So far, with the help of our new to us small tractor, we have planted two dozen milkweed plants of two varieties in order to encourage monarchs and other local pollinators to stop by for some food. We have also planted three peach trees, 12 blueberry bushes, and a fig bush. The hope is that these plants will draw in some pollinators and also that we will be able to eventually harvest some fruit from them. This past summer and fall season we planted lots and lots of sunflowers and enjoyed seeing not just our honeybees on them gathering pollen, but small native orchard mason bees and other insects as well. These insects also loved the corn field that we planted. Corn is a great source of pollen for these animals. We have installed a small watering trough to act as a water source for the pollinators, but also have a small ephemeral pond area that is there nearly all year round near the plantings. Other resident beneficial insects we saw this year were the praying mantis, ladybugs, braconid wasps, and lace wings (see picture with tiny insect eggs on stalks). We don't use pesticides on our plantings and instead count on our chickens to do some of the pest control for us, so that native pollinators and our honeybees can roam the garden and yard without fear of being poisoned.

Hi Everyone. We are excitedly awaiting the first installment of funding from ChangeX and Microsoft. I fear I have entered our banking information incorrectly so I am waiting to hear back from ChangeX on this.

We are excited to begin making our yard and community more pollinator friendly. We have plans for a pollinator friendly small field planting which will include rotating seasonal pollinator friendly crops like clover, sunflowers, and cover crops like buckwheat as well some perennial plantings nearby to encourage pollinator visitors and inhabitants. We are going to put in some fruit trees, such as apples and peaches. A pollinator hotel will also be built and put in the front area of the house. A small fish pond will be constructed to sustain and encourage pollinators on the property. There are many people who walk on our road for exercise and I believe they will enjoy looking at our front field planting and at the pollinator hotel. I would like to include signage explaining our pollinator friendly plantings and structure. Our neighbors have also complained that they don’t see many pollinators in their gardens, so we feel this project will help expand pollinators across the neighborhood.