BEEwitched Bee Sanctuary

BEEwitched Bee Sanctuary BEEwitched Bee Sanctuary is dedicated to the preservation of honey bees, all pollinators, and to conscious Bee Keeping.

01/14/2023

Image: Monochrome photographs showing the branching structures of a human lung mirroring the branches of a leafless tree.

"This is a lung.
This is a tree.

"We breathe in what trees breathe out, and they breathe in what we breathe out.
We are nature."

Credit: @ AnimaMundiHerbals

08/06/2022

Here are some interesting facts about the dandelion flower:

The dandelion is the only flower that represents the 3 celestial bodies of the sun, moon and stars. ☀️ 🌙 ⭐️. The yellow flower resembles the sun, the puff ball resembles the moon and the dispersing seeds resemble the stars.

The dandelion flower opens to greet the morning and closes in the evening to go to sleep. 😴

Every part of the dandelion is useful: root, leaves, flower. It can be used for food, medicine and dye for coloring.

Up until the 1800s people would pull grass out of their lawns to make room for dandelions and other useful “weeds” like chickweed, malva, and chamomile.

The name dandelion is taken from the French word “dent de lion” meaning lion’s tooth, referring to the coarsely-toothed leaves. 🦁

Dandelions have one of the longest flowering seasons of any plant.

Dandelion seeds are often transported away by a gust of wind and they travel like tiny parachutes. Seeds are often carried as many as 5 miles from their origin!

Animals such as birds, insects and butterflies consume nectar or seed of dandelion.🐦 🐛 🐜 🦋 🐝.

Dandelion flowers do not need to be pollinated to form seed.

Dandelion can be used in the production of wine and root beer. Root of dandelion can be used as a substitute for coffee. 🍷 🍺

Dandelions have sunk their roots deep into history. They were well known to ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, and have been used in Chinese traditional medicine for over a thousand years.

Dandelion is used in folk medicine to treat infections and liver disorders. Tea made of dandelion act as diuretic.

If you mow dandelions, they’ll grow shorter stalks to spite you.

Dandelions are, quite possibly, the most successful plants that exist, masters of survival worldwide. 💪

A not so fun fact: Every year countries spend millions on lawn pesticides to have uniform lawns of non-native grasses, and we use 30% of the country’s water supply to keep them green.

Bee Happy Gardens 🐝

Read more: http://bit.ly/3Lseaoa

Bees are so busy!!! We are loving our new Layens hives and our bee friends seem to love them too.
05/18/2022

Bees are so busy!!! We are loving our new Layens hives and our bee friends seem to love them too.

12/01/2021

#7 Mason Bee, Osmia

I love this bee because many of the males have giant mustaches. These giant mustaches can only be seen with a microscope, so I guess they are actually tiny, which makes them even cuter. I also love them because both the male and the female come in a rainbow of colors, and look like tiny gems that bejewel the flowers they visit. Many people know about the common “blue orchard bee,” but these beauties also come in green, red, purple, black, copper, and multi-toned iridescent. I’ve seen all of these colors with my own eyes, thanks to our work at the ODOT Vernal Pool Restoration project. I also love that one of the ways you identify them (under a microscope) is by looking for an adorable middle “toe” called an arolium that acts like a suction cup. Honey bees have them, too. It’s how bees can hang onto your windshield at 60 mph.



beegirl.org is a grassroots nonprofit centered on bee habit conservation through research, regeneration, & education 👩🏼‍🌾🐝

Support BGO's work with a gift today @ beegirl.org/donate

Check out the whole list @ www.beegirl.org/blog/top10bees

12/01/2021

#6 Bumble Bee, Bombus

Who doesn’t love bumble bees?! It’s literally impossible for them to fly (according to the laws of physics and their wing to body ratio) but they do it anyway. The queens are gi-freaking-gantic, and are most findable in the spring (while new queens gather the first nectar and pollen to provision their nests before she raises some kids to do it for her) or in the fall (when newly emerged queens look for a place to overwinter). The fancy word for this is hibernaculum. Sounds highly scientific, but it’s not. It’s just a pile of leaves in your backyard that you didn’t blow away or rake up – right?!

* This is me staring at you – chin lowered, one eyebrow raised, knowing slight smile *

It’s OK, now you know, and you’ll do it right next time.

I love them because they are impossible in so many ways – including identification. You cannot tell them apart from their markings alone. Many times a bumble bee will have a color variation identical to a bee of a different species and the only way to tell them apart is by measuring distances between lines on their face or looking at their private parts. Seriously.

I love them because they remind me that I chose the right career path - because there are people out there who truly love to look at bees’ privates, but I really love to plant flowers in fields for bees for them to happily put their privates to work and make more bees.

I love them because they remind me of Dr. Robbin Thorp, one of the kindest people I’ve ever met, who spent his life researching and educating people about bumble bees. He welcomed this beekeeping, honey loving girl into the world of native bees, and was a model for unpretentious science.



beegirl.org is a grassroots nonprofit centered on bee habit conservation through research, regeneration, & education 👩🏼‍🌾🐝

Support BGO's work with a gift today @ beegirl.org/donate

Check out the whole list @ www.beegirl.org/blog/top10bees

12/01/2021

#5 Leaf Cutter Bee, Megachile

Two words – swoopy. butt. I can’t 😂😂😂

These bees work harrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd..!!! They cut perfect circles and ovals out of leaves to make perfect little leafy cribs for their bee babies. Seeing a leaf cutter bee flying with a leaf roll tucked under her belly is just about the most adorable thing ever – adorable like watching a fawn take her first steps, or watching a baby black bear wrestle it’s mom’s face. And then the precision and speed at which they fly their leaf roll into their nest cavity is nothing short of stupefying.

Also.

They have giant belly brushes that are just about as big as the rest of them. This is where the swoopy butt comes in – they have to make room in space and time for all that pollen to go on their belly brushes – so their butt just points straight up in the air. And who knows why, but I squeal with joy every 👏🏻 time 👏🏻 I 👏🏻 see 👏🏻 it 👏🏻



beegirl.org is a grassroots nonprofit centered on bee habit conservation through research, regeneration, & education 👩🏼‍🌾🐝

Support BGO's work with a gift today @ beegirl.org/donate

Check out the whole list @ www.beegirl.org/blog/top10bees

Address

2229 Pole Line Road
Decorah, IA
52101

Telephone

+15633800677

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Our Sanctuary begins with Craftsman Built Cathedral Hives

We, Barbara and David, have chosen to begin our BEEwitched Bee Sanctuary with Catherdral Hives which were developed originally by Corwin Bell. David has enjoyed putting his wood shop to good use, crafting these beautiful hives to suit our Northern Iowa environment which includes very cold and humid winters and summers which can at times be very hot and humid. The hives are made from wood from a 150 year old pine tree on our property which came down in high winds one year. David and a friend sawed the tree into thick pine boards which have been curing for years, awaiting their next purpose. What better way to honor this great tree than to use its wood to build bee hives? We are dedicated to preservation Bee keeping, meaning that our interest is in the bees themselves and how to support their natural intelligence and abilities to survive and thrive in this world, our planet. We hope to harvest honey and wax to share with family and friends as well. That will be an added bonus to enjoying living with the bees on our property.