As part of our butterfly / beneficial insect garden we created in honor of Jane Goodall, we learned about the Mason Bee. We wanted to encourage these important, but little understood insects, by building home to be set up at B-Street Permaculture Garden.
After studying about Mason Bees, we will make homes for them. They are "solitary" bees that don't live in community hives. They instead live in separate holes in a "condo" type structure. We drilled holes in sections of 4"X 4" wood and put a roof over the openings. The mason bee only travels 300 yards or so, so these homes will be placed at B-Street near to where the crops are grown. Mason Bees are very efficient pollinators! As Summer came to an end, we have noticed that Mason Bees have taken up residence in the homes we made! Success!
