BEE Kind to the Environment is the theme of the upcoming Neighborhood Environmental Stewardship Team (NEST) calendar for Sarasota. Learn ways to be kind to bees and BEE creative when submitting your entry to the 2022 NEST Kids Calendar Contest. This is a great way to participate and share your art with our community while sharing the importance of bees. The contest is open to any elementary student in all public and private Sarasota County Schools, including charter and elementary-age home schooled students, with an Oct. 15 submission deadline. Learn more at 2022 Sarasota NEST Kids Calendar Contest.
BEE resourceful by submitting for a grant for your new or expanding youth garden project. Eligibility is for any public school, charter school, or private school serving students in grades K to 12 in the United States that can demonstrate that at least 40 percent of their student population would qualify for free or reduced-price meals is eligible to apply. Prior grant recipients are not eligible. Learn more about the Budding Botanist Grant at kidsgardening.org/2022-budding-botanist-grant/
BEE connected by following UF/IFAS Extension Sarasota County on Facebook, and watch our Facebook Live Open House video to learn about our diverse programming and how we offer “Solutions for Your Life.”
BEE a volunteer for a community garden just breaking ground. Learn more about a community garden developing in the Sarasota’s Limelight district: Limelight Community Garden.
BEE cooperative with your space. Join our “Shared Spaces: Creating Your Edible Garden” webinar to learn how to create shared garden spaces: www.eventbrite.com/e/186240529437. Or, register to attend the Oct. 26 in-person “Shared Spaces: Community Gardens and Composting” workshop at Bee Ridge Community Garden: www.eventbrite.com/e/165409005789.
BEE sustainable and join the 16th Annual Sustainable Communities Workshop.
BEE appreciative of nature while relaxing in one of our many parks and preserves by using the Shinrin Yoku method. Explore this meditative experience here: ““Reprogram the Stress Response: Shinrin Yoku Experience at Red Bug Slough Preserve.” If you are a member of a community or school garden, remember to take time to enjoy the nature and life growing around you, and reap the health benefits as you do.
BEE hungry when you visit the Big Mama’s Collard Greens Fest, set for noon to 6 p.m. Oct. 16: www.newtownnation.com.
BEE gardening. Now is the time to plant your edible garden. Don’t know how? Start with Episode 1 of the Edible Gardening Series and review the resources in the ‘Getting Started’ section, at sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/sarasota/gardening-and-landscaping/gardens/edible-gardening/. Remember you can support pollinators with edible plants like borage, dill, parsley, and nasturtiums. You can find seed for some of these in our seed library in our extension lobby.
BEE educated by joining one of our many workshops and webinars. Explore our events and classes at our ufsarasotaext.eventbrite.com listings page.
And, finally, BEE supportive of pollinators with these handy resources:
- Cool Plants to Attract Butterflies and Pollinators (webinar recording)
- Perfect Plants for Pollinators – Gardening Solutions – University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (ufl.edu)
- Gardening for Bees – Gardening Solutions – University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (ufl.edu)
- Attracting bees and other insects with Florida’s native wildflowers (flawildflowers.org)
- blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/polkco/2020/04/23/build-your-own-pollinator-hotel/
- 10 facts about Honey Bees
- Top 10 Bee Facts For Kids You Need To Know | Why Are Bees Important For Our Survival
- Kids and Bees
- Teaching resources about Bees
0
