“It was fun seeing all the different types of bees and what they like, so we know what to plant to attract the local pollinators.” That was how Vernon resident Sara de Jong summed up a guided walk by author and educator Lori Weidenhammer at the Ray Farm in Wells Gray Park on Sunday afternoon, July 13.

Weidenhammer was accompanied on the walk by her partner, Darren Kirby, a photographer and bird expert. Both live in Rock Creek. The walk included learning some local history as well as about bees, noted Sara de Jong’s husband, Brian de Jong.
​​​“It was beautiful to see the old homestead,” he said. “It was a double whammy for us.”

Clearwater’s Jean Nelson said the main message she got out of the walk, and from a presentation made in Clearwater the day before, was how important tiny things, such as insects, are for our environment. People tend to overlook that, she felt.

The walk started out with Weidenhammer identifying several plants living near the Ray Farm parking lot, and talking about which pollinators find them attractive. It then proceeded down the trail to the farm, with Weidenhammer finding examples of bees and other pollinators on various plants and explaining why some pollinators prefer certain plants over others.

One commercial aspect of this, she mentioned, was that honeybees do not like cranberry blossoms, but bumblebees do. Unfortunately, it is not easy to get enough bumblebees to pollinate a field of cranberry bushes when the time comes, while honeybee hives can be trucked in. As a result, some farmers resort to herbiciding all the other plants in the area, forcing the honeybees to pollinate the cranberry bushes.

Weidenhammer and Kirby are on a tour giving presentations on bees, butterflies and botany at various local libraries and provincial parks around the province. They are sponsored by the Native Bee Society of British Columbia and the BC Parks Foundation. Also known as Madame Beespeaker, Weidenhammer has a new edition of her book, Victory Gardens for Bees: A DIY Guide to Saving the Bees, available for sale online.