#6 of my "30 Bugs 30 days" ACEO Series: Honeybees!

Click on the card to see the listing in my Etsy shop!

Admittedly, I am exhausted right now so this won't be a very long or in-depth post! But I did finish the 6th ACEO in my series, and this one is depicting some busy honeybees capping cells full of wax. The dark cells are full of wax, and the lighter cells are full of wax and have been capped!

Unlike the other ACEOs in my series, this was created specifically for honeybee research funds- so it has been listed in my Etsy store for $11 plus $1.50 shipping and handling, and $10 will go to honeybee research at pollinator.org.

Visit my Etsy shop if you're interested in purchasing any bug from my series! :)

Seed Scattering!! Earth Week Day 2...

When I left Maryland and moved to Pennsylvania, into an apartment, a lot of my friends and family asked if I would miss having a garden. You know what? I don't! Because I don't miss the squirrels, voles, groundhogs, rabbits, deer and whatever else raping and pillaging my gardens, helping themselves to my all-you-can-eat-buffet of hard work!
I'm still bitter about the hostas, mostly.

However, since helping the honeybees and all pollinators is a concern of mine, I always found it essential to have a great garden. True, it was also for selfish reasons- obviously I can't deny that I love to look at beautiful plants and flowers. But after researching the local native pollinators, I did spend more time researching and then planting the kinds of things that they would enjoy. I felt really happy about helping the bees and other bugs too.

I found a lot of my information here:
http://www.pollinator.org/guides.htm

So now that I live in a place with a shady back porch, what's a girl to do for the pollinators in the city?

Answer:
Guerilla Gardening!
I had a big box of seeds I collected from lots of my plants back in Maryland, and planned to make seed bombs with them. But the weather got warm and time got away from me and the seeds..... still sit there. So today, between rains, I gathered some of my seeds (and brought my dog out to get some fresh air) and picked a sunny spot along the fence of the designated pet-relief area in my apartment complex and planted them. I'm hoping all the dog pee doesn't kill them all! Tomorrow there is also supposed to be a break from the rain, and I plan to take some more seeds into the parking lot next to the complex and sow some into the grassy area there- while ALSO trying to clean up the area in general. If I'm even remotely successful, I'll try and post some pics. It's pretty horrific.


So how about for Earth Day this week, you try your hand at some seed bombs or guerilla gardening, too? Do you know of a vacant or unkempt grassy area? You would not only beautify your town, but you'd be helping the local wildlife, too! Bees, butterflies, birds..... and probably even the deer, voles, squirrels, etc. If you stick to native plants, once they're established, they should need very minimal care. You may have to water them a bit initially. If you choose plants that reseed themselves, you'll only have to do it this one time! Think of the sense of pride you'll feel each time you pass by and see the beautiful flowers and the bees and butterflies busily swarming around- not to mention the birds you'll get to see in the fall!

Yay for CafePress and Pollinator.org!!

CafePress makes it very simple for shop owners to donate their proceeds to a charity!
I'm very pleased and excited to announce that the proceeds from my Helping Honeybees store now go directly to www.pollinator.org, instead of having to go through me first. I love eliminating the middle man, especially when it's me.

I plan to add some new T's for the summer to raise awareness of all pollinators including honeybees, but also butterflies, bats, beetles, and more.
So far there are bags and both short and long sleeved T's in the shop.

Clicking an image below will take you to its page on CafePress. Happy browsing! :)

Bee store! Bee store!

I've come up with another way that I hope will raise both awareness AND funds for honeybee research,
Check out Cafe Press- Samantha's Bees!
http://www.cafepress.com/samanthasbees



By carrying one of these bags, wearing one of the shirts, or adding a button to an outfit, a person can show many people the simple things that can be done to help the bees.

The profits from these items will be donated to a honeybee related charity- either vanishingbees.com , pollinator.org, or Penn State honeybee research (find out more on www.helpthehoneybees.com).

There are t-shirts, bags, and buttons currently in the shop. The items feature pictures of bees and a slogan- either "Bee Kind, Bee Green" or "Bee Aware, Bee Kind" and list various ways that everyone can help our dwindling honeybee population:
Buy organic. Don't use pesticides. Eat local honey. Plant native local flowers. Support beekeepers. Have a garden for all seasons....

Yes YOU can do at least one thing from this list! :)

In 2008 I started the Honeybee Helpers team on www.etsy.com. The team has a blog, BEE sure to check it out!
http://etsyhoneybeehelpers.blogspot.com/

In my Etsy shop, I donate $10 from the 8x10 prints that I sell to honeybee related charities.

May = Bee Month

Incase you may not already BEE aware, there's a honey bee crisis going on. You can read more about it on http://www.helpthehoneybees.com , http://www.honeybeepreservation.org , and http://www.vanishingbees.com . It's a very, very sad thing for someone who loves bees as much as me, to hear about them being in such a bad way and no one can really pin point just one reason why- yet. But it's also a very bad situation for humans in general, as a lot of our food supply depends on honeybees, and food prices are getting higher as it is.

I've wanted to do a series of bee drawings for a while now, so this seems like a great time to start that. With the flowers in my garden starting to bloom like crazy, I might be able to get more inspiration there.This month I'm hoping to get a small painting done, and as many small drawings as I can- I'm looking to sort of challenge myself to do a bunch. I've seen some teeny-tiny drawings and paintings in little frames (I'm talking 2" x 2" here) and they are ridiculously cute. So I'd like to try my hand at some of those.

If I do a few this month in my spare time- especially since drawings generally don't take that long, and if I do a small painting, hopefully that won't take too long either- I can put those up in my etsy store. And if I sell anything, I can donate to one of these bee research charities.

I've loved bees since I was about 6 years old (when I was known as "the bee girl"... Ask my family... I'm sure they loved hearing how their kid was a bee-loving-weirdo). And now that I'm doing a lot of flower and bee (and bugs in general) artwork, it seems only natural that I should make some contributions to help out the bees that I've loved so much for most of my life.