NOTICE Dunsmuir Gardener Information
Hello Dunsmuir Garden members,
There are activities this week that everyone needs to be aware of:
1. With the postponement of the AGM we did not have the opportunity to distribute 2020 membership cards so this Wednesday March 25 they will be placed in a box inside the small tool shed. If you wish to obtain your new card please look for it there. Please only take your card.
2. On Thursday March 26 the City of Surrey will be blocking the road at our driveway in order to remove trees that were felled and bucked up some time ago. The garden will remain open but there will be no vehicle traffic permitted while this work is underway.
3. Please review the attached Bee Announcement prepared by Bee Coordinator Dave Hoffman. Also, review Asian Giant Hornet Alert from the Province of BC.
4. Currently Blackie Spit Park remains open as does the Dunsmuir Gardens. Please diligently observe all precautions, personal protection and social distancing during this Covid-19 pandemic and stay up to date with any closures or additional directions that may be proclaimed by health authorities, regional or federal governments. We all need to do our part to stay healthy and to protect the health of others around us. Stringent personal health care – like washing hands and using hand sanitizers and maintaining a 6 ft. distance between people is most effective fight against Covid-19.
Thank you,
Dunsmuir Board of Directors.
BEE UPDATE
As there will not be an AGM at the scheduled time, I’d like to take this opportunity to update you on what will be happening with the bees in the garden this spring. So far three of our four overwintering hives are doing very well. Unfortunately, we lost one hive for reasons I cannot explain. Possibly mites, possibly the weather. If our luck holds we’ll return three healthy hives to the garden soon.
The Board of Directors received a request from the head of a University of British Columbia research team who is looking for space in our beeyard for four hives for approximately one month, starting the end of April. This is a little bit about the project...........
“......a collaborative, cross-Canada project and involves examining bees under various potential stressors, one such stressor being moved to pollinate crops and exposed to the various chemicals used by growers. The lab people will be trying to find markers - stress indicators - in the bees that correlate to the various stresses the bees may be undergoing.
One of the crops we will be placing bees into in the Fraser Valley is blueberries, and the other is cranberries. But as control comparisons, we also need locations where there are no crop stressors. We are looking for a clean, non-crop site to place 4 colonies into during the blueberry pollination period - likely approximately April 28 to May 25, depending on how the spring unfolds. Dunsmuir Gardens would be ideal, as there are no large blueberry acreages within 3- 5km.“
The Board has approved this request, so UBC’s hives will be moving into the beeyard towards the end of April and will remain until the end of May.
One Dunsmuir hive will return to the garden around the beginning of April to begin early pollination of our fruit trees. The other Dunsmuir hives will remain at their current location in Crescent Beach until the UBC hives leave the garden.
Dunsmuir is a strong supporter of our own honeybee program and we’re proud to be able to help with this important research project. So, let’s all welcome the team of UBC researchers when you see them in the beeyard.
Dave Hoffman Bee Coordina
As there will not be an AGM at the scheduled time, I’d like to take this opportunity to update you on what will be happening with the bees in the garden this spring. So far three of our four overwintering hives are doing very well. Unfortunately, we lost one hive for reasons I cannot explain. Possibly mites, possibly the weather. If our luck holds we’ll return three healthy hives to the garden soon.
The Board of Directors received a request from the head of a University of British Columbia research team who is looking for space in our beeyard for four hives for approximately one month, starting the end of April. This is a little bit about the project...........
“......a collaborative, cross-Canada project and involves examining bees under various potential stressors, one such stressor being moved to pollinate crops and exposed to the various chemicals used by growers. The lab people will be trying to find markers - stress indicators - in the bees that correlate to the various stresses the bees may be undergoing.
One of the crops we will be placing bees into in the Fraser Valley is blueberries, and the other is cranberries. But as control comparisons, we also need locations where there are no crop stressors. We are looking for a clean, non-crop site to place 4 colonies into during the blueberry pollination period - likely approximately April 28 to May 25, depending on how the spring unfolds. Dunsmuir Gardens would be ideal, as there are no large blueberry acreages within 3- 5km.“
The Board has approved this request, so UBC’s hives will be moving into the beeyard towards the end of April and will remain until the end of May.
One Dunsmuir hive will return to the garden around the beginning of April to begin early pollination of our fruit trees. The other Dunsmuir hives will remain at their current location in Crescent Beach until the UBC hives leave the garden.
Dunsmuir is a strong supporter of our own honeybee program and we’re proud to be able to help with this important research project. So, let’s all welcome the team of UBC researchers when you see them in the beeyard.
Dave Hoffman Bee Coordina
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