If you know anything about Shoresh, you know we love pollinators and especially, bees. A lot. We love the pollinators so much that we’ve dedicated a lot of our programming, events, garden spaces AND 20-acres of Bela Farm to supporting their health and well-being.
We do this because we love them. We do this because we understand that as Jews, we have an obligation to be shomrei adamah, guardians of the earth, and the pollinators need our help. And, we do this because we understand that insect pollinators are a keystone species that our world depends on. Through pollination, they enable plants to reproduce resulting in flowers, seeds, fruits and vegetables. Without insect pollinators, our food systems and ecosystems would be drastically different-less diverse, less beautiful and less delicious.
A native carpenter bee gathers pollen on a Hollyhock flower at Maxie’s Garden in Kensington Market.
As Jews, we are taught that upon creating the first human beings, G!d guided them around the Garden of Eden, saying, “Look at My creations! See how beautiful and perfect they are! I created everything for you. Make sure you do not ruin or destroy My world. If you do, there will be no one after you to fix it.” Midrash Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) Rabbah 7:13. Our pollinators are in crisis and as sad as it is to say, it’s because of human action. Habitat loss, pesticides, conventional farming, urban sprawl, climate change all threaten the health and vitality of pollinator populations and Shoresh is rising to the occasion to help.
We believe that the most important thing we can all do to help pollinators is to create habitat for them by planting native flowering plants and creating nesting sites for them.
Our honey bees at Bela Farm are surrounded by acres of unsprayed wild flowers. In 2019, we are adding a 2-acre Pollinator Food Forest to better support their need for nectar and pollen.
At present we have pollinator habitat at The Kavanah Garden (Vaughan), The Wolfond Centre (The Annex), Maxie’s Garden (Kensington Market) and an epic, growing bee sanctuary at Bela Farm! Our ultimate goal for the Bee Sanctuary is to have 20-acres of habitat for butterflies, bees, bats, flies, birds and other pollinators to thrive. In 2017, we planted 2-acres in wildflowers with support of The World Wildlife Fund and this year, with the help of the Ontario Trillium Foundation and individual community members, we will plant a 2-acre Pollinator Food Forest.
Support our efforts to save the pollinators by:
- Joining us at our film fundraiser, Garlic, Goats, and Going Rural, where 100% of proceeds will go to supporting the Bela Farm Bee Sanctuary.
- Help us plant the Pollinator Food Forest at the Bela Farm Planting Extravaganza!
- Make a donation!
- Plant your own pollinator garden!
- Support local, organic farmers who support healthy pollinators by not using toxic chemicals.
A Monarch butterfly gathers nectar from a native sunflower in our pollinator patch at the Kavanah Garden in Vaughan.