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You'll Enjoy This!

 I had hoped we might host an in-person screening of this little film, but I really want you to be able to see it NOW.  It's the story of how a wildlife film maker in Bristol, England, made use of his time during the COVID lockdown, and the discoveries he was able to make in his own yard.  Grab your bowl of popcorn and click here to enjoy! After you've enjoyed that visual feast, you might hop over to Sam Drogge's "Eye Candy" page on flickr .  His bee pictures allow you to get up close and personal with many of our native bees. And if you haven't already heard of Carol Leonardi Clark - as a Texas Master Naturalist, a very active member of the Native Plant Society of Texas, as a Monarch Steward working tirelessly as chairperson to Bring Back the Monarchs to Texas, as a math coach, or as an amazing photographer - well, let me hurry up and make the introduction!  As you can tell from the few of her many "hats" mentioned here, she's an incredible adv
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Bee-centric Start to the Year

While you might consider April to be well past the time to talk about starting the year, spring is the real start of my gardening.  That's what matters, right?  My true test of spring is whether we begin to see bee activity in our landscapes, and the garden is literally buzzing! This year, my bee activity never stopped as we worked to get Austin over the finish line in becoming a Bee City USA.  The City Council passed the needed resolution, and it's all now official.  Now we hunker down again, thinking of projects for the coming year that will allow us to re-certify.  Even so, it feels great to have accomplished this amazing result with a group of hard working strangers who've become friends over the past two years. To fill in the gaps in my knowledge of native bees, I'm taking a six week course on bumble bees.  I thought I knew something about bumbles before this, but find myself thinking instead how very much I didn't know.  I love it!  I'm also taking Beekeep

Austin on its way to Bee City designation!

  Austin is on its way to Bee City designation!   On March 3, 2022, #ATXCouncil moved forward to seek this designation, which works to protect pollinators and their habitats.   Thanks to Leslie Pool, Council Member for District 7, for bringing this forward, all the volunteers with Pollinate Austin, and Austin Parks and Rec staff (notably LaJuan Tucker who has since moved to other work for the City) who worked tirelessly over the last two years toward the Bee City USA designation.       On Saturday, March 5th, we were joined by members of UT's BeeVo beekeepers club and Texas Student PIRGs for the installation of the bee and bat pollinator gardens at the Austin Nature & Science Center. Our sponsor, Desert Door - Wild Spirit Wild Spaces, generously covered the cost of the plants and Jessica Gilzow, Culture & Arts Program Director with the City of Austin Natural Resources Division, made sure volunteers were well hydrated and fed.  Rachel Raise spoke on Pollinator Conscious Gar