourishing. Stay tuned for updates as the site progresses.
Hives at NDC!
Still not convinced about the benefits of bees? Ask one of the many staff, faculty and students who have had a chance to visit our hives in the past through extraction workshops and scheduled hive visits. Not only is this a neat experience, its a great way to connect with nature, engage with your peers, and learn first hand the importance of choosing local and sustainable products.
But wait, it keeps getting sweeter. We will have jars of our Creekside and Bijou honey for sale at this years Farmer’s Market, college events and food service locations. Be warned, they sell out fast!
Honey Extraction workshop – stay tuned!
Don’t miss the buzz on any updates we’ve got flying from the hive and follow the Sustainability Office on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Stay tuned for more information on extraction workshops and opportunities for hive visits throughout the summer. Curious about what to expect? Check out these past events for details and these FAQs about the bee’s here on campus. Want to dig deeper? See these links for more information on urban keeping,and some fascinating facts about bees that I guarantee you didn’t know.