The bees will soon be busy at the Revelstoke Rotary Club’s pollinator garden.
The Revelstoke Railway Museum donated land to be used to build a multi-seasonal, friendly flower pollinator garden and the building and upkeep will be supported with help from Cooper Equipment Rentals & Revelstoke Garden Center.
Club president, Tyler Maki asked himself, “How can you help somebody engage and make a meaningful impact?” as he has led the way with this project.
Maki noted that the museum has a long history of keeping beautiful gardens, so much so that the late Queen Victoria was impressed enough to donate a Royal Crest plate to the museum after visiting its gardens.
Besides the construction of the garden, one of the club’s pollination initiatives is to plant the seed of knowledge and compassion for others when it comes to the youth and their role in creating a greener and more pollinator-friendly Revelstoke.
Elementary students across Revelstoke will be given packages of non-invasive seeds and pollinator-friendly flowers that will self-grow. The packages come with a QR code which can be scanned to find out more information about how to plant them.
The club is also working with Bee City Canada to further its education initiatives with students in Revelstoke. The Local Food Initiative has signed on to make Revelstoke a bee-friendly city and will also be promoting a no-mow May, where people are encouraged to take a break from mowing their lawns during the month so that bees and other insects can have more opportunities to pollinate.
The club went with this QR code method because Maki said that it was “more cost-effective, more efficient and more environmentally friendly.”
The information on the QR will include the following:
•Types of flowers in packs, and how to plant
•Why bees/pollinators are so important
•How we can help the pollinators
•More on the Pollinator highway project as part of a larger Rotary movement
In order to fund these projects, the club has been accepting donations and launched a progressive 50/50 draw. The suggested donation for a package of seeds is $5. Costs for the progressive 50/50 are $10 for one ticket, or you can buy 100 tickets for $100. Tickets can be purchased on their Rafflebox page.
Although Maki’s presidency will be coming to a close in July, he said that the executive of the club is enthusiastic about the project and will continue to expand it. For Maki, he is passionate about pollination because of its vital role in the environment and the health of his community members. He said that pollination is “responsible for probably one of every four bites of food that we eat.”
As well, Maki noted that gardening was a passion of his late Nona and that spending time gardening with her had a big impact on his appreciation for the importance of gardening and pollination.
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