I Can't Believe I Forgot About Mason Bees!

When I wrote about our list of endeavors for 2013, I completely forgot about mason bees! We've been thinking about getting bees for a few years now and finally took the plunge. Mason bees are supposed to be a great for pollination, which is critical for production in the garden. We're hoping that they'll also inspire our pear trees to bear fruit this year. We're yet to get pears from the two trees that we transplanted several years back. This is the year, I hope.

We purchased our mason bees from this awesome local business called Wild Bird Nest. The delightful owner of the shop called us in February to let us know that the bees had arrived. Last summer we made sure that our names were on her special bee-buyer list because apparently these buggers are a hot commodity and there's only so many to go around.

The 24 or so bee cocoons came in two tiny, little cardboard boxes that we kept in the fridge (with a little water for humidity) until we were ready to set them out. Michael saved us $50 by building the bee house out of wood scraps that we had lying around the yard.  But we still had to purchase the plastic thingy with holes where the bees will build their nests and a predator guard to keep out the woodpeckers. All in all, we've spent about $75 on this project so far. We're optimistic that the investment will be worth it. If all goes well, we should end up with 80 or so mason bees next season.

Finding a spot for the bee house that Michael and I could agree on was a bit of a challenge. We settled on a spot under the eaves of our chicken coop. This spot gets a nice amount of morning sun and is sheltered from the rain. I have to admit I worry a little that we're doing something wrong and that these baby bees are doomed to die. We're amateurs at this, so it would be easy to mess it up. That's a risk we have to take, I suppose.

For now, we wait and hope for the best.

-Trisa